Job Centre Plus Will Be The Death Of Me

It has been months since I've written on this particular blog,  Mainly because this is my personal blog and because of that it has tied itself to some of my negative experiences with the Jobcentre Plus. Well it seems more than time enough to get back to complaining about JCP.

The beginning of the year came had a lot of back and forth with my then new Work Coach with her being openly hostile and rude to me during my fortnightly signings resulting in me having to make an official complaint regarding that and other behaviour that amounted to bullying. To make a long story short it involved my Work Coach, another one and their manager all lying to my face about procedure regarding the Claimant Commitment.

The complaint went all the way to pre-hearing stage, basically the hearing had been called for and I was just waiting for a date to attend and then suddenly out of nowhere they cancelled the hearing and agreed to the my version of the Claimant Commitment in my view because they knew they were about to lose.

Because of the fallout of the complaint (which was denied) and the changes to my CC (decided in my favour) I was switched to a new advisor then lo and behold the shenanigans started all over again with this advisor deciding that my CC needed to be changed 2 months after it was newly signed.

The change he wanted was to force me to use Universal Jobmatch and I disagreed so we'll just have to wait and see how that works out as it has been at the DM for more than a month already. Then a month after that here comes the kicker I got sanctioned in my last meeting. As usual no real reason was given just the normal not doing enough to look for work.

That happened despite:

• 18 jobs applied for over the fortnight
• voluntary job gaining new skills

So now I am waiting to see what happens with the appeal and so on I will obviously keep things updated on here.

DWP Complaint - RESOLVED with Compensation

So when I went to the Jobcentre to talk with their CSOM about my ongoing issues with Seetec during that visit I mentioned the complaint that I had sent to DWP and he said he would chase it up. On Monday I got a letter back from the DWP from their Customer Services Team. I copied it below because unfortunately I don't have a scanner.

Thank you for your letter received xx-xx-xx regarding the sanction that was applied to your claim for Jobseekers Allowance (JSA). I apologise for the delay in my reply.

I would like to assure you that Jobcentre Plus considers very seriously all customer complaints made about the delivery of its service. I am very sorry that your experience did not meet the high standards to which we aspire and I apologise for the delay in getting the decision overturned and distress and inconvenience that you suffered.

I have looked at your claim and can confirm your case has been submitted for a special payment for gross inconvenience.

In the exceptional circumstances of your case I have decided to award a special payment of £50.00.

Special consolatory payments are made in very exceptional circumstances where an official error has had a direct adverse effect on the life of the customer and/or on the life of another person. It should be remembered that some dealings with the Department, whether or not an error occurs, may take time and that complying with the law can often be frustrating or inconvenient and sometimes stressful.

A payment for gross inconvenience resulting from official error will only be made if the errors made are so persistent and over such a protracted period of time that it causes the customer clear difficulties in the pursuit of benefits, or pursuing a justified complaint about relevant matters.

After considering the circumstances of your case it is clear that this applies to your dealings with the Department for Work and Pensions. I have therefore awarded a special consolatory payment of £50.00 in recognition of the errors made with your benefit claim. This amount is similar to other awards made to other Jobcentre Plus customers where customer service standards have fallen short.

This could not have happened without the help of Refuted.org.uk a resource that anyone feeling pressured by the Jobcentre or Work Programme Providers like Seetec should visit to arm themselves with knowledge.

Seetec Update

Also today I got a letter from Seetec head office (FINALLY), an acknowledgement of the complaint and explaining that the details of complaint had been passed onto my local Seetec, which is going to make for a few awkward visits to Seetec starting from next week when I have another Job search.