Case law on ‘reasonableness’ of Jobseeking requirements

“15       The questions to be asked where it is alleged that someone is not actively seeking work are those following from section 7(1) and regulation 18(1), not from the agreement. They pose three questions, to be answered by the claimant’s actions that week:
          (a)      Should the claimant be expected to take at least three jobsearch steps that week, or is it reasonable that only one or two be taken?
          (b)      What steps were taken?
          (c)        In the light of that reasonable expectation and those findings, were the steps   taken by the claimant “such steps as he can reasonably be expected to have to take in         order to have the best prospects of securing employment” (section 7(1))?
If the steps by the claimant taken meet that test, it is irrelevant that the claimant did not also take some other step, whether or not it is in the jobseeker’s agreement.”

http://www.osscsc.gov.uk/Aspx/view.aspx?id=2249

I have had a couple of clients who were given unreasonable jobseekers agreements, my colleagues have had others. The first thing we did was challenge the jobseekers agreement, after checking the jobseekers regulations. Regulations 7-15 are the most relevant ones, if I remember correctly. I think there is something in there about the Secretary of State being able to direct a jobseeker to carry out a particular activity if it would enhance their chances of finding work. I would start there: ask why this job centre adviser thinks that looking at Universal Jobmatch every day is the best way for this claimant to find work, when it has a history of scams and fake job adverts, job adverts which don’t give contact details for applicants, and the DWP find it so unsatisfactory that they have decided not to renew the contract of the company that runs it. [Articles in the Guardian, if you need evidence.]
  Realistically, a jobseeker needs to look at several websites, not one, to cover all the possible job vacancies that he/she might be able to apply for. If they don’t have easy internet access, there is also national and local newspapers, trade and other magazines, and sending CVs on spec, and so on. A jobseeker also needs to allow time to prepare for job interviews, and attend them - this is something jobcentre staff tend to forget about.
  If this claimant is in poor health, has that been taken account of in his jobseekers agreement, in terms of how many hours he has had to agree to work, or the type of work he can do, or the amount of time he (theoretically) has to spend looking for work each week?
  My colleagues and myself have used all these points to get clients a jobseekers agreement that is workable and bears some relation to both commonsense and benefits law. As far as I know, the job centre adviser has to refer any queries to a decision maker, if their interpretation of the JSA regulations is being questioned.
  I’m assuming your client is able to get to the job centre to sign on. What facilities does his local job centre have for searching for job vacancies and is using them in his jobseekers agreement? That might get round his lack of internet access, until he is able to reclaim ESA.

Thanks to you both - I can see from reg18 that the minimum requirement is to take at least three steps in a week and the reg goes on to list the sort of thing that the claimant can be expected to do. Am I right in my assumption that my client could not be sanctioned if he fails to take seven steps aweek - JC+ apparently told him that unless he looked on the website EVERY DAY he runs the risk of being sanctioned

See: CJSA/1814/2007

http://www.osscsc.gov.uk/Aspx/view.aspx?id=2249

I have used the attached with great success regarding actively seeking employment sanctions and potential sanction and used it to head them of at an early stage, or at MR stage

JSA Reg 2013 Reg 12.

1 (in Preci!) your client has not complied sufficiently UNLESS:

...
b) ‘that action gives the claimant the best prospects of obtaining work’.

scratching around nearby villages for computer access plus travel time - might not be the most efficient allocation of jobseeking time.

He will though get into trouble if the advisor requires him to apply for a specific job on Universal Jobmatch or any other site as the above out doesn’t seem to exist in that case (as far as my research has allowed). high level sanctions all round!