I've made a complaint about my Work Coach

[BobISMyUncle]

and now I've been sanctioned. I couldn't attend an appointment due to lack of petrol and a lack of funds to get there. I receive my Universal Credit on the 10th of each month, and my appointment was made (by them) for the 8th. I receive the princely sum of £324 per month. I wrote on my Journal that I could not make this appointment due to lack of money to buy petrol. I received a reply (it was heavy sighing, even in the Journal entry, if that makes sense!) and stated that she would "ring me on this occasion". This appointment is a 23 mile round trip and costs about £5.00
During my phone call, I was told that "you need to manage your money better". Sadly, I'm one of those people who think of brilliant retorts about ten minutes after I need them! Nonetheless, I was still quite surprised at her remark but didn't get the chance to answer as she was determined to move the conversation on. These meetings are mandatory. They must be attended otherwise sanctions will be applied.
Hey Presto! I'm sanctioned. I don't know by how much because the website is down (conveniently?) I can't appeal against the decision because the website is down. I can't do anything. If I call, it's a call centre and nothing is achieved, they appear to be message takers. I would like to talk with someone who has a little empathy. AND! YE GODS! I've missed another appointment! More sanctions coming my way! This, from a Civil Servant. I wonder, how much do I have to live on next month? My work coach suggested that I do care work. I wonder if it's because she will be needing it from her other clients? I am not rubbing my hands in glee because I'm far too busy making room for her in the patio and well tended gardens of my sheltered housing accommodation. LOL! This is funny, but serious. Advice please x

Not Impressed of East Anglia.

This is incorrect, the work coach themselves do not sanction people, that is a Decision Maker.

And there has NEVER been targets for sanctions whatsoever.

To the people on this thread making ridiculous suggestions of borrowing a bike and riding 23 miles or putting a fiver aside.

Seriously, are you that out of touch.

Could you live on £344.51 a month. That's to cover all your bills and food.

People are living in poverty and barely surviving. Have some empathy.

While I get what you're saying, OP can afford to keep her car.

I'm going to be flamed for this but....

I'd hazard a guess that a significant proportion of claimants struggle to afford transport but prioritise this to ensure they get to appointments and there avoid being sanctioned. The OP doesn't actually state any mitigation other than not having petrol money. If the job centre showed 'empathy' to everyone in OP's situation then no one would attend their routine appointments. Failure to hold back £5 petrol money is entirely on the OP here. Yes things are incredibly bleak and £5 is potentially a few days worth of food but now it looks like your situation is so much worth due to the entirely foreseeable sanction. I'm not saying the sanction is right or justifiable in the current financial climate but it was inevitable in the situation

We are fast approaching a situation where employees struggle to afford their daily commute. Rest assured most employers will not be showing empathy and will not continue to pay people who don't turn up.

If you have a car and transport then you are immediately more employable than a lot of people. Whilst care work may not be preferable to other sectors if that's all that's on the table right now that's significantly more appealing than managing on £350 a month. We live in an economy where choices and options cost money and that's the sad reality.

Op could also take one of the jobs offered if didn't want to live on such low money. Yes it is hard to live on such low money but in many countries in the world it would be nothing if you didn't work. Its not supposed to be a picnic.

Oh shush!!!

Sorry this has happened to you OP it is very unfair.
I hate the assumption on these threads that everyone looking for work should ‘just do care work’. I teach in the care sector and care work requires a specialist set of skills, values, beliefs and attitudes. People should go into care work because they have a genuine passion for helping people, not because they will lose their benefits. This approach is making the situation in the care sector even worse as it is full of people they really don’t want to be there. This does not lead to the high quality care people deserve.

I recently stopped self employment as a temp winter job I took on asked me to stay on, and it's less stressful than SE. So I informed universal credits 2 weeks before my assessment period. 1 week before my assessment period they tell me I need to provide proof I've left SE. I send a message asking how to do that. 3/4 days go by with no reply (I sent a few more messages in this time and rang up but was told to wait for a journal reply) finally got a reply saying I needed to ring hmrc and get a firm of some sort (can't remember the name). So I ring hmrc who say they do not send a letter out until I've filled in my last tax return and ticked "no longer SE", the guy says uc should know this. So I send a journal note explaining this. 2 more days pass, the next day is the end of my assessment period, if I don't provide this "proof" I won't get paid. Literally 10am the day before my AP I get a message saying I can just use my contract from my new job. I started work at 12. So mad rush to get to the job centre (wouldn't let me email it). Luckily I drive or else I'd not have been able to do it.

