Official Policy Guidance to Decision Makers in relation to the application of sanctions to jobseeker claimants
Dear Department for Work and Pensions,
Please provide a full and complete set of policy guidance documentation relating to:
1 - The application of sanctions in and/or all potential forms, (i.e. all low, intermediate and higher level sanctions), and that might be applicable in any and/or all circumstances (which could include anything from not turning up when required to do so for a jobsearch review meeting, right through to failing to comply with a Mandatory Work Placement Directive) and anything in between for any / all Jobseeker Claimants.
2 - The full process of the consideration of appeals by Decision Makers from Jobseeker benefit claimants to the same, full range of potential sanction circumstances that fall into the abovementioned Part 1 of this request for any / all Jobseeker Claimants.
3 - The internal policy guidance of "acceptable reasons" and / or circumstances that would mitigate against a sanction and / or an appeal against a sanction being applied to a Jobseeker Claimant in the full range of circumstances covered in Parts 1 & 2 hitherto mentioned.
4 - In the absence of such policy documents existing and/or being applicable and/or made available in response to this specific request, a copy of the policy guidance that would be used by any / all Decision Makers to deal with such sanction application and / or appeal circumstances and confirmation that if such policy documents do not exist, that all sanctions and / or appeals and the consideration of "good reasons" must therefore be entirely discretionary amongst Decision Makers to consider.
Yours faithfully,
Mr R Davis
This is an automated confirmation that your request for information has
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Thank you for your Freedom of Information request.
You can expect a reply by 20 October unless I need to come back to you to clarify your request or the balance of the public interest test needs to be considered.
If you have any queries about this letter please contact me quoting the reference number above.
Yours sincerely
Strategy Freedom of Information
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Your right to complain under the Freedom of Information Act
If you are not happy with this response you may request an internal review by e-mailing [DWP request email] or by writing to DWP, Central FoI Team, Caxton House, Tothill Street, SW1H 9NA. Any review request should be submitted within two months of the date of this letter.
If you are not content with the outcome of the internal review you may apply directly to the Information Commissioner’s Office for a decision. Generally the Commissioner cannot make a decision unless you have exhausted our own complaints procedure. The Information Commissioner can be contacted at: The Information Commissioner’s Office, Wycliffe House, Water Lane, Wilmslow Cheshire SK9 5AF www.ico.gov.uk
Please see the attached reply to your Freedom of Information request
Yours sincerely
DWP Strategy FoI team
Dear DWP Strategy Freedom of Information,
Thank you for your reply dated 7th October 2014.
Sadly, it hasn't addressed all of the information that was specifically and carefully requested:
Item 2: I specifically requested "The full process of the consideration of appeals by Decision Makers from Jobseeker benefit
claimants to the same, full range of potential sanction circumstances that fall into the
abovementioned Part 1 of this request for any / all Jobseeker Claimants" - you have responded with a short paragraph that outlines "rights of appeal". I specifically request the policy guidance that you provide to your decision makers in this respect.
Item 2: Again, I specifically request policy guidance, and you have responded that "It is not possible to provide a definitive list of mitigations" - I did not request a "definitive list of mitigations, I requested the policy guidance that has now been provided in part. The information in the link provided in this part of the response deals primarily with "failure to comply with a
requirement to take up or apply for paid work" - it does not, for example, provide the policy guidance for dealing with a pre-employment sanction or situation, for example, voluntary training and/or Mandatory Work Scheme placements.
Item 4: Also remains incompletely answered, for the same reason as highlighted in Item 3 immediately above - namely the limited scope of the information provided. Please provide the outstanding information requested in relation to all other situations other than pre-employment, using the examples in Item 3 (immediately above) to guide you.
Finally, please provide written confirmation, that no local Jobcentre office has local discretion to ignore these policy documents and make local "discretionary" decisions that differ from policy guidance issued by central Government.
Kind Regards
Mr R Davis
Yours sincerely,
R Davis
FoI IR 509
Dear R Davis,
Thank you for your Freedom of Information review request.
