Harassment of the unemployed
Keith Parkins | 04.04.2008 15:22 | Liverpool | Sheffield
A deliberate policy of harassment of the unemployed appears to be taking place, if not to force them off the Job Register, at the very least to force them into destitution.
Harassment of Jobseekers and Unemployed by Job Centres is now so common and frequent that it appears to be government policy. Certainly it is policy within DWP.
To stop your benefits, all that has to be raised is a doubt. No facts, just a doubt. A doubt, is sufficient to stop benefits.
A doubt that you are looking for work, a doubt that you are available for work, a doubt that you are restricting your hours.
No further information is given, just a doubt, but it is sufficient to stop benefit. The onus is then on you to remove the doubt.
That is all it usually is, a doubt, but you have to waste a huge amount of time, often have to go to a Tribunal, to remove that doubt.
In the meantime, you receive no money.
Is it policy to make claimants destitute, to starve them into submission?
In the last few weeks, I have had around half a dozen doubts raised, all of the above and more. In most of the doubts, DWP are clearly scraping the bottom of the barrel to find reasons to stop payments.
End of February, I was very sick with norovirus. I felt that I was at death's door. I was then away for a few days. Since I've been back at the beginning of last month, all I have had is a succession of doubts raised on my claim. Payments were stopped.
The only reason I had any money at all, was because I won a Tribunal and finally, after weeks of delay, got paid arrears for last summer.
The most recent pathetic excuse for stopping benefit was for being five minutes late!
I broke a tooth. On my way to the Job Centre I called at my dentist to book an appointment. There was no appointments free for several days, and as it was regarded as an emergency, the dentist saw me immediately. Much to my relief as it is not a good idea to leave a broken tooth.
As a result, I was five minutes late at the Job Centre!
Anyone with more two two brain cells to rub together and an ounce of common sense, would have dismissed it as one of those things, but not the Job Centre.
I was told I'd have to wait to see if an appointment could be made available. I ended up waiting one hour and twenty minutes before I was seen.
I counted four to five Job Centre staff stood around doing nothing, chatting.
I'm always forced to wait at least five to ten minutes before I'm seen, often much longer. There is rarely an apology or explanation.
The person seen before me was given a lot of hassle for not following up jobs. They were looking up the wrong person's claim!
I complained at all the problems I was being caused.
No one else has these problems was the response.
Ah, so I'm being victimised, I replied.
No.
Ah, targeted then!
It was then claimed I would not have these problems if I was not unemployed, which seems a very clear admission that harassment is taking place against the unemployed.
I was then forced to fill out a form to explain why I was late.
This form is then faxed to Fareham DMA (Decision Makers) for a decision. In the meantime benefit is stopped. Fareham DMA, without exception, whether or not there is good cause, always decide to stop your money.
No fax was sent to Fareham DMA as it was too late in the day.
This was Thursday of last week. I was in the Job Centre until gone 5-15pm, another afternoon wasted.
Friday morning, around 8am, I had a call to ask would I come into the Job Centre that morning as my statement was not signed, therefore it could not be faxed.
My statement was signed and dated!
I walked into the Job Centre Friday afternoon. Handed my mobile to the assistant manager, and asked him what it said on my voice mail.
At first, he asked me to tell him what the message was.
I said no, I wanted him to tell me what he thought the message said.
He listened, then told told me I was asked to come in because my statement was not signed.
I said thank you, that is what I thought it said.
I then asked him to go and get the paperwork.
When he did, he saw not only was it signed, but I had signed and dated every page!
I then said, I'd had enough, I wanted the outstanding issues resolved, there was to be a cheque waiting for me Monday, else they would be dealing with my lawyers, not me.
Monday afternoon, I visited the Job Centre yet again. I went mid-afternoon, as that is when they pay out money.
The good news was, yes there was a cheque waiting for me, but I had to wait an hour until 4-15pm, as that was when they paid out cheques.