Lol it isn't if you can't ride a bike.

Absolutely. To those saying ‘just do care work’, I wonder whether they’d want an elderly relative or loved one looked after by someone with no skills, aptitude, desire, or even physical capacity to do the work.

The DWP also have a Flexible Support Fund the aim of which is to fund the expenses that help people get back into work. Bicycles is one thing that the FSF can be used for. It's also used for phones if a claimant doesn't have one. It's entirely discretionary but it's a grant not a loan. Definitely worth asking about if your travel costs are prohibitive and you are able to cycle.

Where documents need uploading you should ask for an upload link. If they won't provide one then complain.

Fuck my old boots, Norman Tebbitt has turned up.

Its not the OP being an arse here.

I assume you would be delighted to have your infirm or incapable parents or disabled child or otherwise vulnerable relative looked after by any random with no relevant experience or qualifications, let alone aptitude?

Care work is not a dumping ground for anyone not working elsewhere. Its a skilled job requiring training, experience, DBS checks and usually a sense of vocation (for good carers at least). It may be badly paid and treated as "women's work" but its no less skilled for that.

Incidentally - the OP mentioned living in sheltered housing. Might want to consider that a working age adult in sheltered housing quite possibly has constraints on the work they can take on.

How sure are you that there are no targets?

DWP denied for a long time that there were targets to exclude the disabled and ill from PIP until a successful of whistle blowers described the process. Nobody wrote down the targets of course - they were "efficiencies" and "limited budgets" etc which were euphemisms for "reject people if you want your bonus". All implemented by a third party so conveniently deniable.

If there are no targets for sanctions /benefits (either within DWP or its third party suppliers) then why are so many metrics captured around performance of offices/groups which look at numbers of sanctions applied and levels of hardship grants etc (with clear expectations around both)?

Very unfair, they are people doing a job that they are paid to do. They do not make the rules of the benefit! I have many friends who work for the DWP and none of them are 'soulless' or disgusting. What a vile comment. Benefit rules are often unfair, and I agree UC is set up badly but don't blame the people who deliver those benefits, nobody would get paid if there was no one to work in these jobs?!

@hellswelshy sorry but in my experience the job centre employees and DWP decision makers speak to people like they are shit on their shoes and show absolutely no empathy towards people, just take PP saying they didn’t give a shit her dad had just died. I know they are doing a job but anyone with an ounce of morality wouldn’t work for them, I certainly wouldn’t.

They have left people I know in tears. It’s not me that’s vile.

As I said, they wouldn't allow me to upload it due to the nature of it.

Hopefully the system will all be automated soon and these “people” Will be on the other side of the fence and have plenty of time to reflect on their behaviour.

I actually think the governments aim is to make the experience so deeply unpleasant that people would rather starve than put themselves through it. I’m probably entitled to 4 times the amount of money I would get on universal credits versus tax credits but I can’t face the humiliation of going through the process.

It does sound tough op but you know when the appointment is, same date every month so you know you need to keep a fiver aside so you can afford to get there and it doesn’t sound like your work coach has done anything against their own guidelines

What does the OP do if there's an emergency repair or bill that's needed? Good luck saving £5 out of £334. Many people will be paying anything up to 20% council tax.

Perhaps Mumsnet could have a little fund of fivers is available for people to access. They could set up a page where we could all put in 10p each to make sure that nobody ever runs out of a fiver and can’t get to an interview.

It also assumes that prices are predictable.

The speed at which fuel prices rose left people in full time employment struggling to fill the tank to work so anyone living on the edge without a cosy buffer in the bank could be screwed even if they are normally a good budgeter.

Not everyone is able to cycle for several hours...

Again though, the government is responsible for the setting out of benefit legislation and laws NOT the people delivering them. I am sorry for those who have encountered ill treatment or individuals who have treated them badly or without respect. I assure you I am not defending how benefits are managed or the set up behind the scenes, but having worked in that setting I can categorically confirm the vast majority of staff are doing their best to deliver a service that is woefully underfunded and morale is low right now. These staff are dealing with vulnerable people daily and most get paid less than someone working in Aldi. I have seen staff leaving in droves, the higher management are oblivious as to why or don't care. So yes at some point it will be delivered digitally but that won't be a step up believe me.