I have clients who are being told to claim JSA when they reclaim ICB/IS after the 6 month period has elapsed. One was told she could not claim ICB ever again, I have reported it locally and Nationally but anyone else having problems? I deal with the Ilford office but Bridgend line is guilty too.

Cheers

Gary

Sounds as if there are one or two front line DWP people out there who want to re live the good old days, when some counter staff decided what you could or couldn't claim......
Clients have the right to claim for whatever benefit they want - that's not to say that they will necessarily succeed - front line clerks however do not have the authority to give opinions on what someone can or can't claim....

yeah I know but the problem is getting clients to insist on making the claims they want to, or are advised to...

It's often a problem, for clients to find the confidence to assert their rights. Confidence is not something you can physically hand to them - I wish it was! But there are ways you can give them sufficient moral support.
In this situation, I phone the relevant office on the client's behalf and insist on their rights to claim the benefit. If you have the client with you at the time, you can then hand the phone over to them to continue the claim at the appropriate point, once you have put the official straight about what they are and aren't allowed to do.
If this isn't possible, I insist by sending a fax to the manager of the section, informing him/her that the named client will be making a claim for a particular benefit that week, and this time, you do not expect them to be obstructed. You also expect the claim to be backdated to the date the client originally tried to claim.
Either method has worked for me, most of the time. More important, it works for the clients because they can see that assertiveness produces a result.

Since this seems to be a general problem, have you tried to set up a meeting with the local DWP management to discuss it? Or started a "campaign" of making a formal complaint every time it happens?

Thanks for that, I will gove it a try, I do send emails to the sections, IB and IS but there are still problems