Work for Your Benefit: Unlawful Benefit Sanctions
Please Note: This page exists for reference. The Work for Your Benefit scheme (pilot) was scrapped.
Work for Your Benefit, a workfare scheme in the United Kingdom is enforced with a very strict and unfair sanction regime – one which is more severe than anything else known to date. Sanctions under Work for Your Benefit scheme for a duration of up to 6 months are now available for failure to attend at any place at anytime (written and verbal) and for failing or refusing an instruction (like a Jobseeker Direction but can be given verbally too without evidence) to name a few.
Refuse/Fail/Give up a place on Work for Your Benefit
The aims of Unlawful Sanctions
Unlawful Sanctions is a campaign against the unlawful benefit sanctions claimants receive.
We want to:
- Directly challenge the Government regarding these benefit sanctions
- Make sure benefit fraudsters are jailed or denied benefits instead of imposing pathetic benefit sanctions
- Abolish the unlawful benefit sanctions
It is a sanctionable offence to fail to or refuse to accept or take up a place on the Work for Your Benefit scheme. It is also a sanctionable offence to give up a place on the Work for Your Benefit scheme pilots.
If you do not accept the Work for Your Benefit pilot scheme invite – are you sanctioned for refusing a place or for giving up a place – or both?
A person should be fully in their rights to refuse an invite of the Work for Your Benefit pilot schemes – as its workfare: slavery; however a person should accept the pilot scheme to do the 10 hours of jobsearch activity per week but refuse any unpaid work.
Lose a place on Work for Your Benefit due to misconduct
At current there is no definition of what the term "misconduct" includes.
Fail to attend any place at anytime as instructed
Providers have the ability to summon a workfare participant to any place at any time they specify. Unlawful Sanctions think this will require written notification but there are early indications that verbal instruction (i.e. over the phone) is adequate enough communication (perhaps they will send out a letter afterwards or use common tricks… "I am contacting you to remind you about the appointment you have today at [..] We had sent you a letter last week…"/"I didn’t receive any letter" and use a template to draft an letter for use with the sanction – although never sent out).
Concerns are raised over any verbal implementations of this – its not reasonable to contact someone 8.30am in the morning and expect them to attend for 9am. There is no restrictions known to date regarding the nature of location and ranges of time. It is expected to mean a location anywhere within 5 miles but this could be open to the entire pilot area. It is unlikely to be restricted to typical office hours – this suspicion is raised with the 30 hours "work" and 10 hours "support" combination. Neither of these options are going to include travel time.
Firstly any lunch break (like with New Deal etc.) will not be included in the hours. 40 hours over 5 days makes 8 hours a day – including a lunch break will make 9 hours. We are sure that any breaks in addition will be of a similar exclusion from the hours stated – we wont speculate as we dont know whether all participants will be entitled to them or their duration. From this, it means a typical 9am – 6pm day, 5 days a week.
Travel isn’t included and Unlawful Sanctions feel it is unlikely for participants to spend a day at the provider and a couple of hours another day. The setup is likely to be 2 afternoons a week or 2 mornings and 1 afternoon – obviously requiring the participant to travel between workfare placement and the workfare provider’s premises. Hours from 7am to 9pm likely (subject to Jobseekers Agreement restrictions).
This doesn’t mean there wont be opportunity for weekend work – although unlikely – it would likely be considered "good cause" for a refusal.
Fail to provide answers to questions asked by Work for Your Benefit provider
A very nice power to have and abuse! It is fully possible to sanction someone for remaining silent or not giving correct answers to questions asked by the workfare provider. This sanction power is extreme. It could be misused to ask inapproriate personal information.
Fail to (or refuse to) provide specific information
Sanctions are available for refusing to answer the following information.
Information on:
- educational qualifications
- employment history
- vocational training undertaken
- skills and experience
- aspirations (career based)
- the steps taken to obtain or improve chances of getting a job, and
- any work related abilities
Refusing is strict denial. Failure to is creating responsibility for the workfare participant to ensure the information the provider has is correct, up-to-date, and that it exists. For example most information would be obtained from Jobcentre Plus – an error by either Jobcentre Plus or the workfare provider can create a sanction for the participant. This is extremely unfair.
