Benefit Advisor failing to do her job!

[shortwoman68]

I am writing this on behalf of my partner who is exasperated with the actions of his Benefits Advisor and does not know what else to do.

 

He has been signing on as seeking employment for nearly a year now and

during this time there has been issues with the online Jobsearch which only logs particular jobs that he has applied for

and others he has to log in the Activity History.

 

 

When attending the jobcentre this is a constant issue as his Advisor is always unable

to access his Application History or Activity History through her own machine and accuses him on failing to seek work.

 

 

Recently he was sanctioned for this even though it was untrue and he was asked to provide proof of his job search which he did.

 

 

He was informed that this would be discussed with the Manager and a decision would be made.

This was in December 2014, to date there has not been any reponse in writing or verbally.

 

He has been on two courses which have been arranged by the Advisor which he attended

however he was sent appointments to attend during these times

and when he turned up after the courses had finished,

she asked why he failed to attend appointments

as she did not remember that she placed he on the courses!

 

 

During this time, he was not paid as she has not update the system or informed anyone

that he was attending courses and therefore should have automatically been paid.

 

For these courses he was asked to provide receipts or a print out of his journeys to and from college

in order for this to be refunded.

 

 

He handed in the print out from Tfl Oyster card in December 2014 and

during his appointment which was on Tuesday 13th January 2015 he was informed that she did not receive the print out

and requested it again.

 

 

Further to this as she was unable to access his Application and Activity History again,

she again asked him to bring or email a print out to her.

 

He emailed all the information to her on the same Tuesday 13th January and is still awaiting a response to the email.

He has complied with everything she has requested and still has not received any payment since December 2014.

 

In frustration he forwarded his complaint to Noel Shanahan who is named

as the Director of Operations for the Department for Work and Pensions and is awaiting a response.

 

 

He has not complained directly to the job centre as he feels that from experience nothing constructive will come out of this.

 

What else can he do?????

[think about it]

In all honesty, complain to the JCP involved. Ask to speak with the manager and take with you all of the information you've presented here. Drop it on the desk in front of him/her and ask for an explanation as to what's happening.

 

At least then you're not reliant on someone so disconnected as the Director for Operations.