Our client, a single man, sustained serious injuries in a traffic accident and lay unconcious in hospital for more than a week. He was thereby prevented, not only from signing on for JSA, but also from informing the Department within 5 days of that failure, why had had not signed on at the appointed time. He has lost entitlement to JSA for the fortnight following his last attendance at the Jobcentre.

I have trawled through the JSA Regs, and whereas there is provision for demonstrating good cause for failing to sign on, if this is shown within five days (reg 27), there appears to be no provision for good cause for late notification of the reason.

Can that really be right? It does seem very unfair.

the regulation doesn't say nothing else CAN be taken into account, only that those things are matters to be taken into account, so i'd argue that one - reg 28 (1) (b) might assist, as well!

but in any event, surely he should in fact be moved onto ESA for the period of his recuperation from the RTA (which will probably take a good while) and so still entitled to benefits, just a different one?

Claire:

That's what I thought until I read the regs more carefully.

Reg 28 (1): ... in determining, for the purposes of regulation 27, whether a claimant has good cause for failing to comply with a notification under regulation 23 ... the matters which are to be taken into account shall include ...

It always comes back to reg 27 which imposes the 5-day limit on showing good cause.

We are not arguing about the period after the accident, when ESA was awarded. When someone fails to sign on they lose JSA from the day after they last signed on (reg 26) which in our client's case is 13 days.

um ......

i cannot believe it was intended that someone lose benefit in this situation ... and cannot believe they don't have a discretion in this situation .. but you're right, it would be straining Reg 27 ....

had hhe missed any previous signing on days? as the regs also allow for a warning for missing a first one and then to sanction on the 2nd missed day, so if he hadn't previously missed a day...

and a trip to the chaps MP's surgery might be a good idea...

Have you read R(JSA) 2/04 mentioned in the commentary to reg 26. It is fairly short and might be of assistance.

This is the sort of disgraceful decision that makes one despair! Whatever the minutiae of the regs. might be, can't someone engage the matter which is between their ears & use an iota of commonsense?

Certainly the MP should be involved.

sort of thing the press would be interested in as well, a "sympathetic" claimant...

but the case referred to looks to be a good 'un for the purpose...pathetic that one has to go to appeal in the circs, though!

Paul:

Thanks for pointing out R(JSA) 2/04 which looks hopeful. It's clear how this applies when a person reclaims JSA, and I presume it would work just as well if they claim ESA instead.

... and I don't see how the claimant can ask for ESA to be backdated. We are looking at a period BEFORE the accident when he was able to work and wasn't sick/unconcious.

Ruth

How about coming at it from another angle and asking that the ESA claim be backdated to cover the period, would that be an option??
Chaos