In a twist of fate the DWP are reluctant to say how many jobs a claimant has to apply for so as not to be referred for a sanction. They decided to reply by saying the following
Thank you for your Freedom of Information request dated 19 August 2015. I apologise for the delay in replying to you. You asked:
Could you please provide me with the minimum number of jobs a claimant has to apply for in a 7 day period to avoid the risk of been referred for a sanction.
It may be helpful if I explain the role of the Freedom of Information Act. The Act provides a right of access to recorded information held by a public authority like DWP (subject to certain exemptions). The Act does not provide that a public authority must create new information to answer questions; nor does it provide that a public authority give advice, opinion or explanation in relation to issues/policies under question.
In cases where a customer does ask a question, rather than request recorded information, we do our utmost to provide the recorded information that best answers the question. Once the public authority has provided the recorded information or confirmed that no such recorded information is held, it has met its obligations under the Act. Interpretation of any information provided is left to the requestor.
We have understood your question to relate to Jobseeker’s Allowance (JSA) claimants to whom the Jobseekers Act 1995 and Jobseekers Allowance Regulations 1996 apply. As there is no legal requirement for JSA claimants to apply for a minimum number of jobs each week, no legislation or national guidance stating otherwise exists. However, to be helpful you may find the following explanation useful about the entitlement condition for JSA claimants to actively seek work. This has however been provided outside our obligations under the Freedom of Information regime.
In order to qualify for JSA, a person must be actively seeking work in each week of their claim. This means they are generally expected to do all they reasonably can each week to give them the best prospects of securing employment. The actions that it would be reasonable for the claimant to take will be personalised and tailored to the individual and will be specified on their JSA Claimant Commitment.
Evidence shows that claimants who engage in active, effective and persistent jobsearch activity are more likely to find work quickly compared to those that don’t. Therefore, the expectation is that for most JSA claimants, looking for work will be a full time job in itself. Claimants are expected to spend several hours each day
looking for work, taking into account any restrictions applied to their availability. However, there is no `set’ time that a person must be engaged in looking for work whilst claiming JSA, rather it is a legal requirement for them to do all that is reasonable for them to do each week.
If you have any queries about this letter please contact us quoting the reference number above. Yours sincerely,
DWP Central FoI Team
They are clearly trying to say they are not an advice service, when they use so many varied reasons for applying a sanction, one of their excuses is not applying for enough jobs, all that was wanted was a clear guideline on how many jobs a person has to apply for between each signing on period, be it one a day or one per week.
The advisers clearly seem to think that it can vary from day to day and may refer a claimant for a sanction because they only applied for one job per week, while another adviser may refer a claimant for a sanction because they applied for five or ten jobs per week and simply say they are not doing enough to find work. I would have gone further on the request and asked then what details they refer to a decision maker with regards to a sanction referral, do they just put not applying for enough jobs when they refer it to a decision maker or do they actually say the claimant has applied for X number of jobs, something I think they do is the not applying for enough jobs and leave out any figures.
The DWP or JC+ should clearly have it in their rules that a person agrees to apply for a minimum of X job(s) per week and this should be information that can be freely given out to anybody who asks, but it appears the DWP are using the NOT AN INFORMATION SERVICE card to avoid giving out any official, or unofficial, directions of how many jobs a claimant has to apply for. It is my opinion they are lower than a rattlesnakes balls.
Thank you for your Freedom of Information request dated 19 August 2015. I apologise for the delay in replying to you. You asked:
Could you please provide me with the minimum number of jobs a claimant has to apply for in a 7 day period to avoid the risk of been referred for a sanction.
It may be helpful if I explain the role of the Freedom of Information Act. The Act provides a right of access to recorded information held by a public authority like DWP (subject to certain exemptions). The Act does not provide that a public authority must create new information to answer questions; nor does it provide that a public authority give advice, opinion or explanation in relation to issues/policies under question.
In cases where a customer does ask a question, rather than request recorded information, we do our utmost to provide the recorded information that best answers the question. Once the public authority has provided the recorded information or confirmed that no such recorded information is held, it has met its obligations under the Act. Interpretation of any information provided is left to the requestor.
We have understood your question to relate to Jobseeker’s Allowance (JSA) claimants to whom the Jobseekers Act 1995 and Jobseekers Allowance Regulations 1996 apply. As there is no legal requirement for JSA claimants to apply for a minimum number of jobs each week, no legislation or national guidance stating otherwise exists. However, to be helpful you may find the following explanation useful about the entitlement condition for JSA claimants to actively seek work. This has however been provided outside our obligations under the Freedom of Information regime.
In order to qualify for JSA, a person must be actively seeking work in each week of their claim. This means they are generally expected to do all they reasonably can each week to give them the best prospects of securing employment. The actions that it would be reasonable for the claimant to take will be personalised and tailored to the individual and will be specified on their JSA Claimant Commitment.
Evidence shows that claimants who engage in active, effective and persistent jobsearch activity are more likely to find work quickly compared to those that don’t. Therefore, the expectation is that for most JSA claimants, looking for work will be a full time job in itself. Claimants are expected to spend several hours each day
looking for work, taking into account any restrictions applied to their availability. However, there is no `set’ time that a person must be engaged in looking for work whilst claiming JSA, rather it is a legal requirement for them to do all that is reasonable for them to do each week.
If you have any queries about this letter please contact us quoting the reference number above. Yours sincerely,
DWP Central FoI Team
They are clearly trying to say they are not an advice service, when they use so many varied reasons for applying a sanction, one of their excuses is not applying for enough jobs, all that was wanted was a clear guideline on how many jobs a person has to apply for between each signing on period, be it one a day or one per week.
The advisers clearly seem to think that it can vary from day to day and may refer a claimant for a sanction because they only applied for one job per week, while another adviser may refer a claimant for a sanction because they applied for five or ten jobs per week and simply say they are not doing enough to find work. I would have gone further on the request and asked then what details they refer to a decision maker with regards to a sanction referral, do they just put not applying for enough jobs when they refer it to a decision maker or do they actually say the claimant has applied for X number of jobs, something I think they do is the not applying for enough jobs and leave out any figures.
The DWP or JC+ should clearly have it in their rules that a person agrees to apply for a minimum of X job(s) per week and this should be information that can be freely given out to anybody who asks, but it appears the DWP are using the NOT AN INFORMATION SERVICE card to avoid giving out any official, or unofficial, directions of how many jobs a claimant has to apply for. It is my opinion they are lower than a rattlesnakes balls.
No comments:
Post a Comment