Can you change Job Centre?

I have a client who has recently had a claim for JSA cancelled following numerous sanctions that she feels were unfair. She is a lone parent and studying part time (evening course).

She tells me that her claim was sanctioned in June and then closed, she made a new claim and it was sanctioned again and then cancelled, each time because she was not doing enough to find work. Job Centre Plus told her that she should be applying for (or enquiring after) 40 jobs a week. They also asked her to leave her course.

She also told me that she was sent a letter by Job Centre Plus asking her to come in for a meeting and they took her into an interview room, without a word of explanation. An advisor then came into the room and told her that someone had reported her as a possible benefit fraud case as she has a car. They wanted to know how she had managed to get a car. She drives a mobility car that belongs to her brother.

I have offered to help client appeal against the closure of her claim and sanctions and to make a complaint about her Job Centre Plus office. I advised her to, in the meantime, make a new claim for JSA. She told me that she would rather live on Child Tax Credit and Child Benefit than go back to the same Job Centre Plus Office.

Does anyone know if my client has any right to request to sign on at a different Job Centre than the one that covers her postcode area?

Thank you,

Theresa

Not as far as I am aware- the duty to attend is a duty to attend “at such place and at such time as an employment officer may specify”- reg 23 JSA Regs.

It is a useful way to understand jobcentres- in other areas of life then “choice” is a good thing and is regarded as driving up standards (eg if no one chooses your school/GP/corner shop etc you have to improve to encourage them back). But what would happen if claimants could choose jobcentre? Presumably they may pick the one that comes lowest in the sanction league tables (that don’t exist). Note that it is these jobcentres that the state regards as not performing…. so the interests of a claimant are opposite to those of a jobcentre in this respect: big surprise!

My sister did.  She lives in Birmingham and was having a similar experience - she complained to the regional manager and was able to change jobcentre…the new jobcentre were completely different to the one she was having the trouble with and she’s now in full time paid work having been actively encouraged to keep to her course by the new jobcentre which paid off in the end.

Worth a try.

Hi Nicky,

Thanks for that- interesting.

Martin

This may be of help to you to find her district manager

http://www.dwp.gov.uk/docs/jcp-district-managers.pdf

and the not looking for work does not stem from her JSA agreement it flows from

CJSA/1814/2007.

If she was asked or told to use Universal Jobmatch after the 5/3/13, then she should have been informed of two things. One she should have been given a cookies factsheet and two see:

https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/165890/response/408735/attach/3/response.pdf

This demonstrates clearly that the advice given was contradictory.

It may be of some help