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?

Crikey.

I prefer not to engage with someone who has such a low opinion of people who claim benefits.

Off out to the Co-Op now to spend my Carer's Allowance on gin. Must feed my free goat when I get back.

I think the OP is about to find out that her daughter, I think due to not coping with her bad mental health, has lied to her through her teeth. My husband does this too, his mental health is very bad at the moment. At the interviews he does go to, they realise there is something going on with him and never hears back. Depression is loathsome. He also misses medical appointments.

What "evidence", other than the evidence of DD missing an appointment?

By virtue of being a woman, I’ve been felt up on the tube. Sexually harassed walking down the street. Felt up at work… you make a complaint, you report it to the police, you do all of that .

You also go to work, or appointments. She was felt up on the tube. Big whoop. We’ve all been. It’s awful, and it deserve police attention. But it’s no reason not to work or attend appointments. She needs to toughen up. This is the reality of life.

Yet the "poors" are told on here to have the luxury of morals when they are told to shop at People Tree instead of New Look.

30 mile radius is pretty standard (if you use job search engines). With regard to the cocktail question - if it was bar work maybe they were looking for someone with a sense of humour and a bit of creativity.

Could you or she afford an appointment with a Corporate Career Guide. Clearly if she is applying for so many jobs she is not tailoring her CV. It is lacking in something. They might be able to advise. I have a friend who works for the UC version in Ireland. I was recruiting and told her. A few of her clients applied and the CVs she thought were excellent were actually quite poor in the industry I was recruiting for.

Is looking up Networking Events, Conferences, asking friends and family for contacts etc Sometimes it can be who you know rather than what.

Seven months is a big gap in her cv. Surely there must be some jobs around even it is something online until she gets one in the career she wants. Can she start doing some online courses like Udemy etc.

Also I would suggest that if she sees an ad on Indeed maybe go to the company site and see if you can apply there too, My experience of recruiting with similar to Indeed was being swamped with unsuitable people with generic cvs.

If they are made redundant from a £60k job and can't find another, they'll pay more of their mortgage with a £32k job than £25k benefits.

I suppose I (and others that may have suggested it) was thinking more specifically about the OP and her daughter, who lives at home and doesn't seem to have a mortgage or childcare to pay for.

Not sure you can just keep getting more student loans either, pretty sure it's capped at 1 undergrad and 1 postgrad.

A postgrad adds 6% onto your original percentage over the original threshold. Grabbing a lower paid job for a bit whilst studying part time could be worth it in the long run, if the extra qualification can lead to a higher paid job.

I see your point, though. It's not a one size fits all. Could fit this case, though.

If she missed the appointment because of her mental health, she needs to let them know and provide a sick note from her gp and she won't be sanctioned

Agreed

This! You can help her improve her mental health by managing what she does with her time.

Couldn't have put it better myself.

@ThisIsInsane "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." Why do you think she won't get "any" money next month OP?
Your DD is single with no dependants, not sick or disabled, not a carer for anyone else, and living at home (so no rent liability) so she will be in receipt of just the Standard Allowance (SA) of UC with no additional elements. Therefore, depending on your DD's age, she will be receiving one of the following rates of UC SA:

• £316.98pm (if under 25), or
• £400.14pm (if over 25).

The sanction rate for a single person is either:

• £10.40 per day (if under 25), or
• £13.10pm (if over 25).

(essentially these daily deductions are the monthly UC rate divided by 30.41 days for an average month so a claimant loses all their UC for every day they're sanctioned).

So, although she's lost almost her entire UC this month, next month she will lose around half of it i.e.
Assuming she's under 25:
Sanction of £10.40pd x 15 days = £156
UC SA of £316.98 - Total Sanction of £156 = £160.98 to be paid to DD next month.
Or
If she's over 25 the calculation would be:
Sanction of £13.10pd x 15 days = £196.50
UC SA of £400.14 - Total Sanction of £196.50 = £203.64 to be paid to DD next month.

OP, why has her sanction been increased from 30 days to 45?

But should not have called MD who hires and fires rude. She did not have to comment either way at all but just say something neutral about the meeting. Keep a note of the incident if she was shocked.

Oh here we go, out comes the mental health card. No wonder half the population claim to have a disability when dealing with normal life stressors are used as an excuse for not doing anything.

Didums is facing the consequences of not showing up for her appointment. Luckily, she’s still living at home so doesn’t have any real problems to worry about.

No it’s not extreme at all. She is expecting public money but hasn’t bothered to turn up for her appointment. The sense of entitlement is off the scale. I’m not surprised that she got fired from her previous job if this is her normal attitude.

Same thing happened to my son . His dad died suddenly and unexpectedly and he was staying with me.
No one was interested and the nasty women he spoke to said just because his dad had died was no excuse.
These people are heartless

Its not just the JC Housing associations are just as bad They dont give a shit if you have had a bereavement either

She missed the appointment, and was sanctioned. It doesn't matter what you or she thinks - they are the rules.

I have bowel issues Should i ever find myself on UC i will make sure i attend EVERY appointment. If a CAT 1 hazard ends up on their chairs...........so be it.

You wouldn't be helping her if you try to "rescue her" from this situation. She is spending most of her time in bed - she can't expect to get paid for doing that. It's why they have these sanctions, to try to kickstart some motivation into people. I get that she's very down at the moment but she'll just have to pull herself by her bootstraps and go and sort it herself - that alone will give her some self-respect and let her feel more in control of her life.

Why wasn't she happy in her previous role before the one she was let go from? It would be very unusual for an employer to do that to someone after only 3 days. What exactly WAS the real issue? Not being a good fit usually means something.

Go back and read the OPs posts there is the choice of reading OPs posts only so there is no excuse

Im a lager lout so the only thing I could think of was 'sex on the beach'😅

Afterwards I thought I'd be a woowoo. Because I'll be WoooWOOOOO if i get a bloody job😂

Or, you know, communicate with them about the issue and tell them about your medical issue. OPs DD didn't communicate with them for almost a month.

Don’t go in with her. Does she have the right of appeal? If so help her write a formal factual appeal outlining the reasons why she missed her appointment and pointing out all the applications she has made. A calm reasoned argument is more likely to succeed than an angry rant