I had to go to the Work Programme place last Thursday. I was asked what I had done to look for work. So I said I had checked the Universal site, the apprenticeship.org website and some other sites and applied for 9 jobs. He wanted to check my Universal Account, Apprenticeship.org account, my email account and my Reed account as that is where I applied for the positions. Email when it asked for a CV. I declined and said it's private. The information was available on the sheet of paper with reference details and job title/company name. He then told me if I kept refusing to prove what I had applied for electronically he would have no choice but to sanction me if this became a regular theme as I'm not complying.
No, under the data protection act there is no legal way that they can sanction you for not letting them check your accounts. If he wants proof that you have applied for jobs ask him what you can provide that will be proof.
I haven't used the sites in question but if they have a screen after you've applied for a job saying you've applied for it, or something similar, then start taking screenshots of them.
I don't know what the regulations are surrounding what evidence can be required of you to prove you done the things on your jobsearch, however what he is asking for you definitely cannot be sanctioned for refusing - next time I would take in copies of the relevant laws and regulations on the
www.consent.me.uk/universaljobmatch page and just make it clear that under the data protection act he cannot sanction you for refusing him access to the accounts.
What is wrong with these people? Is there a way you can back out of the Work Programme scheme once you have signed on the dotted line? When I was being transferred to begin with I was told I had no choice. So I regrettably signed the sheets without realising you could fight the contract information without being sanctioned. I signed the form and there I was with the Work Programme. I have signed off and on at least 4 times since then, that advisor must have earned a bit of cash for supposedly getting me a job. Did he balls. He did nothing but claimed the credit when I was offered some sort of employment. Since I setup a new claim everything seems to be far more rushed. Feels like they want to sanction just to reduce the unemployment figures if that does infact cut you from the latest standings.
It's the Job Centre sign on date tomorrow so I expect more fireworks. Wrote 21 things on the sheet.
As for the zero hour contract nothing but a poxy text message asking me to do a 19:00 - 23:00 shift on two occasions. I cannot get home with them late afternoon shifts. Just dreadful it really is.
How rude of me not to thank each and everyone of you for the past replies. Thanks.
As Francis said, you can't back out of the WP, but you can revoke your consent for them to share information under the data protection act - the information to do this is on either
www.consent.me.uk or
www.donotsign.org - as I understand it, this prevents them from contacting the companies you get work with and confirming that you have a job there which prevents them from getting paid as they can't prove to the DWP that you are still in work.
iirc: If someone is sanctioned they no longer count as a claimant, but they are still counted as unemployed by the Labour Force Survey. If someone is on workfare, they are still counted in the claimant count but are counted as employed by the Labour Force Survey (the Labour Force Survey is the usual figure used, it's around 2.5m with the JSA claimant count around 1.6m)
TY people for posting it.