The bad news was that Fareham DMA, true to their colours as a bunch of Nazis and very much as expected, had decided to stop my benefits, as I was five minutes late as a result of an unforeseen dental appointment.
Not only that, I had to sign back on as a new claimant, as they had shut down my claim! More form filling.
I was then asked, did I have any ID. No ID, no payment, even though they knew who I was.
I had to go all the way back home to find some ID, and just managed to get back in the office at 4-29pm, one minute before they closed the door.
The 'ID' that was acceptable was a farce. A bill from a utility company, a letter from the council. It does not prove who I am. I could have been anybody. As copies are taken of the ID provided, it is in reality a trawl for information.
One week on and I have received nothing in writing to say why my benefit has been stopped, not even anything to tell me it has been stopped (I was told verbally).
This again is the norm.
The first time I'm usually aware that benefit has been stopped is when no money arrives, or sometimes the local council writes to me to say Housing Benefit and Council Tax has been stopped.
I guess this is deliberate, in the hope that you miss some arbitrary deadline for an appeal.
Another trick is to write to you when you are known to be away, then to say you did not reply in time.
A week later, I received a letter to say a doubt had arisen (yes, yet another doubt), I was restricting my hours, and benefit had been stopped. Four pages of waffle, but no explanation.
I have placed no restriction on my hours. It is as my Jobseekers Agreement, signed and agreed by the Job Centre.
Yet another visit to the Job Centre. More wasted time.
The assistant manager could offer no more explanation than myself.
As I walked in the door, a heated argument was taking place. It was claimed that a Jobseeker had walked in late.
He could not have walked in late as claimed, as he would have been literally walking in the door before me if that was true, and I did not even see him walking down the road.
I now always check the time with a very accurate watch as I walk through the door because of previous false claims of lateness.
Which brings us back full circle.
Since the beginning of last month I have wasted an appalling amount of my time. I have been in the Job Centre nearly every day. I have written hundreds of pages. A totally unproductive waste of my time. It is also an appalling waste of taxpayers time and money.
I could be tending to my garden, reading a book, taking a walk, I could even be looking for work.
Instead I have had to waste a huge amount of my time because a small number of mean- petty-minded people enjoy seeing other people suffer.
All the bogus doubts that have been raised for stopping legitimate benefit claims will eventually have to be determined at a Tribunal.
The situation has become so bad, that you almost feel you need to take your lawyer in with you when signing on at a Job Centre.
Footnote: Further to my complaints that nothing had been received in writing, this morning (Friday 4 April 2008), more than week after I broke my tooth, I received a letter to tell me my allowance was stopped from 27 March 2008 because: 'you did not attend to sign your declaration'. A completely false statement, I did attend, I did sign. Making of false statement is the norm for DWP. No explanation is given, no details, the letter says I can contact them for an explanation. The letter goes on to say I can appeal using form GL24. No form is enclosed.
I have described only some of the harassment that takes place, as experienced personally within the space of a few weeks.
Further harassment includes:
forcing people onto scam train courses
http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/2008/01/390290.html?c=on
http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/2008/02/390820.html?c=on
http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/2007/11/386689.html?c=on
http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/2007/12/388044.html?c=on
http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/2007/12/388504.html?c=on
http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/2008/01/390153.html?c=on
http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/2008/02/390471.html?c=on
http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/2008/02/390638.html?c=on
http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/2008/02/390901.html?c=on
http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/2008/02/391396.html?c=on
http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/2008/02/391397.html?c=on
http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/2008/02/391531.html
http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/2008/03/394982.html?c=on
kicking the unemployed out of social housing
http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/2008/02/390820.html?c=on
forcing the disabled into work and off benefits
http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/2008/02/391465.html
Further reading
Keith Parkins, Stopping of benefits, Indymedia UK, 20 March 2008
http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/2008/03/394331.html
To stop your benefits, all that has to be raised is a doubt. No facts, just a doubt. A doubt, is sufficient to stop benefits.
A doubt that you are looking for work, a doubt that you are available for work, a doubt that you are restricting your hours.