This also becomes layered to an negative unfair standpoint. The Jobseeker isn’t obligated to even give such information, however, failure to do so can get such a person sanctioned. Again, sanctions are unfair and obviously unlawful. As sanctions are not criminal offences they are exempt from a Human Right article – for example, if it was a criminal offence, and the person was sanctioned for not giving information, the sanction couldn’t stand if the law didn’t state the person had to give the information to begin with.
This means should a person have experience or qualifications in a field from their early career which they deem isn’t relevant to their current job goals and Jobcentre Plus doesn’t know about the job because it was so long ago and they only know about the last few jobs, the person can be sanctioned for failure to disclose it. If you are middle aged any school qualifications are no longer relevant.
Flexible New Deal already requires participants to disclose what steps they have taken each week to look for work. Participants are not even required to do this – they are only required to give this information to Jobcentre Plus when they next sign on. The same applies to workfare.
Fail or Refuse to participate in a notified “work experience placement”
Refusal to participate in a "work experience placement" (Community Service) can get a participant a sanction although they are within their rights to refuse it – just not under welfare legislation. Discrimination is defined under law specifically and generally (throughout UK, EU, US etc.) as only being enforceable under cases of negative discrimination. Positive discrimination is fully legal. Its unlawful to treat different groups of people differently but its not if such steps are aimed (worded) to promote equality, solve a problem, help a specific issue that is coincidently demographical to a group of people with such differences, etc.
This is why the UK Government thinks people can earn their benefit. Forcing unemployed people into work placement is a punishment and therefore discrimination although they will argue it is to develop such person and gain them required experience. Aiming for a significant work placement under Flexible New Deal of over the minimum mandatory period will be a good idea to help you fight this as you can prove that you have had recently valid experience and don’t require workfare. Only if you can afford it. Alternatively, you could volunteer unofficially.
Failure to participate will mean "failure to actively participate in … ". Stopping work for a breath or fag break will result in a sanction.
Fail to (or refuse to) participate in job search “arrangements"
Jobsearch arrangements are far fetching, likely to mean any activity that could assist you into obtaining paid or unpaid work-like activity. This stems off to mean anything to improve your chances of finding work – such as doing work voluntary, “team building” exercises and any activity at all on the scheme (as the scheme itself is legally intended to help you find employment).
Fail to (or refuse to) carry out a “reasonable” instruction
The Ultimate sanction power. Jobseekers are used to complying with Jobseeker Directions which have to be in writing. This is then plain cut of whats expected etc. and there is evidence of what the instruction was. Now under workfare, a verbal Jobseeker Direction is created…
Employees of workfare providers have the power to testify without a court or even under oath, to a Jobcentre Plus Decision Maker by creating nothing short of an witness statement, which could easily be falsified or lies, a similar abuse occured under New Deal, the main difference is the statement made under New Deal didn’t directly result in a sanction (perhaps exiting the participant which could lead to it indirectly).
The Jobcentre Plus Decision Maker will then impose a sanction. This is absolutely the same level of trust and responsibility a police officer has.
It is not difficult for an employee to say they said something they didn’t to sanction a person they didn’t like or didn’t get on with. It also isn’t difficult to make up allegations of the participants behaviour. No defence from fellow participants to prevent a 6 month sanction for them.
Now
We are witnessing the beginning of the end of capitalism as we know it. We have seen far greater disasters all over the world, and now my friends it is our turn. Looking at the bigger picture we are in the midst of a crumbling society that most of us went along with in the good old times of plentiful credit. In short we have collectively become victims of our own greed. No token gestures now by any government
Can possibly make a dent in the estimated 3.8 trillion pounds (pension liabilities included) dept that the country owes. We have hit the iceberg. Whatever the solution is, it will be painful and of a duration not less than 50 years in my opinion.
This is not just a depression we are in, as a country we have had difficult times before but there is a fundamental difference this time and the difference is that somewhere along the way we have lost our morals and decency.
And that my friend is what an Englishman is all about. When we begin to care about each other and reclaim the heritage many of us were born to we will begin to move forward in a worthwhile way. We cannot build a decent society without the necessary cornerstones of excellence.
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totally agree with you – I totally agreee with you however, the rich are still rich and getting richer – it makes me sick and I totally agree with you that we all need to start to care about each other and not just number one and the sooner that lesson is learned the better off we will all be.
