To this is absolutely insane! Universal Credit Sanction

[ThisIsInsane]

Adult DD has had an absolute nightmare trying to get a job since she was fired just before Christmas,

She wasn’t happy in the role previous to that so applied for another, got it, gave her resignation. Three days into the new role, she was told, she wasn’t a good fit and immediately fired. She did absolutely nothing wrong btw.

This has massively affected her mental health. She’s never been fired before or been unemployed.

She has literally applied for over 1500 jobs since then, only got two interviews which she wasn’t successful at.

She missed a UC appointment in June. Not sure what exactly happened but she has evidence of her job search. At every appointment they tell her she’s applying for a lot of jobs and there’s noting they can do to help.

They have sanctioned her UC so she has only got £7!

According to the letter she has been sanctioned for 30 days for a first offence of missing one appointment after 6 months in which they have not helped her find a job!

She has an appointment later today and I’m planning to go with her to complain as she isn’t in the right head space to. I just think it’s totally disgusting! She lives at home luckily but can’t pay her phone bill even!

Imagine if she was living on her own and had no support!

AIBU to think this is extreme and unjustifiable punishment?

So how do you suggest that DWP kindly encourages people to get their arses out of bed and attend appointments, funded by the taxpayer, to try to get them in to work and paying taxes? I'm not sure that fluffy slippers and tea and cake will really cut it as much as "you have no beer tokens this month. If you want other people to pay your rent, don't miss your appointment".

I thought missing an appointment was a low-level sanction. That's normally a reduction of 40% of the standard allowance, and it's deducted for every day until you attend another appointment.

Has she missed appointments or anything before?

Can you or someone with experience of recruiting help with her applications?
Not do them for her, but be a critical eye.

I had a full day earlier in the week of shortlisting for a junior role - yes we have to rule people out, but gobsmacked at the completely obvious stuff that people miss in a cover letter.

But what was the date of the appt your DD missed in June OP? And when did she contact the DWP to rearrange it to today?
The rules are clear on .gov.uk: For the lowest level sanction, "it lasts from the date of the appointment until the day before you contact us to arrange a new one". So, given that her sanction is for 30 days, it appears that your DD left it at least 3 weeks before contacting the DWP to rearrange.

That’s it then. She left it way too long. Oh dear.

A lot of job applications are initially assessed by AI. Your daughter needs to ensure you follows the advice on the form as to how to complete the supporting statement etc. clearly something is not being liked on her applications to have such poor success.

as someone else said often applying for a job online is simply attaching one’s CV to the system. It’s not like the old days of actually handwriting an application form.

You daughter needs to check her CV is in an acceptable format. There was a mumsnetter on here who was applying for hundreds of jobs and being auto rejected for most of them. Another mumsnetter helped her out and it turned out that her CV was in the wrong format so AI filters couldn’t read it and she was being rejected because of that.

YANBU I feel for her. So unfair. I can remember a time when benefits were fair and adequate. Now there are so many stories like your daughter's.

Absolutely. And a number of PPs have agreed with OP that her DD is struggling with her MH and suggested she get a GP appt (which would change her claimant commitments if she gets LCW).

I was on UC and all they ask is for you to attend your appointments and submit proof of job applications. In return you get paid money. If she missed an appointment without even telling them on the journal (which is easy to do) then being sanctioned is a wake up call. She needs to treat the appointments seriously. Fingers crossed she gets a new job.

Yes sanctions are crap, and a punishment for daring to be poor and need help.
They serve no purpose other than to punish.
There has been protests for years about trying to get them stopped or made illegal. It hasn't happened though.
Best thing to do is appeal, with all your evidence.

Someone spending 16 hours a day in bed and missing appointments with no contact does not look "very keen to work". The system is not set up to punish people who are struggling, it's set up to give them enough money to survive for a short time to ensure they don't become dependent on handouts rather than supporting themselves.

The UK is no longer a "wealthy society"; we have pockets of wealth but the majority of working-age people are net recipients and draw from the state rather than contributing to the treasury.

Lots to deal with here.