No further information is given, just a doubt, but it is sufficient to stop benefit. The onus is then on you to remove the doubt.
That is all it usually is, a doubt, but you have to waste a huge amount of time, often have to go to a Tribunal, to remove that doubt.
In the meantime, you receive no money.
Is it policy to make claimants destitute, to starve them into submission?
In the last few weeks, I have had around half a dozen doubts raised, all of the above and more. In most of the doubts, DWP are clearly scraping the bottom of the barrel to find reasons to stop payments.
End of February, I was very sick with norovirus. I felt that I was at death's door. I was then away for a few days. Since I've been back at the beginning of last month, all I have had is a succession of doubts raised on my claim. Payments were stopped.
The only reason I had any money at all, was because I won a Tribunal and finally, after weeks of delay, got paid arrears for last summer.
The most recent pathetic excuse for stopping benefit was for being five minutes late!
I broke a tooth. On my way to the Job Centre I called at my dentist to book an appointment. There was no appointments free for several days, and as it was regarded as an emergency, the dentist saw me immediately. Much to my relief as it is not a good idea to leave a broken tooth.
As a result, I was five minutes late at the Job Centre!
Anyone with more two two brain cells to rub together and an ounce of common sense, would have dismissed it as one of those things, but not the Job Centre.
I was told I'd have to wait to see if an appointment could be made available. I ended up waiting one hour and twenty minutes before I was seen.
I counted four to five Job Centre staff stood around doing nothing, chatting.
I'm always forced to wait at least five to ten minutes before I'm seen, often much longer. There is rarely an apology or explanation.
The person seen before me was given a lot of hassle for not following up jobs. They were looking up the wrong person's claim!
I complained at all the problems I was being caused.
No one else has these problems was the response.
Ah, so I'm being victimised, I replied.
No.
Ah, targeted then!
It was then claimed I would not have these problems if I was not unemployed, which seems a very clear admission that harassment is taking place against the unemployed.
I was then forced to fill out a form to explain why I was late.
This form is then faxed to Fareham DMA (Decision Makers) for a decision. In the meantime benefit is stopped. Fareham DMA, without exception, whether or not there is good cause, always decide to stop your money.
No fax was sent to Fareham DMA as it was too late in the day.
This was Thursday of last week. I was in the Job Centre until gone 5-15pm, another afternoon wasted.
Friday morning, around 8am, I had a call to ask would I come into the Job Centre that morning as my statement was not signed, therefore it could not be faxed.
My statement was signed and dated!
I walked into the Job Centre Friday afternoon. Handed my mobile to the assistant manager, and asked him what it said on my voice mail.
At first, he asked me to tell him what the message was.
I said no, I wanted him to tell me what he thought the message said.
He listened, then told told me I was asked to come in because my statement was not signed.
I said thank you, that is what I thought it said.
I then asked him to go and get the paperwork.
When he did, he saw not only was it signed, but I had signed and dated every page!
I then said, I'd had enough, I wanted the outstanding issues resolved, there was to be a cheque waiting for me Monday, else they would be dealing with my lawyers, not me.
Monday afternoon, I visited the Job Centre yet again. I went mid-afternoon, as that is when they pay out money.
The good news was, yes there was a cheque waiting for me, but I had to wait an hour until 4-15pm, as that was when they paid out cheques.
The bad news was that Fareham DMA, true to their colours as a bunch of Nazis and very much as expected, had decided to stop my benefits, as I was five minutes late as a result of an unforeseen dental appointment.
Not only that, I had to sign back on as a new claimant, as they had shut down my claim! More form filling.
I was then asked, did I have any ID. No ID, no payment, even though they knew who I was.
I had to go all the way back home to find some ID, and just managed to get back in the office at 4-29pm, one minute before they closed the door.
The 'ID' that was acceptable was a farce. A bill from a utility company, a letter from the council. It does not prove who I am. I could have been anybody. As copies are taken of the ID provided, it is in reality a trawl for information.
