work programme /good reason letter/potential sanction

[solidarity]

Hi all ,

i have been attending work programme for over a month - and was late for an appointment due to a heavy cold and my provider decided callously to raise a doubt with DWP. recieved a 'good reason letter' asking why i dint attend work programme appt.- how can i successfully challenge this and avoid a sanction. help would be very much appreciated guys!

[Lapsed Workaholic]

What was in the "good reason letter" and who was it from? Did the callous provider not notice that you were suffering with a cold. Did nobody else on the premises notice that you had a cold?

I would write to, or go and see, your adviser at the Jobcentre. Inform him/her what the provider has done and why.

[solidarity]

lapsed workoholic,

letter is from DWP- asking why i didnt attend appt. work programme provider raised a doubt with DWP because i turned up late

[Lapsed Workaholic]

The first thing you need to do is write to the person who sent you the letter at the address on the letterhead. This will be the chap or chappess who will decide whether or not a sanction is appropriate.

You could explain that you were late due to a heavy cold leaving you seriously under the weather and that despite the circumstances you did make the effort to attend albeit a bit late. You could say that despite showing outward signs of a heavy cold the WP provider refused to acknowledge it. You could ask that your attend record be taken into account (that's if it is unblemished of course).

You could explain the purpose of the appointment, would missing it altogether or rearranging it have had a catastrophic effect on your prospects of getting a job? Was the correct procedure followed and the purpose of the appointment explained to you in the letter from the provider notifying you of the appointment and did it stipulate that this appointment was mandatory. You could describe the sort of activity that you usually participate in at such appointments and how futile that usually is.

Work programme providers premises usually keep an up to date register for attendees to sign in and out in. This is a legal requirement for fire and insurance purposes in case of an emergency and the premises need to be vacated. Do they keep such a register? If they do were you asked to sign it or not allowed to sign it just because you wee late?

I would believe that failure to keep such a register, or refusing to let me sign it, is a deliberate attempt to obscure any evidence of my attendance so that they could deny my attendance if they chose to lie about it. Of course I couldn't possibly comment on your opinions on this.

The pressing priority is to get the DWP's decision maker to nullify the doubt raised by the provider.

Once that is out of the way you might consider a formal complaint to the provider. You could have 2 years of hell before you on the work programme, nipping this sort of treatment in the bud would go a long way towards setting the tone and the way they treat you for the next 2 years.

[Mr.P]

letter is from DWP- asking why i didnt attend appt. work programme provider raised a doubt with DWP because i turned up late

 

State that you did attend the appointment all be it slightly later than intended and that you were delayed due to circumstances beyond your control. Emphasise the point that you did attend, and that you consider the doubt to be spurious.

 

Was this appointment mandatory and compliant with DWP issued guidance ?

i.e. Was the appointment in writing (not text or email), and included the required wording regarding being mandatory and consequences of failing to attend ?

[solidarity]

lapsed workaholic, i did sign the sigin book - but it will prove that i was late, secondly the work programme provider raised a doubt with DWP 15 MINS before i turned up - how do i play this shall i say i was ill - where will that lead- will they just sanction me- i am also a carer for my elderly mum and she picked up this nasty flu too so i was dealing with paramedics the night before and checking up on her the day of the work programme appt.

my impression is they are itching to kick u off jsa and sanction u- waiting for u to slip up

[Lapsed Workaholic]

If you say that you were ill, you were ill. The provider is not a doctor and is therefore not qualified to make informed medical diagnosis.

The issue with your aged parent is very relevant and the strongest point you can make to support your case for being late.

You said the letter asked why you didn't attend the appointment, not that you arrived late. If you signed in the record will show that the assertion made in the letter is false. It follows therefore that the provider who raised the doubt is either an opportunistic chaser of the targets that are supposed not to exist, or s/he is a sneaky back-stabbing liar.

[think about it]

I think the key thing in all of this is to tell the truth. If the WP worker raised the doubt 15 mins before you arrived just how late were you? Being late for an appointment is perhaps quite distinct from missing it altogether. I wonder if you're able to demonstrate having contacted the office to advise that you weren't going to be on time? As Lapsed says, it's about showing that there can be no doubt about your engagement in the program. Had the adviser raised the doubt within moments of the start of your appointment I'd agree that it was unreasonable however if it was done when the appointment had passed to the extent where it was no longer possible to carry out the mandated tasks in the allotted time then the appointment was surely not attended. The doubt it seems will be regarding the actual mandated appointment rather than arriving on the day much in the same way that someone more than ten minutes late for a GP appointment will have been recorded as having not attended.