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Job Centre telling tenant he must sign on ..
My client has his letter advising that his appeal has been received and lodged, he went to JC to sign off and was advised that if he failed to sign they would stop his JSA..
Presumably he is appealing a decision on entitlement to ESA?
Now appeal has been lodged and registered he should be entitled to ESA (assessment rate), until the appeal is decided. Therefore his JSA claim will be closed anyway in order for ESA to be re-instated.
Oddly enough, one of my clients had a similar experience only yesterday. he was told that because it is a “private appeal” (?????), he would not qualify for ANY benefits if he stopped signing on.
More underhand tactics to discourage appeals?..... or a “training issue”?
Well, they will stop his JSA. And if they have not put his ESA back in payment he will be left with nothing until they do.
Last one of these I did they were trying to tell me that they had 28 working days to sort out restarting ESA payments, although with lots of huffing and puffing it got done a lot quicker.
Client needs to consider timing of cancelling JSA claim in these circs, another insipid aspect of this ESA MR stuff.
Is the DWP now randomly plucking half wits from the street plonking them behind a counter and telling them to just get on with it.
Is the DWP now randomly plucking half wits from the street plonking them behind a counter and telling them to just get on with it.
I certainly think they’re plonking inadequately trained staff behind a counter/a phone and telling them to get on with it. A family member who works for the DWP was put in exactly that position (and, what’s more, was threatened with disciplinary action for not dealing with a sufficient number of calls). He spent a considerable amount of time off sick (and had to obtain assistance from his union). He was provided with virtually no training at all.
Is someone at JC+ possibly playing a game and refusing to agree that an appeal has been lodged until they hear about it direct from HMRC?
CPAG say –‘the DWP is unlikely to restore ESA until it is notified by HMCTS that an appeal has been lodged. It may be worth claimants sending a copy of their appeal to the DWP, requesting restoration of ESA including arrears.’
http://www.cpag.org.uk/content/benefit-during-employment-and-support-allowance-dispute
The following is from a document already posted on rightsnet – DWP answers to advisers’ questions:
‘Where the claimant exercises their right of appeal…they can become entitled to an award of ESA pending the hearing or other disposal of the appeal. No claim is required….Payment of ESA will resume as soon as possible…where the relevant conditions of entitlement are met an award of ESA will be made on the basis of the evidence which supported the preceding, recently-terminated award of ESA, taking account of any change of circumstances reported by the claimant’
No 28 days stuff there – there’s nothing to spend 28 days on!
I have found JC+ staff occasionally making things up when pressed, pace Nevip. I suspect this may be another one?
Is the DWP now randomly plucking half wits from the street plonking them behind a counter and telling them to just get on with it.
I certainly think they’re plonking inadequately trained staff behind a counter/a phone and telling them to get on with it. A family member who works for the DWP was put in exactly that position (and, what’s more, was threatened with disciplinary action for not dealing with a sufficient number of calls). He spent a considerable amount of time off sick (and had to obtain assistance from his union). He was provided with virtually no training at all.
This is a fiasco rapidly turning into a farce.
[quote author=“Andrew Dutton” date=“1407504939”
CPAG say –‘the DWP is unlikely to restore ESA until it is notified by HMCTS that an appeal has been lodged. It may be worth claimants sending a copy of their appeal to the DWP, requesting restoration of ESA including arrears.’
http://www.cpag.org.uk/content/benefit-during-employment-and-support-allowance-dispute
Last time I tried doing that (along with a med cert and a covering letter) they returned the whole lot to us with a standard letter to the effect that we had ‘sent the appeal to the wrong place’.
And Nevip, I quite agree.
1964 - agreed. A copy of anything from HMCTS saying the appeal has been lodged makes more sense. Or would that receive some other bizarre, rococo response?
In my client’s case, it was when he went to the jobcentre to pass on a copy of his MR decision, appeal request and med cert that he was given the “advice” that payment of all benefits would be stopped unless he continued to sign for JSA.
‘Where the claimant exercises their right of appeal…they can become entitled to an award of ESA pending the hearing or other disposal of the appeal. No claim is required….Payment of ESA will resume as soon as possible…where the relevant conditions of entitlement are met an award of ESA will be made on the basis of the evidence which supported the preceding, recently-terminated award of ESA, taking account of any change of circumstances reported by the claimant’
What a load of tosh.
I had a positive MR come back and I asked for ESA to be reinstated
DWP told me they couldnt unless i closed JSA claim, which i did.
2 weeks later : no ESA. I called them up to be told that they only had on record the request to close JSA, not any “request” to reinstate ESA. I asked them why on earth i closed JSA claim then if not to reinstate ESA. They then told me i had to make a new claim on assessment rate! I told them that LCFW had been established following successful MR , and i wanted ESA paid and all arrears backdated. The guy hadnt a clue what i was on about…............
From the same document -
“Assuming the revision decision is in the claimant’s favour, they will not need to reclaim ESA. The revision decision effectively restores the claimant to the position they would have been in had DWP made this decision in the first place….ESA (with any arrears due) will be reinstated as soon as possible…the claimant will either be invited to withdraw their JSA claim - which can be done verbally – or receive a decision that they are not entitled to JSA because they are still entitled to ESA”
Your expereince ties in with many others expressed on these pages about poorly-trained and highly-pressured staff just making stuff up.
I have yet to see any proper staff guidance covering these situations. The document I’m referring to was from DWP in reply to questions from advisers in Oxfordshire.
It’s on this site somewhere.., can’t find a link….
just had decision maker on phone. still adamant that tenant signs on during appeal. changed in October 2013 says she
.. banging my head of a brick wall…
Complain, Steph, and involve client’s MP if necessary….in fact, involve client’s MP anyway….
Or a letter before action perhaps? Would that work?