28/06/2007 by orientfan.

This is a bit of a rant but I need to get it off my chest..

I am currently receiving Jobseeker’s Allowance [JA]. After receiving this for six months you switch from Contribution Based [CB] to Income Based [IB].

This happened to me on 31st March. The letter to inform me of this arrived in April. It told me I had yet another form to complete, yet conveniently did not enclose it. The next time I signed on I was given the form. Now, remember, as from 31st March I was not being given any JA.

I was meticulous when filling the form out as I wanted them to have no excuse not to give me JA. I had nothing to hide. There was a section of the form asking for current savings/bank account balance(s). If it was over £6k then you had to provide a statement. I have no savings accounts and a bank balance that was -£1.4k.

I took this to the Job Centre with the intention of them going through this form to make sure it was 100% correct and I did not need to add any further info. They confirmed that it was fine and would send it to the relevant department.

Two weeks later and… nothing… nada… nicht. Trying to phone the ‘relevant department’ is completely pointless. You will never get through. I chased this up at my next signing-on to be told it had been flagged with a query, that they couldn’t tell me about directly, and I would be getting a letter detailling this.

One week later it arrived. They wanted my last six months bank statements. I had my one from the last month but due to a NatWest cock up they had been sending all my correspondence to the wrong address until May. I visited my local NatWest branch only to be told that they no longer provide copy printed statements over the counter and they’d have to be ordered. Grrrr.

I spent two whole days trying to get through on the phone with no luck [the address they give is a PO box as they don’t want visitors] so I drafted up what I consider to be a literary tour de force and sent it, recorded signed-for, to the address with my last month’s statement and a request to contact me as a matter of urgency.

Two weeks later nothing. I spent four hours today trying to call them, finally I got through to a human being! They are going to pay me from 31st March and I will have the money on Monday. I was then told some info, off the record, as to what they were up to. e-mail me at the usual address for more info on this.

Anyway, if anyone wants the address of N & NE London District timewasters DWP it is:

Wentworth House, 350 Eastern Avenue, Ilford, Essex. IG2 6NW.

You can try calling them on 0845 6002612 [option 4 for JA] if you fancy wasting days. Hopefully this’ll turn up on Google at some point. The OrientFan doesn’t give a toss.

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28/06/2007 by orientfan.

So Mr. Scott has given up his job to write web based games full time. Thank God! His latest is Vector Tower Defence which is superb. Play it and prepare to write off your evening.

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