Please note that it is our internal target to answer reviews within 20 working days unless I need to come back to you to clarify your request, or the balance of the public interest test needs to be considered which we will keep you informed about.
If you have any queries about this letter please contact me quoting the reference number above.
Yours sincerely,
DWP Central FoI Team
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Your right to complain under the Freedom of Information Act
If you are not happy with this response you may request an internal review by e-mailing [DWP request email] or by writing to DWP, Central FoI Team,
Caxton House, Tothill Street, SW1H 9NA. Any review request should be submitted within two months of the date of this letter. Please remember to quote the reference number above in any future communications.
If you are not content with the outcome of the internal review you may apply directly to the Information Commissioner’s Office for a decision. Generally the Commissioner cannot make a decision unless you have exhausted our own complaints procedure. The Information Commissioner can be contacted at: The Information Commissioner’s Office, Wycliffe House, Water Lane, Wilmslow Cheshire SK9 5AF
www.ico.org.uk/Global/contact_us or telephone 0303 123 1113 or 01625 545745
Dear DWP Strategy Freedom of Information,
Can you advise why no reply has been received yet? I am advised that the reply should have been forthcoming by the 20/10/14 as required by law.
Yours sincerely,
R Davis
Dear R Davis,
Thank you for your further email.
Our internal target to answer your review which we received on 8/10/14 is 20 working days, which means you should expect a reply by 7/11/14.
Yours sincerely,
DWP Central FoI Team
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Your right to complain under the Freedom of Information Act
If you are not happy with this response you may request an internal review by e-mailing [DWP request email] or by writing to DWP, Central FoI Team, Caxton House, Tothill Street, SW1H 9NA. Any review request should be submitted within two months of the date of this letter. Please remember to quote the reference number above in any future communications.
If you are not content with the outcome of the internal review you may apply directly to the Information Commissioner’s Office for a decision. Generally the Commissioner cannot make a decision unless you have exhausted our own complaints procedure. The Information Commissioner can be contacted at: The Information Commissioner’s Office, Wycliffe House, Water Lane, Wilmslow Cheshire SK9 5AF www.ico.org.uk/Global/contact_us or telephone 0303 123 1113 or 01625 545745
Dear DWP Strategy Freedom of Information,
Interestingly, the What Do They Know website, clearly states that you should have responded promptly by the 20th October 2014. This is not a new request for information, it is a follow-up as your initial response was incomplete. According to this website, you are presently in breach of the law.
Yours sincerely,
R Davis
Dear Mr R Davis,
Thank you for your Freedom of Information request. Please find enclosed our reply.
If you have any queries about this letter please contact me quoting the reference number above.
Yours sincerely,
DWP Central FoI Team
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Your right to complain under the Freedom of Information Act
If you are not happy with this response you may request an internal review by e-mailing [DWP request email] or by writing to DWP, Central FoI Team,
Caxton House, Tothill Street, SW1H 9NA. Any review request should be submitted within two months of the date of this letter. Please remember to quote the reference number above in any future communications.
If you are not content with the outcome of the internal review you may apply directly to the Information Commissioner’s Office for a decision. Generally the Commissioner cannot make a decision unless you have exhausted our own complaints procedure. The Information Commissioner can be contacted at: The Information Commissioner’s Office, Wycliffe House, Water Lane, Wilmslow Cheshire SK9 5AF
www.ico.org.uk/Global/contact_us or telephone 0303 123 1113 or 01625 545745
Dear DWP Strategy Freedom of Information,
Once again, the reply received cannot be considered as being correct or complete.
1 - I have copied and pasted all four of the links you have provided in your reply dated 28/10/14 - all four links are dead and throw up "404 - Page Not Found errors" - please do not spend a further 20 days messing around to get this information provision correct. I am unable within this website to paste screenshots of the "page not found" messages that I am seeing.
2 - In the absence of being provided with any correct linkage to any files at all, I cannot, at this time determine whether they answer and satisfy the enquiries made.
