Client phoned me late Friday saying he had been sanctioned by JSA - 100% sanction for 26 weeks.. Lives alone so will have no money at all for this period..

As it was bank holiday weekend and wanting to get something to the JC+ as quick as possible, I wrote a letter on headed and posted this to the client asking him to take it in to the JC+ first thing on Tuesday morning (yesterday)....

He has contacted me today, as I was off yesterday to tell me that he took the letter to the local office which deals with his claim and was informed by staff there that they would not accept the letter of him in person and that he would have to post it.. As he has no money, how could he do this.. He pleaded with an adviser who eventually gave him a pre paid envelope... but very reluctantly..

I find this very hard to believe,.. why would staff at a Job Centre refuse to accept a letter delivered by hand which has been written to try to get the sanction stopped or at least requesting not to sanction someone 100%...

I find this to be beaurocracy (sorry cant spell that) at its worst, its time wasting and stupidity and im hopping mad.. Has anyone else heard anything as ridiculous...

DWP mail is sorted at centralised locations, then distributed to the appropriate office. Mail handed in or put through the Jobcentreplus letterbox will probably be sent on through their internal courier system to the appropriate location. So what will seem to be beaucratic nonsense may well mean his letter gets to the right place quicker if he mails it himself. Decisions on sanctions are not made in local jobcentreplus offices; the decisionmakers may be based many miles away dealing with cases from countless jobcentres. There is little decisionmaking or benefits expertise now in local jobcentres.

Well thanks for explaining it to me.. but I really cant understand why they couldnt have taken it off him and faxed or sent on to the appropriate department.. I mean, they leave him with no moneyto live on then tell him to post something to them... He had to beg for an envelope of them.. and as I understand from the client, it was an envelope for the office he was stood in...

Just find the situation infuriating...

Well if the envelope was addressed to the local office, and not a PO Box number (quite often they have these and do not go to the local office), it's no wonder you're infuriated...absolutely no reason why they could not have taken it off him except for beaucratic Monty Python logic.

If it is a request for a revision then the request must be sent or delivered to the office where the claimant signs on/attends to make the initial claim (reg 3(11)(b) of the Decisions & Appeals Regs 1999.

If it is an appeal then the request must be sent or delivered to the “address of which was indicated on the notification of the decision which is subject to appeal” (reg 33(2)(b) of the D&A Regs).

It is a request to review the decision.. He took it to the office he signs on at, they wouldnt take it from him..

I can complain about this matter then..?

Oh my God Yes!!

Thu 28-Aug-08 07:08 PM by iut044

Going slightly off topic

I have been told by a member of the DWP team at Barry House not to send Community Care Grants applications through local jobcentres as they may become lost in the internal post and it is safer to send it to them directly.

However, in the case of the client being discussed here, even if they could not take the letter off him, I think its really mean to argue with him over a prepaid envelope.