I don't know what to do about jobcentre situation

[Nightmarewithjobcentre]

2 years ago I had cancer, with lockdown my op and treatment was delayed for months.

I was working but on furlough so financially I was OK.

After I had my op I lost the use of one of my arms, and there was some nerve damage. They have also diagnosed FND.

I am in pain 24/7, I cant move my head and neck, I sleep very poorly as I wake every time I move, I'm on 7 different medications, and I have no feeling in my arm, alongside this my voice sometimes goes for up to a week at a time.

After furlough I applied for benefits, as I couldn't do my (very physical) job anymore they told me to quit rather than keep being signed off.

Since then I had one phone appointment and have been declared fit to work.

Every week I go to the jobcentre and get berated because I can't think of a job I can do.

I appealed, nobody contacted me, and it came back again that because I could raise one arm above my head I could work.

I absolutely can't, if I could I would. I put it for an independent reconsideration, and the letter today said it could take several months. Meantime the jobcentre said I need to keep looking for work or they will stop all my money.

I'm already up to my eyes in debt, completely on the bones of my arse here.

My worker is particularly unpleasant, one of my dc is in part time education just now due to a condition, that child goes into school and my little one comes out of nursery, they don't allow dc in the jobcentre so the only way I can go is if my friend bbysits after 4, unfortunately she has covid right now, so I asked if I could change the appt to a few days time, and she has changed it to school hours which I can do, and then told me I'm being deliberatly obstructive.

I have worked for 30 years, never once had a period of unemployment, and I seriously cannot work right now. I'm sure the independent review will come back agreeing that I cant, so I'm supposed to look for work, apply for jobs I can't do, keep up being spoken down to every week and be threatened to have absolutely nothing to feed my kids with if I don't comply with rules I physically can't follow.

I don't know what to do, or who can help, I cannot keep this up for several months.

I've been told to get a laptop, I can't afford one, they told me to use the library, but I cant get there during the day.

Does anyone have any idea what I can do, at this present moment in time I honestly don't want to even be here having to beg the jobcentre for a tiny scrap of compassion so I don't have to freeze and starve.

Have you contacted your MP? Or asked for a meeting - maybe even on zoom. They should be able to help. It sounds really tough.

Ooh and keep a record of everything - including recording conversations. To show your Mp.

I don’t really understand, why are you on job seekers and not disability benefits?

I haven't contacted my MP, I didn't think they could do anything.

I'm on jobsseekers as they said I am able to work because I can raise 1 arm above my head. The reconsideration is for disability benefits, bit it will take several months before I can get a hearing. They expect me to jobseek until my hearing.

I asked her what job she recommends that literally involves raising one arm, she suggested care work 🙄i said I'm absolutely not able to do care work and she accused me of being lazy and argumentative.

I echo @NrlySp's advice to contact your MP. He/she will employ constituency staff to investigate and chase up this kind of query. And/or your local CAB. There's also a benefits charity called Turn2us, 'though I have no personal experience of it.

Thank you, I'll email my MP now.

Its just awful, I wish I could work, I was so much better off, I wouldn't choose to live like this, but I'm treated like some lazy person scrounging and being awkward for the sake of it. It's horrendous. When I ask for her advice on what she thinks I can do she tells me it's not her job, she told me to stop putting my sick lines in as well, then when I did stop she berated me for not putting them in, the following week I saw a different guy as she was off, and he said she had written that she had advised me to stop putting them in.

Shes just awful.

Should you not be on ESA?

Have you been previously assessed for disability, is this what you are saying? And you were declined? So are appealing?

Is your GP providing fit notes saying you are unable to work? I do understand how ridiculous their criteria can be. My benefits were recently stopped. I am housebound for a number of reasons but last year had an accident and had to be taken by ambulance to hospital, This apparently means I am capable of leaving the house alone, catching public transport and working full time. It also cured me of several life long conditions!

I was on this when I first applied, but they stopped it since I was declared fit to work, by someone who I have never seen.

I've been told it's fine, I'll get money backdated if I win my appeal, but I cant starve my kids and tell them that it's OK because I'll feed them 20 meals in a few months time.

Their dad (we split ages ago) also quit his job recently because he and his girlfriend thought it would be more financially viable for him to look after her kids and her to work so the pittance I got in maintenence has also stopped.

It’s a little hard to understand but it seems you applied for disability benefits, they assessed you and declared you fit for work.

as such you had to claim job seekers. And the woman then is maintaining you are fit to work.

you are appealing rhe disbility findings but at the moment she needs to follow the findings you are fit to work.

in the mean time you have to keep putting in sick notes?

so the fundamental issue is you have been declared fit to work by rhe disability assessor? Not this woman?

Do not tolerate being spoken to that way. I bet the job centre has signs all over about not tolerating abuse of the staff, so I'd take it higher. Be stubborn, say you are not accepting her attitude. These people are there to help, but make your life intolerable.