3 - In your final point in response to:
"Finally, please provide written confirmation, that no local Jobcentre office has local discretion to
ignore these policy documents and make local "discretionary" decisions that differ from policy
guidance issued by central Government."
You have answered referring specifically to "Decision Makers should follow the guidance..." - why? I am specifically asking whether "local jobcentre office" has local discretion to ignore published DWP policy. This specific question remains unanswered.
Yours sincerely,
R Davis
Thank you for your Freedom of Information request.
You can expect a reply by 05 December unless I need to come back to you to clarify your request or the balance of the public interest test needs to be considered.
If you have any queries about this letter please contact me quoting the reference number above.
Yours sincerely
Strategy Freedom of Information
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Your right to complain under the Freedom of Information Act
If you are not happy with this response you may request an internal review by e-mailing [DWP request email] or by writing to DWP, Central FoI Team, Caxton House, Tothill Street, SW1H 9NA. Any review request should be submitted within two months of the date of this letter.
If you are not content with the outcome of the internal review you may apply directly to the Information Commissioner’s Office for a decision. Generally the Commissioner cannot make a decision unless you have exhausted our own complaints procedure. The Information Commissioner can be contacted at: The Information Commissioner’s Office, Wycliffe House, Water Lane, Wilmslow Cheshire SK9 5AF www.ico.gov.uk
Dear R Davis,
Can you confirm whether or not the following links work;
https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/sy...
https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/sy...
https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/sy...
https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/sy...
You can copy and paste the links if they do not work by clicking on them.
The remainder of your review request will be answered by 05 December unless I need to come back to you to clarify your request or the balance of the public interest test needs to be considered.
If you have any queries about this letter please contact me quoting the reference number above.
Yours sincerely
Strategy Freedom of Information
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Your right to complain under the Freedom of Information Act
If you are not happy with this response you may request an internal review by e-mailing [DWP request email] or by writing to DWP, Central FoI Team, Caxton House, Tothill Street, SW1H 9NA. Any review request should be submitted within two months of the date of this letter.
If you are not content with the outcome of the internal review you may apply directly to the Information Commissioner’s Office for a decision. Generally the Commissioner cannot make a decision unless you have exhausted our own complaints procedure. The Information Commissioner can be contacted at: The Information Commissioner’s Office, Wycliffe House, Water Lane, Wilmslow Cheshire SK9 5AF www.ico.gov.uk
Dear DWP Strategy Freedom of Information,
I can confirm that the four links now provided work. I can also confirm that they are the WRONG links. I specifically requested, on the 22ND SEPTEMBER 2014 (!):
1 - The application of sanctions in and/or all potential forms,
(i.e. all low, intermediate and higher level sanctions), and that
might be applicable in any and/or all circumstances (which could include anything from not turning up when required to do so for a jobsearch review meeting, right through to failing to comply with a Mandatory Work Placement Directive) and anything in between for any / all Jobseeker Claimants.
2 - The full process of the consideration of appeals by Decision
Makers from Jobseeker benefit claimants to the same, full range of potential sanction circumstances that fall into the abovementioned Part 1 of this request for any / all Jobseeker Claimants.
3 - The internal policy guidance of "acceptable reasons" and / or circumstances that would mitigate against a sanction and / or an appeal against a sanction being applied to a Jobseeker Claimant in the full range of circumstances covered in Parts 1 & 2 hitherto mentioned.
4 - In the absence of such policy documents existing and/or being applicable and/or made available in response to this specific request, a copy of the policy guidance that would be used by any / all Decision Makers to deal with such sanction application and / or appeal circumstances and confirmation that if such policy documents do not exist, that all sanctions and / or appeals and the consideration of "good reasons" must therefore be entirely discretionary amongst Decision Makers to consider.
