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Forum Home  →  Discussion  →  Universal credit administration  →  Thread

Uploading documents on to the journal

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MaggieB
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Dorchester CAB

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Found out today (by accident) that you can upload med certs for ESA via gov.uk and have been able to for about 6 months.  Only for ESA though…not UC.

Daphne
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Written answer from Alok Sharma yesterday says that you can now upload your self-employed earnings, verify your childcare costs and apply for advances online.

Just wondered how well that’s working given some of the responses above?

Rosie W
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Daphne - 14 February 2019 01:03 PM

Written answer from Alok Sharma yesterday says that you can now upload your self-employed earnings, verify your childcare costs and apply for advances online.

Just wondered how well that’s working given some of the responses above?

I’m also wondering what this means:
“a service for claimants who are not able to interact with us through an online account which can remain in place throughout the claim or for a specific period of time”

All we’ve been offered so far is a telephone process which isn’t necessarily any easier to “interact with”

MKM35
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Daphne - 14 February 2019 01:03 PM

you can now upload your self-employed earnings, verify your childcare costs and apply for advances online.

Yes - this is true

Daphne - 14 February 2019 01:03 PM

Just wondered how well that’s working given some of the responses above?

Most clients I work with have to verify their childcare costs *every month* and if they miss the assessment period, then they’ve lost out on that payment for that month. It is eventually backdated but it’s still a long process.

Uploading self employed earnings has worked well in the 3 cases i’ve seen. Applying for advances online is a breeze across the board

MKM35
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Rosie W - 14 February 2019 04:19 PM

I’m also wondering what this means:
“a service for claimants who are not able to interact with us through an online account which can remain in place throughout the claim or for a specific period of time”

All we’ve been offered so far is a telephone process which isn’t necessarily any easier to “interact with”

Possibly referring to this

‘When a claimant with complex needs contacts DWP, their customer journey must be equal in quality and outcome to those whose needs are not complex’.

Other than home visits to help claim or if referred for a sanction and biographical tests to prove ID, I haven’t really seen anything else in practice.

Dan_Manville
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Daphne - 14 February 2019 01:03 PM

Just wondered how well that’s working given some of the responses above?

Not earnings or childcare but for med3s and bank statements it’s working a dream for us now.

 

NeverSayNo
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Daphne - 14 February 2019 01:03 PM

...and apply for advances online.

Just wondered how well that’s working given some of the responses above?

Well in 2 cases this month where an in work UC claimant has applied for an advance online I have experience that neither request was responded to.

On seeking further clarification the local job centre apologised explaining that those without any conditionality do not get allocated a work coach, the responsibility is that of the case manager - but due to staff shortages of case managers,  those in work are not having their journals monitored as often as they should. So online requests and journal entries are simply ignored.

Benny Fitzpatrick
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“but due to staff shortages of case managers,  those in work are not having their journals monitored as often as they should. So online requests and journal entries are simply ignored.”

A pretty damning admission seeing as a sanction or negative determination could, in some cases, result from this scenario. They are virtually admitting to institutional negligence, and playing fast and loose with people’s livelihoods.

If, for example, a claimant were sanctioned for an “offence” which turned out to be the result of DWP staff failing to act on information uploaded to the Journal, I imagine there would be a pretty clear case for compensation.

Paul007
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Can I ask if anybody else is experiencing problems with this?

I have been using the method for a while now with no issues submitting multiple types of documents.  Am now being told this can only be used to submit childcare costs and to submit fit notes.

Another example of a digital benefit having its plus points taken away…