Expected to attend UC interview while working

[WellThisIsStupid]

We claimed UC as we were migrated from tax credits (we only got CTC as DH earned too much for WTC).

The migration coincidentally occurred when DH was made redundant.

DH has been employed for a month. He had an interview with his work coach in the first week, which he cancelled due to being at work. This was fine.

His employment started in the middle of our assessment period, so the payment reflected that and clearly states the wages reported from his employer.

He has now been given another mandatory work commitment interview next week. He put a message on the journal saying that as already reported he is working and cannot attend.

I've just seen a message for him on the journal. It states that he still needs to attend. That he will have to go to these interviews until the HMRC confirm that he has been paid. Even then he will still need to attend until he has had his first wage!!!

The thing is he has ALREADY been paid; he gets wages, so is paid weekly, furthermore, they HAVE proof of his wages as they paid us less this month due to the wages reported by his employer!

They've said he needs to attend the phone appointment on Tuesday. He drives for a living! Can he realistically be expected to answer a call, whilst driving a bus load of children or pensioners?

Should he take the day off and lose his job? Is that what they expect?

He works 40+ hours a week Mon-Fri (5/6am - 6-7pm although it changes daily as it's ad hoc, he's had to work through the night on a couple of occasions and occasionally weekends), so there is no ability to make an appointment in advance.

I really don't know what to say to them. I've told him, but he's working and not replied, and I know he won't sign into his account at lunch time.

Okay so he misses the call, so what? He'll be sanctioned but he's working so presumably your benefits will stop anyway?

No need for the massive drama. It's hardly outrageous to have to take a phone call to access free money ffs

Benefits don't necessarily stop because you're working.

OP is going through the process of applying for LCWRA so it's worth keeping the claim open even if the amount is nill until it's in place.

So either your dh makes time for the call or doesn’t claim UC.
Seems like a fairly cut and dried choice.

You're absolutely right!

It's easy to see why for a lot of people not working would be preferable to working 40+ hours a week and still be hassled...

Just send another journal message saying he can’t attend due to being at work on that day. If they send another appointment on a day he can’t do, send another message. Nothing will happen, except they may ask what his working pattern is. As said, they might not have checked his wages from the current assessment period, but they definitely can check on any day they like, as I had a similar experience, I rejected about 8 appointments for the same reason and they eventually realised what my earnings were and stopped messaging me. As long as you document in the journal a valid reason there won’t be a comeback.

We all have to do stuff we don’t like and don’t find convenient.

Not all of us threaten to throw in the towel because it’s hard. Some of us just make it work.

Getting free money is such a hardship

And yes, I currently claim UC myself alongside working full-time. A benefit that I am extremely grateful for

Not the point of your post but I thought there was a limit of 10hours driving a day for bus/lorry drivers I hope your partners company is not asking him to exceed this

Doesn't sound like they're giving him adequate rest periods between shifts either

Did you have a combined income of £1437 or above in your last assessment period? If not, that is why he is still required to attend appointments.

Does he get a lunch break or take tea breaks - could an appointment be arranged in this time? Are the earnings expected to be £1437 or above at the end of the next assessment period? If so, at the appointment ask if an override can be set until the end of the next AP.

He shouldn't have a work requirement because he is @WellThisIsStupid 's carer.

He will not be getting carers allowance if he is earning above £151 per week.

I know it is difficult, but the phone call will be done and dusted in 5-10 minutes.

He can still get carers element though as that has no earnings limit. And getting carers element will exempt him from work requirements on UC.

OP have him go into his journal and report a change of circumstances to declare that he is your carer. That done, he can ignore the appointment because carers cannot be sanctioned.

For safety's sake, stick a note in the journal saying that he is a carer and should not need to attend work interviews, so could they please cancel the appointment

And I agree with you , it's overwhelmingly stupid that people are expected to attend jobcentre appointments for the first month or two after starting new jobs - right when they need to be reliable and making a good impression.

It's likely because if he started the new job half way through the month then not a full month's earnings have been reported so he may still be falling under the AET. Do you work? If earnings are under the AET then it will trigger this kind of appointment.
As others have said if you get daily living PIP and if he is providing 35 hours of care a week to you around his work then he can claim the carers element which will stop these appointments.

I've gone through the journal and it was reported that he was caring for me, right from the beginning.

What happened though was one work coach said that it didn't matter and he still had to do intensive work searches, even though it was listed as he was caring for someone, as he hadn't claimed Carer's Allowance.

He then applied for it and was given it (meaning we have to pay back some UC as it was backdated), but that still hasn't lessened his commitments.

@WellThisIsStupid that work coach is incorrect.

You don't have to claim carers allowance to claim the carers element and with the carers element there is no work commitments.

Ask for someone else to have a look at it.

Also you shouldn't be paying back any of the carers element, it should be paid to you!

Someone's really buggered up here, ask for it to be escalated to a case manager because it's really wrong.

If carers allowance has been back dated, then it would cause a UC overpayment

However, if your partners earning are over £151 a week, they wouldn’t be able to claim carers allowance.

Sorry, but how? If you don’t attend they just block your payments. You seem to be under the impression we’re dealing with a fair, rational system here.

You can claim one or the other.

@thisthisfilmisboring123 I'm not talking about carers allowance, I'm talking about the carers element which ops DH is entitled to claim no matter what his earning are and they turn off work commitments and appointments.

So if OP has claimed carers element that should back dated to the date the claim started and they may be entitled to backpay but they shouldn't be deducted anything for it.

They don’t block. In a worse case scenario payments would be sanctioned for not attending.

OP partner would leave a journal message explaining why they didn’t attend and tell them they were working.

Highly unlikely that wouldn’t be deemed a good enough reason. However, if it were, OP could appeal.

No way decision wouldn’t go in their favour.

@Anotherworrier you can claim both if you're eligible to.

But OP stated they had applied for carers allowance and it was back dated.
Hence why they have an overpayment of universal credit. It’s not a mistake.

@tthisfilmisboring123 My mistake, I thought OP had said she claimed carers element, and that's what they said regarding carers element not allowance.

However as stated multiple times in this thread to help OP fix this problem, she needs to go onto her journal and do a COC to say DH is caring for her so the carers element is added and he'll have no work commitments or appointments.