You have now provided:
1 - Chapter S4: JSA Sanctions – General principles
2 - Chapter S5: JSA Higher–level sanctions
3 - Chapter S6: JSA Medium–level sanctions
4 - Chapter S7: JSA Low-level sanctions
Nowhere on any of these four links, does it demonstrate to anyone reading it:
1 - The full process of consideration of appeals by Decision Makers for any sort of sanction (Part 2 of my original enquiry)
2 - The internal "policy guidance" of "good reasons" presented in mitigation of "good reasons" by a claimant and/or under appeal circumstances.(Part 3 of my original enquiry)
3 - Any response whatsoever to Part 4 of my original enquiry
4 - Nor is there any response to my enquiry dated 8TH OCTOBER 2014: "please provide written confirmation, that no local Jobcentre office has local discretion to ignore these policy documents and make local "discretionary" decisions that differ from policy guidance issued by central Government."
Yours sincerely,
R Davis
R Davis left an annotation ()
Thank you for the link - for what it's worth, I will add my two pennies worth and make myself available to present evidence to the committee.
I don't think it's worth much though, but would love to be very wrong.
Dear R Davis,
Thank you for your Freedom of Information request. Please find enclosed our reply.
If you have any queries about this letter please contact me quoting the reference number above.
Yours sincerely,
DWP Central FoI Team
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Your right to complain under the Freedom of Information Act
If you are not happy with this response you may request an internal review by e-mailing [DWP request email] or by writing to DWP, Central FoI Team,
Caxton House, Tothill Street, SW1H 9NA. Any review request should be submitted within two months of the date of this letter. Please remember to quote the reference number above in any future communications.
If you are not content with the outcome of the internal review you may apply directly to the Information Commissioner’s Office for a decision. Generally the Commissioner cannot make a decision unless you have exhausted our own complaints procedure. The Information Commissioner can be contacted at: The Information Commissioner’s Office, Wycliffe House, Water Lane, Wilmslow Cheshire SK9 5AF
www.ico.org.uk/Global/contact_us or telephone 0303 123 1113 or 01625 545745
Dear DWP Strategy Freedom of Information,
This is an exceptionally poor and incompetent reply. It can only be, that you are avoiding behaving in a transparent fashion, as the specific information that I am requesting is "not in your interests" to make public. Unfortunately, you cannot ignore this request. I note, that you have not stated at any point that we are not entitled to it, you simply continue to ignore the specific requests made to date.
Please escalate this to your most senior line manager. Please also state in your next reply, the name and grade of who replied to the original enquiry, the name and grade of this most recent "escalation review", and the name and grade of who this has now been escalated to - if this matter cannot be resolved and responded to, fully and correctly on this third and final attempt, I am happy to escalate this to the Information Commissioner's Office - this information will be required for this investigation into your responses.
For the avoidance of doubt, the specific enquiries that remain outstanding are:
Nowhere on any of these four links, does it demonstrate to anyone reading it:
1 - The full process of consideration of appeals by Decision Makers for any sort of sanction (Part 2 of my original enquiry) - (this means all internal written guidance and policy issued to Decision Makers)
2 - The internal "policy guidance" of "good reasons" presented in mitigation of "good reasons" by a claimant and/or under appeal circumstances.(Part 3 of my original
enquiry) - (this also means all internal written guidance policy issued to Decision Makers)
3 - Any response whatsoever to Part 4 of my original enquiry - (4 - In the absence of such policy documents existing and/or being applicable and/or made available in response to this specific request, a copy of the policy guidance that would be used by any /all Decision Makers to deal with such sanction application and / or appeal circumstances and confirmation that if such policy documents do not exist, that all sanctions and / or appeals and the consideration of "good reasons" must therefore be entirely discretionary amongst Decision Makers to consider.)
4 - Nor is there any response to my enquiry dated 8TH OCTOBER 2014: "please provide written confirmation, that no local Jobcentre office has local discretion to ignore
these policy documents and make local "discretionary" decisions that differ from policy guidance issued by central Government." - this is repeated for the THIRD time, as it has been entirely ignored as a question hitherto).
Yours sincerely,
R Davis
R Davis left an annotation ()
Sadly, the weblink for the submission of electronic evidence to the Committee referred to above is presently not working - you can find the House of Commons article here:
http://www.parliament.uk/business/commit...
I have requested that the correct link details be provided and updated on this website for anyone that wishes to contribute.
