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.

I never remotely said she was sanctioned by compliance or because they suspected someone was off.

i said they want the op in, and they’re not going to accept excuses, and I would put a bet on it that she’s on their radar.

Not necessarily, since covid restrictions were lifted then everyone in the specific work group to need a wc is expected to attend the job centre for appointments, don't have to be on their radar to be expected to attend in person.

I would agree this has happened before though and maybe the excuses given are getting a little bit thin.

Seems to be a rash of it at the moment, friend just been sanctioned yet again for missing an appointment he knew nothing about. He went in to apply for the loan thing and was told it would be sorted by end of day and it wasn’t- yesterday for the bank holiday. They said they will give him zero this month.

Oh yes, and no return? The 'give me your money' posts are getting more and more elaborate

Very very easy to prove.

the appointment would have been listed on this UC account with date and time.

So if he knew nothing about it, it was because he hasn’t bothered to check his UC account, which is one of his commitments.

He would have been correctly sanctioned and if there really had been no meeting scheduled on his account - then he would not have been sanctioned for missing

PMSL!
I'm only on page 2 and some of the replies are hilarious.

I actually really chuckled at the hanging onto the back of the bus comment.

Some people are utterly clueless.

I have been having issues yesterday on the govs website for jsa it kept freezing on me, so op is not necessarily lying about the website being down?

I last claimed jsa about 9 years ago and i was treated absolutely disgustingly by every member of staff there. I too came on one day and was told i was sanctioned for absolutely no reason, i did exactly what i had been told to do the week before, the woman didnt even sit down at the desk to give me the news she just walked out the staff room, called my name and sanctioned me. So absolutely many job center workers abuse their positions, and many claimants are too vulnerable to complain. I just lost my job and im furiously applying for new jobs because the thought of signing onto jsa again is causing me so much stress.

Op, have you called the number to appeal?

I can't describe the feeling of utter dread that encompasses me when I get a text message saying 'you have a new message from Universal Credit, please log into your journal'. I actually brace for impact and log in with only one eye open.

She has called the number I think as she wrote "If I call, it's a call centre and nothing is achieved, they appear to be message takers."

I just wanted to quote myself again.

And relax....

UC is paid in arrears, so the poster should have been paid as usual that month before starting work as it was the money from the previous month.
her claim was ending, so she had no need to do anything as she no longer received UC.
they sanctioned her and stopped the payment they owed her from the previous month when she had been in compliance with their rules.

It was Lord Freud who was made Minister of State for Welfare Reform under Cameron that devised harsher sanctions. He was an investment banker for many years and so v wealthy. Many groups at the time said the sanctions would cause a lot of suffering. All ignored.

Couldn’t make head nor tail of that tbh

We have three buses a day here. I can be in town for ten minutes or four hours. A return trip, the last time I did it about five years ago, was £7.50. I missed the second appointment because I wasn't notified in time (it was actually the day after). They send a message to my phone, but because we are in carrot crunching country, internet and phone signal is dodgy at times. I've explained all this to her. Other work coaches have been fine (I've missed three appointments in the last three years) and I'm always early. I'm reluctant to take poorly paid work because Universal Credit take 65p from every £1 I earn. If it's poorly paid to start with, it would cost ME money to work. I was offered a job for 12 hours at B&M at the minimum wage, but by the time I deducted everything, I would be £95 poorer. Crazy, I know. I had to turn it down. There was no chance of more hours because I checked before turning it down.

Wow. I haven't been back because the internet here is not brilliant. I did NOT lie about the website being down, every time I tried, I received a different code each time that didn't work. By the time the code came through, the time had elapsed. I resent being called a liar. Yes, I manage to fund my car, I pay car tax monthly which, incidentally, is more expensive than paying it 6 monthly or annually. My car insurance is £11 a month, but only because I dispensed with the legal advice and European travel and I look for quotes a month before it's due as it's cheaper than looking for it the day or week before it's due - you can check this yourselves. I fund a car because the bus service is here is rubbish. I live quite rurally. I live in council owned sheltered housing and the rent has risen from £25 a month to £49. My council tax has also gone up by £7. I try to pay all my bills on the day I receive Universal Credit and then whatever is left is mine. Currently about £25 a week. I am actively looking for work but my age is against me. I have never committed benefit fraud either.

But once you'd had the 12 hours at BM, you could have got another job with more hours and built up from there. You have to start somehow. It sounds like you've been doing this for three years if I'm reading that rightly, so anything is a foot in the door, and holding out for better paid roles is essentially ruling out anything you've any chance of getting. How is that going to work out for you?

You need to phone up today and ask the call handler if the sanction is ongoing or whether it's ended. You may be penalised every day until you've attended an appointment. The call handler will need to send a form through to job centre to get you booked in asap if your sanction is ongoing.

Do this first, appeal second. An appeal may take ages to resolve and you may be being penalised in the meantime.

Op - you don’t get any deductions from UC for the first £564 and then a 55p off the pound.

so really - no excuse for you to refuse low paid work because Uc would take it all. They most certainly would not

face to face appointments have only been in place since beginning of 2022, so the 3 you have missed over 3 years would have been in very close proximity to one another!

By turning down that BM job on the basis that you would have been worse off is benefit fraud.

Because it is utter nonsense. UC take nothing off your earnings until you have taken home or after any tax etc £564 and then it takes 55p off the pound.

so every last penny you would have earned in that BM job would have gone in to your pocket.

Haven't read back to check, but you only get the work allowance if you have kids, otherwise its 55p in the £ off your total allowance with no allowance.

But there is no way someone would be worse off by taking a job, that isn't how UC works.

And it's 594 if you don't have housing costs, less if you do for the work allowance

@Allthegoodnamesaregoneffs

the op is in council housing and receives HB so…

The monthly work allowances are set at:
£344 If you are getting housing costs as part of your Universal Credit award, or housing costs from the Local Authority because you are in temporary accommodation
£573 If you do not receive housing support

and these figures are after all deductions ie take home

so she would receive £344. both our mistakes. But 12 hour job with BM - in her pocket

for clarity

www.gov.uk/government/publications/universal-credit-work-allowances/universal-credit-work-allowances