JSA in a UC area

Would DWP accept one of these? (see attached)

https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/185491/response/456544/attach/5/JSA1S.pdf

If the claimant does not fit UC, how about a good ol’ fashioned paper JSA claim?

You will still be led a merry dance as DWP loves to pretend that you can’t make paper claims any more, see other discussions.

Backdating too - for JC+ mistakes?

I’d also slam in a formal complaint - another sign that the wonderful benefit reforms are a complete crock.

I’ve sent you a direct message with details of the person who is escalation point for North East, to see if they can help you resolve this one, good luck.

Thanks everybody. I had thought about a paper claim as a last resort.

Paul- Will try this escalation point first and see where we get with that.

a complaint will definitely be made. This guy has been passed from pillar to post for months and nobody at DWP has been of any use at all.

i will also forward this query to the stakeholder UC team to highlight the problem

Daphne - 09 October 2015 10:05 AM

i will also forward this query to the stakeholder UC team to highlight the problem

Thank you. I appreciate it. I have emailed the contact given to me earlier but have had no reply yet, so still in limbo really!!

Just as an update, the escalation point that Paul passed to me worked and they made arrangements for a paper claim to be made. Claim ha now been accepted so should go in t payment pretty soon.

Good news, good work.

This is a reply I have received from operational stakeholders about how the system works when someone tries to claim JSA in a UC live area, or conversely tries to claim UC but doesn’t meet the gateway conditions. It doesn’t address how difficult it can be to make a phone claim for JSA and I have gone back to them with this -

Not all the UC gateway questions being asked

There are 25 UC eligibility questions [EQ’s] in the UC On line [UCOL] service asked of customers to assess whether they are eligible to claim UC. To allow JSAOL (JSA On line) to support the introduction of UC, UC post code filters have been built into JSAOL to support the different stages and categories of UC introduction – UC Digital, UC Pathfinder and UC Single Person Gateway.

To ask customers to complete all the 25 UC eligibility questions [EQ’s]  in JSAOL was deemed not appropriate because it would potentially mean that if the customer ‘passed’ the EQ’s as being eligible to claim UC they would then be told to go to the UCOL service to complete their application where they would then have to answer the same 25 EQs again. This clearly would be a poor customer journey / experience.

To improve the customer journey / experience, in JSAOL the following has been built in:

·    If claimant in a UC Digital [UCD]post code area – JSAOL explains they live in UCD area & immediately hands claimant off to the UC Pages in Gov.UK to continue their claim journey. No EQs are presented;
·    If a claimant is in UC Pathfinder / Live [UC P/F] post code area –  JSAOL informs claimant they may be eligible to claim UC and presents 6 x specific UC Eligibility Questions [EQ] to establish claim route way. IF claimant PASSES EQ’s here, they will be pointed to the UC service to continue their claim; if they FAIL these initial 6 UC EQ’s, they can continue their claim in JSAOL.
·    If a UC Single Person [UC SPG] post code area – [covering the current national rollout program] – JSAOL informs customer they may be eligible to claim UC and presents a different selection of 6 x specific UC EQ’s to establish claim route way. Again, if they PASS the UC EQs here, claimants will pointed to the UC service to continue their claim; if they FAIL these initial 6 UC EQ’s, they can continue their claim in JSAOL.

By introducing the different UC post code filters to the JSAOL system, we have been able to retain significant numbers [c.70 – 75%] of eligible customers in the JSAOL service through presenting the relevant UC EQ’s. The different EQ’s used for the different UC post code areas are based on those which have the biggest impact of customers failing UC eligibility.


The customer journey is different if they start in UCOL service. They will only be presented with the full 25 UC EQs. If they fail any of the EQs they will be told they cannot claim UC and are shown a hard stop page – which is related to in the complaint. If customer clicks on link to claim JSA they will be asked to put in their post code again – as it is in a UC area the system will tell them they will need to make claim via the telephony service. It will not pass them into JSAOL – it would mean ‘the loop’ occurring.

UC a simplified process -

“Like a tunnel that you follow to a tunnel of its own
Down a hollow to a cavern where the sun has never shone
Like a door that keeps revolving in a half forgotten dream
Or the ripples from a pebble someone tosses in a stream
Like a clock whose hands are sweeping past the minutes of its face
And the world is like an apple whirling silently in space
Like the circles that you find in the windmills of your mind!”

If I had a world of my own, everything would be nonsense. Nothing would be what it is, because everything would be what it isn’t. And contrary wise, what is, it wouldn’t be. And what it wouldn’t be, it would. You see?

Ah, the UB Event Horizon….

Or even the UC Event Horizon (I blame M theory- or should that be IDS theory- or something…)

In Xanadu did Duncan-Smith
A simple benefit decree:
Where Alf, his client journey, ran
Through gateways measureless to man
  Down to the dread UC.

Two gateways meet in the woods.