Various JSA issues

[trimble]

1. I keep being given 24h notice of appointments, have had 3 in the past week, and have been in 8 times since mid-December. When asked, JCP staff cannot say what the appointments are for beyond a generic "to help you find work", and the content of these 100% useless (today's was only spent filling in their DM forms: see below!). I live in a rural location, the JC being 15 miles distant, and currently have no personal transport (I will not pay car tax/insurance while out of work) so rely on others as there are very limited public options (about 90 mins each way - typically the maximum that regs seem to allow for! -, plus significant waiting times and expensive tickets (£15ish). Further, I would have trouble reclaiming costs as the journey requires three separate busses each way, and I cannot get return tickets due to different companies being required to keep travel times even remotely reasonable). I occasionally am forced to use this public transport option. Does anyone have suggestions on how to counter these ridiculous and expensive computer-generated requests?

 

2. I am being given occasional problems with incomplete ES4 diary (it is so impractical : eg. if I'm dealing with vacancy printouts, its best to file the vacancy, and write notes on the printout itself). I always bring in a complete written record, but if its not on their form, I'm getting a week or two of cash delayed while they pass it off to DM to decide in my favour. They have had this complaint rejected against me before. Today, I showed evidence of at least 10 actions in the past week (2 apps, 4 investigated, numerous web and paper searches, and confirmed contact with 3 agencies), and once again because my ES4 was not completed to their satisfaction (I was called over early, so my transfer of information was interrupted), it has been sent off and my payments stopped. Repeated filings for the same non-infringement is surely harassment? (An ES4 requirement has not been specifically stipulated within my JSA).

 

3. I am highly qualified (years of admin/management experience, and a slew of qualifications to postgrad level). I have been told that I cannot omit experience and qualifications on my CV, otherwise it will be considered by them as my not making a proper application. However I have had direct feedback from potential employers that I'm massively overqualified for the low-level positions I am applying for (all that is available in this area, and anyway what is that supposed to mean? We live in a crazy world when companies don't want the best staff they can find). Do I keep applying with a full CV, and remain unemployable ... or gimp my CV, incur the wrath and financial penalties - which I can ill afford - from the jobcentre, and have a better chance at employment? Again, any thoughts on how I can counter this stupidity?

 

4. The DPA authorisation I was asked to provide at the start of my claim covers what, exactly? Does anyone know what they typically use it for? If I cause them trouble with the above three points, I wouldn't put it past such cretins to go on a digging exercise on months-old data and try to trip me up someplace where I cannot now provide evidence that is to their satisfaction. I assume such an authorisation is not a necessary component of a claim, so would it be worthwhile rescinding it, or will they go around fishing with employers anyway?

 

Many thanks in anticipation of any guidance anyone is able to give.

[rebel11]

Hi Trim

 

Welcome to CAG

 

The guys will advise as soon as they are available.

[ptol]

Hi Trimble,

 

My initial advice to you is that you need to pick your battles, and deal with them one at a time otherwise you will feel a little drained. What I have included here is how I would cope with such a situation. (actually mine is similar in a number of ways but certainly not identical)

 

1. Since they give you 24 hour notice of appointments, you can be sanctioned for non attendance, unless you can show reasonable cause for not being there. Reasons for not being their might include being at a doctors appointment, having a scheduled job search activity (.e.g telephone meeting pre-arranged with a recruitment agent, telephone interview). Tomorrow I'm actually going to be late for my signing in, because i want to irritate a certain person there^h^h^h^h^h^h^h^hhave an appointment with the support team in the job center to investigate an issue with my benefit claim. What they are doing is making use of the rules and processes, often with little regard for the human involved. If it suits you, you can have some fun back. This can't be pushed too far though, as they could say there is a consistent pattern and then apply a sanction for non attendance, but they would have to pick their moment carefully.

 

2. The law is really clear on this. You are required to maintain a record of your job search and to be able to present it for examination when you sign on. If they do not feel you are maintaining a good enough record of your search they can require you, using a job seeker direction to use their ES4 diary for a period of time as a teaching tool to help you in your job search, and in that case not doing so would lead to a sanction. However, if you are happy that your normal records keep an accurate record of your job search then you can insist that this is your record and that they are welcome to go through it. You will need to time and date every note you make in your records. You are quite reasonable that the records you keep are in a suitable format that reflect your job search, and as long as its reasonable that the Job centre can understand your job search from them, they are unreasonable to ask for a sanction. When they have repeatedly requested sanctions and these have a record of being decided in your favour, when they next request a sanction, put in a formal complaint of harassment, as they are knowingly making a false accusation.

 

3. I am in the same situation of having more experience than the majority of the jobs out there. The way I handle the same situation is that I have different CV's for different roles. I basically promote and make prominent information relevant to the job level, and make less visible / omit details that are not so key. Remember, targeting your CV for the relevant job is totally reasonable. If a job requires certain experience, and you have that experience, but submit a CV without it, then the job centre have an issue. However, making your CV reflect the job is part of job hunting.

 

4. Not able to comment on this.