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agree with comment above
all my mates agree with the comment above
EVERYONE KNOWS WHATS COMING
down with CAPITALISM! UP with spiritualism
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What kind of political theory is spiritualism? Never heard of it.
I believe in communism.
Yes capitalism is collapsing, couldnt happen to a better ideology in my opinion, couldnt happen soon enough…
Its a result of caring more about money than people
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Is their an petition against the sanctions and wrongfully treating innocent people .
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The chicken has at last come home to roost, as far as our decadant capitalist society is concerned – it IS collapsing, fast. As far as the jobcentre is concerned I believe it has now become a ‘game’ to deprive the poorest in society of everything possible.
I have just been sent to the provider ‘TNG’ and have kicked off a bit of a situation by ‘ammending’ the contract I have been coerced into signing – I’m agreeing to the weekly jobsearch, even the unpaid ‘mandatory’ 4-week work placement, and all appointments and leads thrown in my direction, all in the name of shoehorning me into unpaid/lowpay work to strike off another JSA claim for the government’s spun-figures released monthly to the public.
What I WILL NOT agree to is the paragraph at the end of the ‘contract’ (Work Focussed Action Plan)that says:
I GIVE MY CONSENT FOR TNG TO GATHER OR SHARE INFORMATION WITH JOBCENTRE PLUS OR A THIRD PARTY. I AGREE TO UNDERTAKE THE ACTIONS/ACTIVITIES STATED IN THIS PLAN AND UNDERSTAND THAT FAILURE TO DO SO COULD RESULT IN LOSS OF MY JOBSEEKER’S ALLOWANCE AND NATIONAL INSURANCE CREDITS.
I’m afraid I amended the above by crossing out the part about sharing information with a third party with a note saying I require consultation regarding all such arrangements to share my personnal information with third parties, and that any of my information shared with third parties for monetary gain by TNG will result in criminal liability, (or instances were I have not been consulted). In other words I WILL NOT sign away my right to the privacy of my personnal information to a private company – I believe this is my human right.
The second ammendment I made is to cross out the part that said – AND UNDERSTAND THAT FAILURE TO DO SO COULD RESULT IN LOSS OF MY JOBSEEKER’S ALLOWANCE AND NATIONAL INSURANCE CREDITS. I WILL NOT sign away my rights to jobseeker’s allowance to a dubious ‘private company’
The provider had already signed the document when she passed it over to me to sign, I made the amendments and she became very panicky and a little aggressive – I then signed the agreement (with amendments) but then she told me to ‘please leave the building, I want you to leave the building’. I stated I had signed the agreement for work placement and weekly jobsearch and intend to comply with all given appointments. I was agin told to leave the building, to which I informed her I would go straight to the jobcentre to inform them that TNG had told me to leave the building, and was she absolutely sure she wanted me to leave. She again asked me to leave. I thanked her for her time and left for the jobcentre (with the contract signed by both them and myself).
I reported immediately to JCP and began speaking to the chap that had referred me. Very quickly another staff member approached and asked if I had just been evicted from TNG because they had just received a phone call saying I had refused to sign the contract and had become ‘aggressive’. I produced the signed contract and said I had most certainly NOT been aggressive but had ammended a few items within the contract I felt relevant to the protection of my ‘rights’. She told me it was mandatory that I attend, it is mandatory that I agree to a work placement and that the activities presented by TNG were mandatory. I stated I had agreed to ALL of the above but NOT the part about signing away my rights to protect my personnal information and NOT the part about giving my rights to JSA over to the doctrine of a ‘private company’. She accepted I had agreed to all the activities and that I had every intention of attending ALL activities presented by the provider.
I have been told to attend my next appointment for an hour’s jobsearch and that at the moment there is no talk of ‘sanctioning’ me.
I will attend my appointment on Tuesday and see if I get asked to leave again – if so I will report immediately to the jobcentre and complain that this provider who is receiving millions in taxpayer’s money is actively preventing my jobsearch.
