UC sanctions should be temporarily lifted

[Needachangee]

NC as been discussing with a friend who uses MN

I am on UC currently but have been sanctioned for missing appointments as my mum was in hospital. I had a single piece of toast yesterday, I just started my period, it’s 30 degrees and I have 3 potatoes and half a tin of beans to last until Monday. That’s when I can apply for a hardship payment that I might not even receive and if I do it won’t come through till Tuesday.

AIBU to think sanctions should be lifted temporarily with the cost of living crisis. I understand that there has to be consequences and incentives to make people attend the job centre but the alternative is people like myself are close to starving. The only positive outlook I have is I’m starting work in September. Food banks are scarce as everyone is struggling to buy their own shops let alone donate.

The country is on its knees so I know there can’t be an increase in UC and as I say I will be earning myself soon enough but as I’ve been sanctioned the most I will get is £100 if I’m accepted for a hardship payment to see me through till payday in September. I think sanctions should be banned temporarily as a help to people like the increase during lockdown.

Nonsense.

Yours.
Someone with SPD

how do you measure looking for work 35 hours a week? How can that be proved? Is that even possible?

@ImWell how would they not be entitled to a penny if unemployed? A lot of people claiming universal credit are working

@Happyhippy99 you’re a judgmental piece aren’t you?
And considering some nurses can’t manage on their wage then you’re wrong to assume someone on benefits is squandering what little they get.
You ought to be ashamed.

I agree OP, I think sanctions are cruel and completely unnecessary.

Those who seek out to abuse the benefits system will abuse it regardless, sanctions won’t change that. These people are by far in the minority of benefit claimants.

The amount claimants are given to live on is already meagre and to take away what little they do have is cruel and to live under the threat of it being taken away at any point must be awfully stressful.

Correct me if I am wrong but I am of the understanding you can’t take children to job centre appointments. So let’s assume you have 2 kids, you are without a regular childcare provider because you are out of work obviously, a kind neighbour agrees they can look after kids but only for an hour so you can attend your appointment. You therefore have a very limited time in which to travel to and attend your appointment. There is one bus you can catch, that bus runs late making you late for appointments which results in a sanction.

Please tell me how this person has been irresponsible or wilfully missed their appointment. Yes of course they can appeal and the appeal will likely be granted, but gosh imagine having to go through that stress ever time you have an appointment.

Honestly I don’t understand how we live among such an amount of people completely devoid of compassion for others.

I doubt that the majority of people in the position such as OP would ever in a million years choose to live like this!!

In a cost of living crisis and with attitudes like this I fear for the world we live in!

Disgusting superior attitudes of some people genuinely has me shocked!

In some cases because they have rainy-day savings, to avoid them needing to claim, or a second home, but in others because they have no recourse to public funds as a condition of their immigration status.

The idea that no-one ha savings, investments or so on, and so is “one upset away from” living on benefits shows a very sad and limited mindset and worldview.

OP is in dire straights with her money being stopped, and you drop in to make a comment about how you don't think her MH struggles are a real thing.

Was there any need at all for that? Other than make her feel shit and invalidated, what did you hope to achieve with your input?

You enter it into an online journal.
It looks a lot like this:

Friday 12th August
Indeed - 2 hours looking through jobs. Apied for 3, see applications.
Reed - 2.5 hours looking through jobs. Applied for 2, see application.
Local Facebook Job Page, 1.6 hours looking through. Applied for 1 see applications.

Then on the journal is a separate section for Job Applications.
You detail the role, the company, the date you applied etc.

Job coach has access to see all that and looks at it. They can, and have, called employers I've applied with to check how I got on.. which is also a check to make sure I've really applied.. one coach called the head of Heron (freezer store) to make sure I'd applied and that I wasn't lying when I said I had..

I think there's a total disconnect between people who have lived privileged lifestyles, probably with generous parents,, who think that the very idea of having responsibilities, of having to attend an appointment to receive £100 or so in benefits is completely unreasonable and not worth it for such a pittance. On the other side there's people that earn less than that for a days work, and they have to get up and show up to work on time 5 days a week, and work for 8 hours.

Thats not what she said though.

The problem is if there are no sanctions, there are no consequences for failing to take it seriously enough and life isnt like that. An employed person can't just drop everything, why should an unemployed person be able to?

Why was it that low ? The standard allowance for someone 25+ is £334 per month. If it was so much lower you must have had some earnings as well or other deductions.

agree

OP when you are at work next month you will have to be there on time. If you don't go and don't communicate you will lose your job. Take accountability and change your mindset.

Good luck

I have mixed feelings on sanctions, OP. Yes, they are punitive and affect the people with the least but some people need a 'prod' to attend appointments and fulfil their UC commitments. However, I don't feel sanctions should be handed out lightly and a person's circumstances should be factored in.
It is really important to inform UC via your journal of any and all reasons you can't make appointments so that they can be rescheduled or made into a telephone call if possible.
As a piss-poor single parent with PND (back in the day), I remember having to prioritise my income support appointments; it can be a struggle and I sympathise.

What a nasty attitude. I feel sorry for the people you look after.

This person at the time had not been told to search for a certain amount of jobs.

The point is if the decision was overturned then it proves the advisor was wrong to sanction or refer to sanction in the first place. The person ended up getting the money back but in the meantime was left without money for food etc.

The advisor should have been fined a days wages and made to apologise.

you wouldnt lose your job instantly actually. You cant just sack people on the spot. This is also a very rude and condescending post. Dont forget it can happen to anyone.

@ImWell
You can have a certain amount of savings and have a mortgage and still be eligible for claiming benefits though and if your lucky enough to have significant savings they will eventually run out and need to rely on benefits no one can say for definite that they will never be in that position.

OP is in dire straights with her money being stopped, and you drop in to make a comment about how you don't think her MH struggles are a real thing.

Was there any need at all for that? Other than make her feel shit and invalidated, what did you hope to achieve with your input?

^ hmm ok. Have a read of #traumanotPD and maybe you'll understand. I am fully supportive of OP. You just don't understand a psychological model of distress as opposed to a psychiatric one.

@Lillygolightly you are wrong, you would take the children with you to the jobcentre. That is totally normal and expected.

If you have children under 1 you would not be expected to work or look for work and would not need to have any appointments at all. If any of the children are under 3 you are not expect to work or look for work, but you would be expected to do work prep and are invited to appointments every 3 months/ 4 times a year to work towards that, and the children would be expected at the appointments- once the children are 3-5 you would be entitled to some limited childcare (15 hours per week) and would be expected to look for some work around with the childcare. Appointments can be rescheduled around pick up times

where did i say it was me this happened too. How do you know i havent worked for the DWP dont assume?

I’ve never seen so many disgusting replies. Sanctions should not exist. When did we accept that the government can deny people a food source? Why do we allow this to happen? Because people are so wrapped up in others seemingly getting something for nothing? Because everyone knows a benefits scrounged, someone who is milking the system? (You don’t by the way).
i volunteer, filling forms for people involved with the DWP. I’m currently helping someone who has a) been denied PiP, and b has been sanctioned for swearing on a phone call. He has early onset dementia. He has no idea why his money hasn’t come through or that he has been sanctioned. This is the norm, it isn’t a rarity. But you all think sanctions are fine ‘if applied properly’. Fine to remove food from people. Nasty fuckers think that, not human beings.