1. The number of jobs is remarkable. But the strategy isn't working, so she needs to rethink. Is she on LinkedIn? Signed up with agencies? Try fewer more targeted applications. Has she reached out to everyone in her network?
2. Her MH is clearly tied up with what's happened to her the past 6 months. Challenging the manager was foolish, but like a PO I think she dodged a bullet. A lot of people struggle without the framework that work provides. She needs to be proactive to get better - set times for applying, finding jobs, exercise, social activities etc. She probably won't start thriving before she gets a job again, but she might feel less bad than she does now. Has she been offered any support about the assault?
3. Jobcenters are there to check you keep to the rules rather than help get jobs. Is there anyone else she knows who could look over her application and give feedback?

Perhaps ask them for advice re her mental health i think there is some flexibility there with a gp note going forwards.

I don’t blame DD at all for what she said. She was used to working in a corporate environment in London where she hadn’t experienced this type of environment and wasn’t expecting it (MD very foul mouthed apparently and was asking her lots of personal questions about having a boyfriend the day she started, HR lady was lovely and her manager seemed professional she said).

I think he was testing her as to whether she’d put up with that behaviour.

It has really knocked her confidence and made her worried about the same thing happening at another job.

The sexual assault was bum groping and trying to touch between her legs. She couldn’t move away so had to wait and get off at an earlier stop. She couldn’t exactly tell who was doing it.

The knife incident was a man pulling a bloody zombie type knife out of his jacket as she was walking towards him. Bloody frightened the life out of her and she immediately ran. Never heard back from police regarding catching it on CCTV. It took her a month to be able to travel into London again and she had to WFH in that time.

She’s just phoned me as she went to the meeting on her own.

The sanction is actually going to be for 45 days so she won’t get any money next month either.

As an ex job centre advisor I can tell you that on the couple of occasions someone's mum came in and tried to speak for them I asked them to leave. She's a grown adult and its literally nothing to do with you.

It's not insane. It's the rules.
If she's struggling with her mental health, she should go to the GP. And encourage her to find something productive to do with her time. A volunteering role, or training course of some sort.
You said she was in a corporate role in London so is she in touch with recruiters?
She left two jobs within 6 months, and now has been unemployed for 6 months. That's not going to be an attractive CV unless she can explain it well.
I personally don't think pushing for leniency will help her. She needs some direction and purpose, not more opportunity to stay in bed. If she lives at home, I would try and push her to get out more.

Some men and women at work have asked me if i have a boyfriend/ am married.

Is it an inappropriate question?

You don't have "no rights at all" with fewer than two years' continuous service, but they are extremely limited. Everyone has protection, from day one of employment, from discrimination, whistle-blowing, automatically unfair dismissal (this is unfair dismissal for reasons that are "automatically unfair" and not the same as unfair dismissal), family rights and contractual rights, but from what OP has told us, her DD's employer hasn't breached any of these rights. You only gain the additional protection of unfair dismissal with at least two years' continuous service.

Going back doesn't actually cost a lot of money in the short term... It can cost in the long term, but if you chose your degree wisely and it's something you love, and there are jobs available for, then I think it's worth it.

I've got an undergrad and I'm on a postgrad at the minute, used student finance for both. I don't pay anything from either back unless I earn over 26k, but for people taking undergrads these days it's 28k.

Once I qualify, the low end pay scale for my field is around 38k (outside of London), and I'll pay around £150 a month back.

It's a bit of a sting but worth it to be working in a field I love, with career progression and opportunities to develop, and potentially become a high earner. It's a job that needs doing and can't be done with AI.

More of a sting at the higher end, though. My loans will be written off by the time I'm at that point, though.

Sounds like she’s learned her lesson to turn up to appointments then.

Now she needs to focus on work. Has she gone round all her connections to see if anyone can offer her anything? Unfortunately with the job market the way it is, she needs to try the personal approach. What about a recruiter? Can she sign up with any?

Whilst waiting, has signed up with any temp agencies?

She does need to double check her CV is suitable for AI auto checking as well.

Apologies @LurkThenPost, I meant to reply just to @Mintbeecloud.

Your DD is not wrong in thinking he is rude. She is wrong in her reaction. You cant just call a manager rude. Especially in her first week there.

I have a couple of different managers. One of them is rude and sends me the most negative rude emails.

I just dont get that bothered by it. I manage her back by saying "of course that was done". Or "you asked me to do it that way, i dod it as agreed" etc

So now we are suggesting that to avoid having to turn up for appointments at the job centre she applies for the additional 'limited capacity to work' benefit.

That would have been an interesting alternative route to take because it was the HR woman that the MD was calling fat and ugly. 🤔