I am making a special effort to not be aggressive, even to the point of appearing to be over-polite and maybe just a bit pathetic. I do feel that the ‘sanctions’ regime being given to these providers is being activated by the claimants signing the so-called ‘Work Focus Action Plan’so taking the responsibility from JCP and placing it in the hand of a profit-seeking third party company, that receives benefits from the government by actively sanctioning claimants. I will continue this report after my next attendance.
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A private company (presumably paid for by the tax payer) is not going to have the jobseekers best interest at heart as they are a profit making organisation. I’m sick of hearing the spin from some politicians that it will be in an unemployed person’s best interest to have a job. I walked out of my last job with RSI in my arm, a knee that would no longer support my weight, tinnitus, a feeling of total exhaustion and a very nervous/anxious disposition, feeling physically sick with increased heart rate as the work load piled up, and a feeling that if I had remained, I wouldn’t have been alive today (oh, and throw in a little bullying from the supervisor, just for good measure). Was working really in my best interest?
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hello all well I would like to agree with most comments on here its a joke i went TNG finished there now im with another shite provider called JHP which get you doing play school stuff this could include dressing one of the people there in cut out cardboard using marsh mellows with straws the week before I started they were making rockets and cars out of carboard god knows what it will be this thursday. after another 11 weeks at JHP I go to a place called I 2 I doing the same stuff play school crap and this time you have to do a work placement (community service) in a charity shop or something this is 30 hours per week including job search what a joke it is
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what has making things with cardboard like kids at playgroup got to do with employment thats what these companies are supposed to be doing not having them making things or is it because there are so few jobs around this is just to occupy the time rather than sending them home
wonder what would happen if someone refused to make things out of cardboard on the basis that its both demeaning and has nothing to do with finding work and also an insult to their intelligence would they be threatened with benefit sanctioning?
these companies would be better off giving computer training than this kids stuff that would be more beneficial than making something out of cardboard
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I am recieving jsa and have been told i must do 4weeks unpaid work or my jsa will be stopped are you saying that this is against my human rights and if so what procedure can i take against it
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Glenn: Public Interest Lawyers (PLA) have mounted a legal challenge on behalf of a Birmingham graduate who was confronted with having to do unpaid work experience at Poundland. See http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-birmingham-16037332
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I’ve been on one of the FND things last year, it was the 13 week placement program. Within a few hours of starting on it, I knew it was a scam. We were made to do a basic Maths and English test on the first day. The questions on it were a joke. Second day I go in, they tell me they’ve arranged an interview for a work placement for me, it was at a caravan park as a cleaner… they tell me this at 2-45 and the interview is at 3 p.m, four miles away. Now, I was wondering why they didn’t tell me about the appointment at 1-30 when I got there. Anyway, they next ask me if I had my little car with me, I said “no”, I can’t afford to pay for hours of parking for it, so I’d walked in. They told me to get the bus, but after I lined up for the bus, I realized I hadn’t got my purse with me either, I’d left it at my mum’s that morning, along with my car. I walked to mum’s, 30 minutes from town. Time I got to that interview, it was 4 p.m. I left at 5 p.m only to get home and find that the FND provider had tried to phone me at home soon after 4-30 and probably wanting to know why I had not reported back to them to sign out. I knew it was a trap from that day on. What a total waste of time and just caused a lot of stress and anxiety. Just a bunch of hoop jumping and waiting for you to trip over your own feet.
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Oh yeah, I forgot to mention I was also doing a part-time job two days a week as well already but still made to do the unpaid work thing for the rest of the week just to get my NI paid and receive that £15 training allowance.
I’ve read some other people’s comments on here too… it’s amounting to nothing but cruelty for what they’re doing to unemployed folks… horror stories and feeling like you’re about to be terminated amnd they just waiting and watching. I’m a bit paranoid now because of it, every time they ask a question when you go in and sign on, it feels like a set up.
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to get around not having to claim any jobseekers allowance i decided to work the minimum hours.i.e 12 hourscleaning which is about the same amount you get for jobseekers allowance they will lie through their teeth, i am also entitled to full housing benefit , and also i am free to look for the job i really want instead of being forced into a job i hate…well worth the aggravation if you do this 12 hours a week cleaning piece of cake and weekends off!!!
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ps you are not legally obliged to sign on if you are working these hours, its a choice! by the time you get your working tax credits they will just deduct from your other benefits makig you no better off than this way really.
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