One week on and I have received nothing in writing to say why my benefit has been stopped, not even anything to tell me it has been stopped (I was told verbally).
This again is the norm.
The first time I'm usually aware that benefit has been stopped is when no money arrives, or sometimes the local council writes to me to say Housing Benefit and Council Tax has been stopped.
I guess this is deliberate, in the hope that you miss some arbitrary deadline for an appeal.
Another trick is to write to you when you are known to be away, then to say you did not reply in time.
A week later, I received a letter to say a doubt had arisen (yes, yet another doubt), I was restricting my hours, and benefit had been stopped. Four pages of waffle, but no explanation.
I have placed no restriction on my hours. It is as my Jobseekers Agreement, signed and agreed by the Job Centre.
Yet another visit to the Job Centre. More wasted time.
The assistant manager could offer no more explanation than myself.
As I walked in the door, a heated argument was taking place. It was claimed that a Jobseeker had walked in late.
He could not have walked in late as claimed, as he would have been literally walking in the door before me if that was true, and I did not even see him walking down the road.
I now always check the time with a very accurate watch as I walk through the door because of previous false claims of lateness.
Which brings us back full circle.
Since the beginning of last month I have wasted an appalling amount of my time. I have been in the Job Centre nearly every day. I have written hundreds of pages. A totally unproductive waste of my time. It is also an appalling waste of taxpayers time and money.
I could be tending to my garden, reading a book, taking a walk, I could even be looking for work.
Instead I have had to waste a huge amount of my time because a small number of mean- petty-minded people enjoy seeing other people suffer.
All the bogus doubts that have been raised for stopping legitimate benefit claims will eventually have to be determined at a Tribunal.
The situation has become so bad, that you almost feel you need to take your lawyer in with you when signing on at a Job Centre.
Footnote: Further to my complaints that nothing had been received in writing, this morning (Friday 4 April 2008), more than week after I broke my tooth, I received a letter to tell me my allowance was stopped from 27 March 2008 because: 'you did not attend to sign your declaration'. A completely false statement, I did attend, I did sign. Making of false statement is the norm for DWP. No explanation is given, no details, the letter says I can contact them for an explanation. The letter goes on to say I can appeal using form GL24. No form is enclosed.
I have described only some of the harassment that takes place, as experienced personally within the space of a few weeks.
Further harassment includes:
forcing people onto scam train courses
http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/2008/01/390290.html?c=on http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/2008/02/390820.html?c=on http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/2007/11/386689.html?c=on http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/2007/12/388044.html?c=on http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/2007/12/388504.html?c=on http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/2008/01/390153.html?c=on http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/2008/02/390471.html?c=on http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/2008/02/390638.html?c=on http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/2008/02/390901.html?c=on http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/2008/02/391396.html?c=on http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/2008/02/391397.html?c=on http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/2008/02/391531.html http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/2008/03/394982.html?c=on kicking the unemployed out of social housing
http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/2008/02/390820.html?c=on forcing the disabled into work and off benefits
http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/2008/02/391465.html Further reading
Keith Parkins, Stopping of benefits, Indymedia UK, 20 March 2008
http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/2008/03/394331.html
Keith Parkins
Additions
slave labour for jobseekers
07.04.2008 22:55
Hi
I read this with interest. Usually it is a case of divide the population so we feel we are alone in our struggle. We are not. I am on the New Deal 25+. I am well educated – their testing of literacy and numeracy is demeaning. They seem incapable of reading a CV and acting or giving tests for skills accordingly. I have a Masters in Human Rights Law and I am a qualified teacher. I spent 2 days on computer with so little memory, filling in boxes – questions such as can you tell the time, do you know the importance of turning up on time. Is this a sentence and what is 7-2. I struggled to fill in job application whilst travelling to this get you back to work centre used by the jobcentre.