You're doing everything you should be and I think it can be an absolute shock for somebody who's never claimed benefits before or had to go to a jobcentre to be faced with the reality of it. You are treated like a scrounger by some members of staff there, no matter your situation. I remember one of my advisors was similarly nasty yet didn't know what I meant by the phrase 'exam board' when discussing qualifications. How was she meant to advise me of anything?

Keep a record of every interaction, keep any kind of proof you have to show that you are trying to comply and make a complaint about the advisor. Also contact your MP as your situation is just appalling. I had a friend who worked at the jobcentre so I knew that the awful woman I had been assigned to had had multiple complaints made about her. I was eventually assigned to a different advisor who actually treated me like a person.

Yes, I filled out the form, they said I could work, I appealed, again they said I could work so not I've appealed for an independent review, the letter said it could take several months.

I asked why I had been found fit when I had no use of my arm, and can't move my head and neck, plus side effects from medication and the FND causes one of my legs to have pretty permanent pins and needles in it, they said I can raise one arm so I can work.

so the fundamental issue is you have been declared fit to work by rhe disability assessor? Not this woman?

A bit of both, she is awful, she lies, she gives me appointment times she knows I can't keep and then tells me if I have to change it again she will stop my benefits. I have written in my journal several times that I can only attend appointments after 4pm but she still makes appointments at times I cannot do.

I was never seen by any assessor, I filled in a form and that was it, they decided from that I could work. I asked to be seen and I was refused. I see my doctor and physio and neurologist regularly and they are shocked.

Yes I think that’s the fundamental issue is the disability assessment has you as fit to work, and you have then lost the appeal. As such you have no choice but to be on job seekers. And this woman can’t accept you are not fit to work.as you e been formally assessed and found to be fit.

it sounds very odd they have assessed you as fit to work so I’m not sure many folks ca. advise if you’ve got an independent review also coming.

I'm really scared to complain about her, she has made it very clear she will have no hesitation in stopping my benefits if I don't comply with everything she tells me to do, even though she makes it bloody impossible to. If I complain I think she would do it out of spite.

I would speak to your local McMillan welfare rights person.
They were a great help to me when I claimed. I found the contact number on the mcmillan website

I'm not sure how they found me fit to work, I assumed I would be seen by a doctor of theirs, but it was literally me filling in a form and them deciding I could work from that, twice.

I 100% would not have given up my job, which I loved, if I had a choice.

I was never seen by any assessor, I filled in a form and that was it

but you said above you had a virtual meeting? They were all virtual during Covid.

part of job seekers is you need to be available to work, and if you’re available to work you can make appts at the job centre during working hours, but you are not available due to caring responsibilities for your child. So it’s a vicious circle.

Can you ask to be moved to a different adviser?

I know it's wrong how they're treating you and I'm not saying they're right, but as a matter of survival I would just play their game. Okay she wants you to apply for jobs. Isn't it usually five a week or something? Write a basic CV and send it to five oversubscribed jobs per week, in your application letter that you will copy and paste for every job, briefly mention your disability, but don't make it sound like you're making it obvious you can't do the job. You won't get the jobs, but at least the woman will get off your back. They can't sanction you for not finding a job, only for not searching. It's only temporary until you get the disability sorted or change advisers.

OP, if you have a disability you should investigate whether you qualify for Personal Independence Payment. This is separate from UC and has different conditions for qualification. I would ask your GP for a referral to occupational therapy. Someone will visit you and assess your needs. You need 8 points for an award for Daily Living Activities. If the OT gives you some aids and adaptions that will help you get points.

I'd also pursue the challenge to the decision for capability for work on UC.

Depends a bit on the culture at the Job Centre, but a lengthy complaint to the manager citing examples of unfair treatment and requesting that you are switched to a different job coach might shift things.

Sorry you are going through this.
MP is great advice but I would urge you to find a local charity who provide benefit advisors who will help you and possibly advocate for you, the system isn't fit for purpose and weighted against you.
You're having the worst time and you need a bit of help.

If she gives you day time appointments just take your kids. If they don't let you in with the kids, ask at least three of the other staff at the door to write a log of it (and show it to you) that you attended. Eventually the other staff might realise you're being messed around.

I'm not sure they can help, the cancer has been gone for about a year now, and I wasn't involved with them at the time, fortunately it wasn't too serious (thyroid, so quite a 'good' one to get, if you have to get it apparently) but the after effects certainly have been awful, and life changing.

I'll give them a ring in the morning though and see what they say.

Thank you for all the advice. I feel so helpless, I have to stay on the good side of someone who blatantly dislikes me to be able to feed my kids

Plan of attack is MP then McMilllan, and make a diary.

Am I allowed to record in the jobcentre? Does anyone know?