R Davis left an annotation ()
I can confirm that the weblink for the House of Commons Select Committee to submit written evidence to their inquiry has now been restored. I urge anyone on the receiving end of mis-treatment, staff abuse or other maladministration to go to the weblink and upload a file for their consideration.
Nothing will change if we don't make the Select Committee aware of the issues within the system.
H Mansfield left an annotation ()
"I turn to the question that we have not answered – I apologise for this oversight."
I can't believe they're actually trying the "Whoops, we forgot to answer that bit" defence.
Surely forgetfulness is not an accepted excuse for not providing an answer to a question that has been asked twice, and thus it is in fact a refusal to answer something which they are obligated to by law?
R Davis left an annotation ()
It might be mildly acceptable for this "oversight" to exist, had they actually attempted to answer any of the specific questions posed.
Clearly, policy seems to be to "ignore any difficult questions that we don't like and hope that they go away so that we don't have to release information that we don't want to share, or that is harmful to us."
Sadly, I'm not a lawyer or FOI expert, and don't know what they can be compelled to answer, but I note that they've not used, or attempted to use the "we're not obliged to give you this information for reason "x, y and z" - therefore, there appears, on the face of it, to be no plausible reason to continue to try to avoid the issue racking up 20 wasted working days each and everytime the request is re-made.
It's disappointingly appalling. If the next response doesn't answer the question, the next email will be to the ICO to complain officially. The difficulty with this, is that the last time I referred a matter to the ICO, whilst it was upheld, it took nearly six months for the matter to be formally resolved!
Dear R Davis,
Thank you for your Freedom of Information review request.
Please note that it is our internal target to answer reviews within 20 working days unless I need to come back to you to clarify your request, or the balance of the public interest test needs to be considered which we will keep you informed about.
If you have any queries about this letter please contact me quoting the reference number above.
Yours sincerely,
DWP Central FoI Team
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Your right to complain under the Freedom of Information Act
If you are not happy with this response you may request an internal review by e-mailing [DWP request email] or by writing to DWP, Central FoI Team,
Caxton House, Tothill Street, SW1H 9NA. Any review request should be submitted within two months of the date of this letter. Please remember to quote the reference number above in any future communications.
If you are not content with the outcome of the internal review you may apply directly to the Information Commissioner’s Office for a decision. Generally the Commissioner cannot make a decision unless you have exhausted our own complaints procedure. The Information Commissioner can be contacted at: The Information Commissioner’s Office, Wycliffe House, Water Lane, Wilmslow Cheshire SK9 5AF
www.ico.org.uk/Global/contact_us or telephone 0303 123 1113 or 01625 545745
Dear R Davis,
Thank you for your Freedom of Information review request. Please find enclosed our reply, my apologies for the delay.
If you have any queries about this letter please contact me quoting the reference number above.
Yours sincerely,
DWP Central FoI Team
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Your right to complain under the Freedom of Information Act
If you are not happy with this response you may request an internal review by e-mailing [DWP request email] or by writing to DWP, Central FoI Team,
Caxton House, Tothill Street, SW1H 9NA. Any review request should be submitted within two months of the date of this letter. Please remember to quote the reference number above in any future communications.
If you are not content with the outcome of the internal review you may apply directly to the Information Commissioner’s Office for a decision. Generally the Commissioner cannot make a decision unless you have exhausted our own complaints procedure. The Information Commissioner can be contacted at: The Information Commissioner’s Office, Wycliffe House, Water Lane, Wilmslow Cheshire SK9 5AF
www.ico.org.uk/Global/contact_us or telephone 0303 123 1113 or 01625 545745
Dear Department for Work and Pensions,
Please pass this on to the person who conducts Freedom of Information reviews.
I am writing to request an internal review of Department for Work and Pensions's handling of my FOI request 'Official Policy Guidance to Decision Makers in relation to the application of sanctions to jobseeker claimants'.
This most recent response is utter diatribe. You've sat on this response since the 18th November and then provided no new or useful information that attempts to answer any of the four questions posed, that remain outstanding, to this day, whilst "partially upholding my review"!
