This is a mixed bag.

WhatThe

I don't know either - we keep them in work as far as I can tell. 

Welfare reform has never saved money. UC wipes out data so it's a disaster for the unretired but will create plenty more work for them. 

onebigvoice

Exactly,  The point of having a work coach and a journal is to keep the claimant up to speed with any things that have been flagged up on the CV you have given them as to your aspirations, not what is happening now where a statement made by Maggie is that we will stop people having an easy ride on the dole by making it harder to claim and reduce the amout they receive.
  This is still ongoing now.  If you don't show you are looking for work you are taken off the dole, or the posh way, Sanctioned for a few weeks?  Do they realise that this goes against human rights, or are they causing a scociety that makes people homeless through no fault of their own.
  If there was all these jobs going and can be filled if you look, why are they not doing their job and having employers, as before ring the job center and say we have X amount of vacancies and we give on the job training?
OR, arrange classes where people who require a certificate in a certain skill can attend and gain another qualification to add to their CV to make them nmore employable.
  FOOD BANKS are not run by the Government they are charitable donations from me and you, YET, the government say you can only have THREE REFERALS in a year?  What do parents do when faced with this delima?  We now have things like Breakfast Club both for school kids and for older people where you can go and have a Breakfast roll ( With every thing in it) Coffee and a bag of vegetables and some tinned products FREE.  If you want to donate £2 you can and no one asks you for it.  All they ask is how many sugars in your tea or coffee or do you want a cold drink? 
  The Government are not PROBLEM SOLVERS they are PROBLEM CAUSERS.  This goes for most things where for instance they can Afford £2 BILLION in aid to others but can't resolve the NHS strike that would benefit millions in BRITAIN.  Don't they believe they are getting Value for Money?  When private consultations are charged at around £195 for an initial consultation followups are around £130 (from google)
  My whole point is Things will not change anytime soon unless you use your vote and talk to your constituent MP to voice the opinions you have.
  Yes you are one voice, BUT look at it this way, THERE ARE OVER 18 MILLION DISABLED PEOPLE IN BRITAIN, THERE ARE MILLIONS MORE WHO NEED TREATMENT/ASSESSMENTS/OPERATIONS just to function, if they all gave a vote of no confidence against their MP or against the government what would happen?
  Become involved if not for your generation, for those who are still awaiting an assessment.   

WhatThe

Almost 4 million more people are in employment than there were in 2010. Around a third of job centres have been closed in that time (900 to 600) so people are finding work through other avenues.  

JobCentrePlus was formed of the Employment Service and the Benefits Agency so jobcentre agents now administer all payments, end claims and trigger assessments for claimants. They've never helped me find work but have punished and persecuted me endlessly for being ill. 

My latest coach recently found the landline number I've used for 15 years on the system because it was always there. Before that, I was repeatedly asked for it so they could treat this as new information and I repeatedly refused because it was not new information. They stare at a screen and pretend to know nothing about us if it's not on the first screen they open.

I despise the agents who hijacked my life for all those years. They still work at the same office and know exactly what they've done to me and thousands of other vulnerable claimants. 

onebigvoice

I didn't realise that the job center was open Saturday afternoon?  I went in today (13/01/2024) because my daughter had an interview for U C.  They wanted to know why she was not sending in any more sick certificates.  I asked how did you know she was on the sick?  On looking she no longer get any sick pay top up from work and has been on SSP for 11 months.  Only to see that her medical history was infront of her and showed Operations, treatment, further assessments for neuro conditions and spinal fluid issues causing sight loss, and could not work out that the assessors had booked an assessment for her under a zoom meeting for this MONDAY at 11.30?  So if all the information of the last 2 years is on the screen and the assessor has a meeting for Monday why were we their?  Just to catch up as we haven't seen you in the last 13 months.

  O K. now what that's O K. we will get the rest from the Meeting?  Why didn't she ask her while she was sat uin front of her?    

WhatThe

OBV yes, it used to be Mon to Fri 9-5 though I can't remember when it changed.

I've been 'invited' in on a Saturday, had texts and calls in the evenings and on a Sunday. The 10 minute appointment I had one Christmas was so the guy could meet me, he said. He claimed there was no Med 3 on file. 

Not attending is likely to lead to a sanction under UC so it's a test. 

I'm sorry you both face another test on Monday. 
JCP isn't really interested in claimants, as you saw today. It's a farce.   

WhatThe

He claimed there was no Med 3 on file. 

Just to add that knowing what they were like, I had it with me. So my 12 month 'fit note' was uploaded for the second time that year.  

onebigvoice

 I am afraid I must be living in a Matrix where the here and now no longer applies?  This never more so by the amount of time taken to resolve issues or answer the phone to ask a simple question.
  There seems to be no logic as to how the order of things now apply.

WhatThe

There never was any logic as far as I'm concerned. DWP could always rely on sick or disabled claimants to forget or 'fail' to do something requested of them then be unable to challenge a decision.

A successful appeal at Tribunal means DWP failed to apply the law correctly but again, they can rely on the weakest and poorest in society giving up and being unable to face the admin involved or being unable to access supporting evidence and assistance.   

OBV, the final response from the then acting Head of ESA Operations to my tireless efforts to secure justice after my successful appeal is a work of fiction drawn from repeated alterations to my qualifying dates and awards.

I couldn't begin to counter any of it - it was that convoluted, illogical and inaccurate but a great try and it worked. 
  

onebigvoice

 I seem to be in the same boat, but I won't give up since they have caused me mental issues, and so I believe if that's the way they believe things work I will do the same.
  My M P and THREE others in the Senedd get regular e-mails from me along with the DWP and PIP.  The latest "certificate of entitlement states I am Wheel Chair bound and BLIND.  I was just sorry I didn't have that report years ago and it would have saved Half the Amazon Rain Forest in re-printing documents sent, altered by them, resending and having to go to Tribunals to get altered back to the original report that was incorrect and took 2 years to try to fix?
  With this latest Certificate it states I will never be assessed again and am entitled to £245 a Week Care component, so now I am asking my MP as to why I am not getting this....
  Its a bit of fun for me now, but a headache for them..