UC and volunteering

[GlitteryFarts]

Hi everyone just looking for some advice.
Recently started claiming Universal Credit as out of work. Have applied for a few jobs and have had an interview rescheduled for next week but in the meantime I'm unemployed.
Had my first universal credit meeting last week and was advised due to the ages of my children I will be advised to job search for 25 hours a week which I was already aware of. I volunteer for 16 hours a week at a local charity which the role is directly connected to what job I am searching for an is providing experience in the area.
The gov website states that volunteering can count towards 50% of your work search (so 12.5 hours in my case) but when I mentioned this to my job coach last week he was dismissive of this and said it is subjective whether volunteering leads to direct employment and while he has no problem with me volunteering he would also like me to demonstrate 25 hours of job search along side it. This equates to 41 hours a week and after just this week I am exhausted and completely burnt out. Up at 6, drop kids at breckfast club at 8, home to clean for an hr and half before heading off to volunteer until 2, school to collect kids, home, cook, homework, bath, bedtimes, and then I am staying up til 1am to fulfil my job search hours and back up again at 6 to do it all again.
I have another appointment next week and want to bring this up with him again and will go armed with the screenshot I have from the gov website, but how can I word it? I have heard experiences of people challenging job coaches and them being sanctioned for something petty a week or two later and I'm desperate not to rock the boat.
I don't want to drop my volunteering hours as there a few jobs coming up which would be perfect and I know I would be considered for them which I have already explained to him!
Please help me how to challenge him politely but assertively about this? Or any advice?

Sorry just to add I am a single parent so nobody to share the load with.

Why are you paying for breakfast club if you are unemployed ? Surely Uc won't pay towards that? Surely you wouldn't need to get up at 6am if you didn't need to drop them there ? I doubt they can sanction you for challenging them. How much checking up does your work coach do ? My experience of being on JSA this year for a few months was that they never asked to see any evidence of work searching at all

Breckfast club was on the verge of being fully booked so I am paying for that out my own pocket (£10 a week) to ensure they have a place for when I start working or my hours will be even more restricted when job searching. After school club was fully booked by the 1st week of sept.

I've only had the one initial meeting so far so not sure how much they check into how I'm spending my hours but too scared to not do it incase I get sanctioned. I've read horror stories and trying my best to comply to avoid it.

I am on UC too. I don't currently have any requirements on me to search for work, as I am a full time carer for my severely disabled husband. However, I have wondered how they can check that you are actively searching for work, do you have to prove it somehow?

Why won’t you consider dropping your volunteering hours?

Because there are a number of posts becoming available very soon which I know I will be considered for and don't want to seem flakey as it is a lovely organization and would fit perfectly with school hours in a good paying job I know I would love. If I drop my hours they will question my commitment.

My husbands experience was that so long as he's showing he's applying for some jobs they don't really check how many hours it took.

She's explained the relationship between volunteering and her work plans.

I'm not sure. I have to log everything in my journal but I am saving emails etc I receive in response to applications just in case.

Sorry cross post.

Just take the screenshot and phrase it as you're confirming, in line with govt guidance, that 12.5hrs of your volunteering hours is counted within the 25 job search hours.

Re your schedule. Why are you up at 6 to drop off at 8 and then cleaning every day for an hour and half, there must be some days you can get up slightly later and then use that hour and a half to get some of your 25 hours done. Are your dc not old enough to do homework independently while you do some job searching? There are definitely things you can change in the short term to make life easier for yourself.

Maybe my issue is that I'm being too pedantic about it then. I'm literally recording "search x website 30 mins, applied for x job 1.5 hrs" etc

4 children all Primary School aged so mornings can be manic getting them all ready and I don't drive so we have to walk 25 mins to school. I wish they would do homework independently, I do try, multitasking in the background but be there if they need help but I feel like I should be more attentive as a Mum and feel guilty! As for the cleaning, its really the only chance I get as when they're here it gets messed as quick as I clean haha. No excuses just my routine I think I need to look at, will see where I can juggle hours a bit better.

That was exactly my experience of claiming contributions based JSA. they never asked to see any evidence.

I think you need to take a pragmatic short time pain for long term gain approach whilst doing what you can to make things easier eg

put in a query about the volunteering - website says, job coach says, please clarify.

tell breakfast club you'll pay for the week to keep places, but won't be sending them. Then catch up on some sleep!

cut down on the cleaning. A little short term mess is worth it.

if you can, be more general in your journal eg 10 hours job seeking activity including applying for a, b, c and prep for interview next week at y could include building skills for y interview by volunteering.

Good luck with the interview!!!

Sorry that was supposed to be bullet Ted, not huge bold text!!!

Thankyou andweallsingalong. I didn't even consider the paying for breckfast club and not sending them to be honest. That extra hour in bed would be a god send right now. I think I will try and approach the recording less strictly and will speak to him again and ask for clarification next week definitely. Hopefully this stress is all for nothing and I'm successful at interview next week!!

It’s been a while since I claimed, so memory is a little hazy but I just used to list the jobs I applied for with date/time. I usually had 10-15 jobs applied for, they never asked for evidence of those but most sites record what you’ve applied for, so easily obtained if needed.

Most jobs only took 5-10 mins to apply for, if it was a CV/cover letter application because I had various versions saved that only needed the odd word tweaking. The job websites did the bulk of the actual ‘searching’ for me because I set up notifications, so I don’t know where I would have put in the 25 hours. If they’d asked, I’d have just put 15-30 mins browsing per website, I don’t know how they would have checked unless they accessed my browsing history.

See pretty much all of the jobs I'm applying for aren't taking cvs. It is all application forms that need my information ammending to fit their boxes and criteria and its taking ages! I wish I could just bang off.a few cvs left right and center but its not how it works in the line of work I'm trained in. Of course I've tried a few supermarkets etc as well but even they have all these psychometric tests that take an age before you can even see the application form itself. Draining....

Do they want proof of applying for jobs? Eg and email confirmation?
If so, I would be inclined to find a type of job or employer that only wants a cv and apply for a few of those so you can say ‘applied for three jobs’ and buy yourself a bit of breathing space.

This is why people apply for jobs on indeed etc where you can often just bang off a saved cv. and a lot of people don’t respond when invited to interview. I’m sure it used to be 3 jobs a fortnight but might be more. Absolutely put your effort into applications you’re interested in but just top with a couple of quick filler jobs if necessary. They send a confirmation email you can save for evidence.

Thanks for replies everyone. I haven't been asked for evidence but saving it all none the less incase I'm randomly asked. Have uploaded my cv to indeed for jobs that accept them.