I have been there six weeks (13 week programme) supposedly gaining skills for work. However the staff simply have not got the skills or knowledge and have no idea what to do with me or others like me. I have been sitting on the floor reading a book all day for 6 weeks now as the online application forms I get for the jobs I am looking at crash the computers. There is no information, no support. If I try to discuss my other options my skills are put down. I struggle to keep a grip on them as I am forced into slave labour in a charity shop. I have asked what they expect me to gain – confidence – well I have plenty – well I did until I was subjected to the intense programme of undermining it! Work based skills – folding old cloths – I have been doing that for years as I have brought three children up on little income. References – I have plenty and from high academics and teachers why would I want one from a small shop manager or from these service providers who cant get themselves a decently paid job!
I am trapped, and have sunk into depression. It is not low paid work the government wants to pressurise jobseekers into – it is suicide - the only way to ensure that we dont return to unemployment.
There is no respect for the low paid workforce. May of these jobs require skills I just don’t possess. The ability to be mindless, the ability to do repetitive tasks. I greatly admire those who have the skills and personality that allow them to sit at checkouts, stack shelves, even wander around as security guards. The government seems to think however that just because and uneducated or unskilled person can do something that it does not require a great deal of skill in its own right. It is my belief that these workers are grossly underpaid for the ability they possess.
If we take out the pay rate out of the equation we would not expect someone with little skills in education or ability to think in abstract or in a high academic way to be forced into being a lawyer, accountant or manage a class of more than 30 five year olds or visa versa. Someone with these sorts of skills is I would suggest equally incapable of packing in a factory perhaps caring for the basic needs of the elderly or becoming a cleaner. Our society is very lacking – we have only just introduced legislation against age discrimination. How long will we have to wait until someone brings a Human rights claim on educational discrimination! It a fact that those of us who are literate, numerate, skilled in some way or educated are at a severe disadvantaged by the system when we become unemployed.
A child of three knows it is a futile waste of time to try to get the square peg into the round hole. The government has found the answer – hit it with the biggest hammer – they will force it in. Never mind the cost of the replacement once it has been broken.
The current rising cost of those on incapacity is the result of the big hammer society.
I am trapped in a system of rules, desperate compliance to tick boxes by those panicked members of government staff that we meet and Human Rights abuses. I was told by my adviser that she had had good results when her ‘customers’ had given up their homes to go into low paid work. Hint, hint because I could not see how I could make ends meet on minimum wage. I am desperate for a job which is sustainable, where my skills are useful and valuable and I hope to get at least some enjoyment out of the long working days. But at the moment I am not sure I can survive another 7 weeks of this degrading undermining treatment. So why do I stay within the Governments mandatory programme – there is no court order, ordering me to comply but It is a sentence. I have no handcuffs imprisoning me to it but I am imprisoned. Simply I am one of millions who cant survive without the benefit. If I loose this meagre amount of money I will be living on the street tomorrow with nothing but the clothes I am wearing. The prospect of work even further from my grasp.
My dream - enough of us get together to send realistic feedback to the policy makers. We run a situation where the tortured need the torturers to survive. Currently I think the system is self governing and creating a self fulfilling prophecy of success. The need to look successful is so great. Feedback to the Government comes from the tick boxes filled in by the jobcentre equally fearful of failing targets. The unemployed are fearful of failing the tick box requirements. And so all bury their head in the sand of distress hoping the tax payer (told by the Government of the success) does not notice the fraud that is taking place with their funds. But my children, my family, my friends and neighbours are tax payers and I am angry on their behalf and my own that I along with many like me are going round and round this system which will not change until someone is brave enough to send real feedback to the policy makers that it is not working for us – the unemployed.
Thank you for your post. We are not alone.
Janet
I read this with interest. Usually it is a case of divide the population so we feel we are alone in our struggle. We are not. I am on the New Deal 25+. I am well educated – their testing of literacy and numeracy is demeaning. They seem incapable of reading a CV and acting or giving tests for skills accordingly. I have a Masters in Human Rights Law and I am a qualified teacher. I spent 2 days on computer with so little memory, filling in boxes – questions such as can you tell the time, do you know the importance of turning up on time. Is this a sentence and what is 7-2. I struggled to fill in job application whilst travelling to this get you back to work centre used by the jobcentre.