This matter will now be escalated to the Information Commissioner's Office, as I cannot see how you have complied with the requirements of the Freedom of Information Act, and you clearly have no intention of providing the information requested.
A full history of my FOI request and all correspondence is available on the Internet at this address: https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/o...
Yours faithfully,
R Davis
This is an automated confirmation that your request for information has
been accepted by the DWP FoI mailbox.
By the next working day your request will be forwarded to the relevant
information owner within the Department who will respond to you direct.
If your email is a Freedom of Information request you can normally
expect a response within 20 working days.
Should you have any further queries in connection with this request do
please contact us.
For further information on the Freedom of Information Act within DWP
please click on the link below.
[1]http://www.dwp.gov.uk/freedom-of-informa...
References
Visible links
1. http://www.dwp.gov.uk/freedom-of-informa...
R Davis left an annotation ()
Referral made to the ICO on the 8/1/15 complaining about the DWP refusal to answer any of the questions posed, or in the stipulated times as laid down by the FOI statute.
Dear R Davis,
Thank you for your Freedom of Information review request.
Please note that it is our internal target to answer reviews within 20 working days unless I need to come back to you to clarify your request, or the balance of the public interest test needs to be considered which we will keep you informed about.
If you have any queries about this letter please contact me quoting the reference number above.
Yours sincerely,
DWP Central FoI Team
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Your right to complain under the Freedom of Information Act
If you are not happy with this response you may request an internal review by e-mailing [DWP request email] or by writing to DWP, Central FoI Team,
Caxton House, Tothill Street, SW1H 9NA. Any review request should be submitted within two months of the date of this letter. Please remember to quote the reference number above in any future communications.
If you are not content with the outcome of the internal review you may apply directly to the Information Commissioner’s Office for a decision. Generally the Commissioner cannot make a decision unless you have exhausted our own complaints procedure. The Information Commissioner can be contacted at: The Information Commissioner’s Office, Wycliffe House, Water Lane, Wilmslow Cheshire SK9 5AF
www.ico.org.uk/Global/contact_us or telephone 0303 123 1113 or 01625 545745
Dear R Davis,
Thank you for your Freedom of Information review request. Please find enclosed our reply.
If you have any queries about this letter please contact me quoting the reference number above.
Yours sincerely,
DWP Central FoI Team
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Your right to complain under the Freedom of Information Act
If you are not happy with this response you may request an internal review by e-mailing [DWP request email] or by writing to DWP, Central FoI Team,
Caxton House, Tothill Street, SW1H 9NA. Any review request should be submitted within two months of the date of this letter. Please remember to quote the reference number above in any future communications.
If you are not content with the outcome of the internal review you may apply directly to the Information Commissioner’s Office for a decision. Generally the Commissioner cannot make a decision unless you have exhausted our own complaints procedure. The Information Commissioner can be contacted at: The Information Commissioner’s Office, Wycliffe House, Water Lane, Wilmslow Cheshire SK9 5AF
www.ico.org.uk/Global/contact_us or telephone 0303 123 1113 or 01625 545745
Dear Department for Work and Pensions,
Referral made to the ICO on the 8/1/15 complaining about the DWP refusal to answer any of the questions posed, or in the stipulated times as laid down by the FOI statute.
A full history of my FOI request and all correspondence is available on the Internet at this address: https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/o...
Yours faithfully,
R Davis
This is an automated confirmation that your request for information has
been accepted by the DWP FoI mailbox.
By the next working day your request will be forwarded to the relevant
information owner within the Department who will respond to you direct.
If your email is a Freedom of Information request you can normally
expect a response within 20 working days.
Should you have any further queries in connection with this request do
please contact us.
For further information on the Freedom of Information Act within DWP
please click on the link below.
[1]http://www.dwp.gov.uk/freedom-of-informa...
References
Visible links
1. http://www.dwp.gov.uk/freedom-of-informa...
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Alan Smith left an annotation ()
http://www.benefitsandwork.co.uk/news/29...