I have been there six weeks (13 week programme) supposedly gaining skills for work. However the staff simply have not got the skills or knowledge and have no idea what to do with me or others like me. I have been sitting on the floor reading a book all day for 6 weeks now as the online application forms I get for the jobs I am looking at crash the computers. There is no information, no support. If I try to discuss my other options my skills are put down. I struggle to keep a grip on them as I am forced into slave labour in a charity shop. I have asked what they expect me to gain – confidence – well I have plenty – well I did until I was subjected to the intense programme of undermining it! Work based skills – folding old cloths – I have been doing that for years as I have brought three children up on little income. References – I have plenty and from high academics and teachers why would I want one from a small shop manager or from these service providers who cant get themselves a decently paid job!
I am trapped, and have sunk into depression. It is not low paid work the government wants to pressurise jobseekers into – it is suicide - the only way to ensure that we dont return to unemployment.
There is no respect for the low paid workforce. May of these jobs require skills I just don’t possess. The ability to be mindless, the ability to do repetitive tasks. I greatly admire those who have the skills and personality that allow them to sit at checkouts, stack shelves, even wander around as security guards. The government seems to think however that just because and uneducated or unskilled person can do something that it does not require a great deal of skill in its own right. It is my belief that these workers are grossly underpaid for the ability they possess.
If we take out the pay rate out of the equation we would not expect someone with little skills in education or ability to think in abstract or in a high academic way to be forced into being a lawyer, accountant or manage a class of more than 30 five year olds or visa versa. Someone with these sorts of skills is I would suggest equally incapable of packing in a factory perhaps caring for the basic needs of the elderly or becoming a cleaner. Our society is very lacking – we have only just introduced legislation against age discrimination. How long will we have to wait until someone brings a Human rights claim on educational discrimination! It a fact that those of us who are literate, numerate, skilled in some way or educated are at a severe disadvantaged by the system when we become unemployed.
A child of three knows it is a futile waste of time to try to get the square peg into the round hole. The government has found the answer – hit it with the biggest hammer – they will force it in. Never mind the cost of the replacement once it has been broken.
The current rising cost of those on incapacity is the result of the big hammer society.
I am trapped in a system of rules, desperate compliance to tick boxes by those panicked members of government staff that we meet and Human Rights abuses. I was told by my adviser that she had had good results when her ‘customers’ had given up their homes to go into low paid work. Hint, hint because I could not see how I could make ends meet on minimum wage. I am desperate for a job which is sustainable, where my skills are useful and valuable and I hope to get at least some enjoyment out of the long working days. But at the moment I am not sure I can survive another 7 weeks of this degrading undermining treatment. So why do I stay within the Governments mandatory programme – there is no court order, ordering me to comply but It is a sentence. I have no handcuffs imprisoning me to it but I am imprisoned. Simply I am one of millions who cant survive without the benefit. If I loose this meagre amount of money I will be living on the street tomorrow with nothing but the clothes I am wearing. The prospect of work even further from my grasp.
My dream - enough of us get together to send realistic feedback to the policy makers. We run a situation where the tortured need the torturers to survive. Currently I think the system is self governing and creating a self fulfilling prophecy of success. The need to look successful is so great. Feedback to the Government comes from the tick boxes filled in by the jobcentre equally fearful of failing targets. The unemployed are fearful of failing the tick box requirements. And so all bury their head in the sand of distress hoping the tax payer (told by the Government of the success) does not notice the fraud that is taking place with their funds. But my children, my family, my friends and neighbours are tax payers and I am angry on their behalf and my own that I along with many like me are going round and round this system which will not change until someone is brave enough to send real feedback to the policy makers that it is not working for us – the unemployed.
Thank you for your post. We are not alone.
Janet
Janet
e-mail:
alliswaller@yahoo.co.uk
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