New tactics from the DWP workers. 

Every week we hear new stories of how the DWP workers try to trick people into receiving a sanction. We aren’t easily shocked anymore but if you haven’t heard of these tactics in your area please watch out for them. Here’s a few read and note. These aren’t unusual but it’s good to highlight them every now and then. 

Only apply for jobs that you know you will be successful in getting on the universal job match website. Now we know that most of these jobs are fake jobs but yes this was a nugget of advice given yesterday. If you apply for jobs that you won’t get then we will sanction you. It’s a no win situation for the client and he got illegally sanctioned. Don’t fall for this one folks unless you possess some kind of clairvoyant ability then how would you know if you are going to get the job or not? 

Being sent to a job club that doesn’t exist. Yes this is a newish one. A DWP advisor scribbles down on a piece of paper and tells you to get round to a certain building in half a hour. They run round trying to find the non existent building so you go back to the Jobcentre and they sanction you for not attending the appointment, it didn’t exist. Try and check to see if this place exists before trying to find it it could save you a sanction. 

The non existent appointment. Yes they are still trying this old one. Not sending you a letter for an appointment then sanctioning you for not attending. They like to use this one a lot because often they go unchallenged. What’s the point in fighting when it’s your word against theirs? 

On universal credit worked all week sanctioned your top up wage whilst on zero hours contract. Why sanctioned? Because you failed to look for work for a further 35 hours that week. Why? Because you were working and you had to sleep. Your advisor says tough the Jobcentre comes first before anything else. 

They sanction you and they refuse to hand over a hardship form and say that you aren’t entitled to one. Very wrong and they have been warned about this in parliament. By law they have to give you one. Demand one. Don’t make the mistake of saying b******s under your breath.. This will ensure that a g4s security guard escorts you out of the building. 

We will sanction your housing benefit if you don’t comply…. No you won’t and no you can’t. They often threaten this but they cannot do this. Go straight to your local council offices and apply for housing benefit on a zero income basis. 

Refusing to accept your form for a mandatory reconsideration of a sanction even though they requested that you hand it in. Also when the envelope doesn’t stick refusing to put a bit of sellotape on it to stick it. All true! 

These are just a few of their lame tactics and they are predictable. Always question them and always ask for everything in writing. Remember over 85% of sanction appeals are won. And don’t give up. 

See you next Thursday outside the Jobcentre. 



38 thoughts on “New tactics from the DWP workers. ”


    I have strong views on this matter. I firmly believe that all unjust and fraudulent sanctions should be appealed immediately and that benefit claimant ‘stitching up’ needs to be recognized as a criminally indictable offense.

    Liked by 4 people

    1. Had that one happen to me a number of times luckily at the time i had a support worker to sort it. I couldnt deal with it, set me back each time as they made my ptsd so much worse i couldnt function for weeks at a time afterwards


    2. Also had this happen to me, January last year they sanctioned me and told me that I had not attended an appointment and thus were not taking adequate steps to find work…
      I did not have an email, text or letter…
      Even worse, this “appointment” was apparently on the 27th December, on which day they were closed anyway.


  2. I came within a hairsbreadth of being sanctioned just after New Year.

    The chap at the Job Centre took me to task because the jobsearch notes on my Universal Job Match account had an almost three weeks gap between entries.

    I told him the truth, I’d been looking after my elderly mother who was quite ill with a chest infection.

    He hemmed and hawed about it for a minute or two, then scuttled off to consult his supervisor – meantime I’m practically soiling myself in terror at the thought of being sanctioned for a third time in the space of 18 months.

    He came back and basically gave me a verbal slap on the wrist, and warned me to keep an eye on things in future.

    Liked by 1 person

  3. I used the JCP as an address as I was/still am sofa surfing,no phone or access to the internet,this was not happily received and I was told that I had to have a permanent address. I found friends that were willing to let me use theirs,since then(although they claim no benefits) they have been harassed,barriers to work? Yes,no permanent address..not interested,training? Not interested…Any advice on positions available? Check UJM…Really,on average 62 positions are added weekly,yet UJM states that over 7200+ are available,not a maths genius but that does not add up…


    1. Decades ago I applied for a job at Bristol Jobcentre. The clerk was upset because I don’t normally live in Bristol and she seemed to think that only Bristolians should be allowed to apply. “What about accommodation?” she asked, you NEED an address. “Well” I replied, “I’ve got a caravan and a car that will tow it and I could live on a caravan site.” This did not go down well at all. “What about a phone?” the silly woman said “Mobile phone” I replied. By now the clerk was getting quite vexed about my attempts to “steal” her job vacancies. Of course the rules about having to have a land-line phone and a bricks-and-mortar address do not actually exist and in any case I do have a bricks-and-mortar address but its not in Bristol!

      Decades ago the government said that they wanted “A Highly Mobile Workforce” but it looks as if Bristol Jobcentre never got the message.

      The only Jobcentre that is any use is in Cardiff and the others that are in England are all useless as far as I know. For example a friend needed to earn some money but he had had a huge number of knock-backs. His spelling is rather iffy and in particular he confuses homophones such as “hear” and “here”. I suggested that he asked for Fork Lift Truck training as this would give him the “in”. This perfectly reasonable request was refused in Cornwall in spite of so-called charities that allegedly help the unemployed so down here getting the permit was a six hundred pound touch! Totally out of the question for a person on JSA.

      Cardiff were phoned and they said “We’ve got just the course for you Boyo! Fork Lift Truck and Ware-houseman’s Certificate, it’s a fortnight and its free!” The man packed his tent and caught the bus and as a result he is now in his seventh year of steady employment. On a good month with overtime he gets over £1000 IN HIS HAND! (after taxes and National Insurance are deducted) OK its not a fortune but its vastly superior to JSA.

      Take care!


  4. I would tell them straight “I will only apply for jobs I can reasonably expect to get” If they sanction me I will immediately file charges against JC+ for fraud and name DWP as an accessory
    Sometimes you could go months without a vacancy been available for a job that a person could do I once swore at a numpty behind the JC+ desk because he gave me a HGV driving job to apply for, I don’t even have a license anymore, the whole centre heard because the security guard came over and started telling me off to which I told him to go score some f*cking steroids or book himself his funeral, his choice. In two weeks, my next signing on day, I was going into hospital and from that day I have been on ESA.


  5. Ian Duncan Smith has continually lied to the media that there are no targets for benefit sanctions. But this demonstrates that there are.

    If DWP staff are resorting to these nasty underhand tactics to trick people into getting their money cut off then it shows the measures they will resort to to meet these targets.

    Liked by 1 person

  6. Can anyone pinpoint the moment when Job Centres became less about “Helping you find work”, and more about “Getting you off benefits by hook or by crook”?


  7. I’m on esa and housing benefit and council tax benefit and I have been suspended all benefits at the moment just for letting my ex husband move back in separate rooms and everything but they stopped my money 6 weeks ago with no notification. I still have not received a letter from dwp about this what should I do I have rang them but Ihhave mental health issues too.


    1. Oh no Hun. They will class you as living as a couple and not separately. You will have to either apply again making a new claim as a couple or make a new claim saying that you are not a couple but you would have to prove that. You will need to telephone them or ask anyone that may be representing you. Hope you get it sorted soon xx


  8. This is awful 😦

    I don’t understand what is wrong with people who work for DWP social services. They don’t appear to have any humanity, compassion, empathy? But they are actually human, so what goes wrong with them?

    You know something happened in Germany in the forties. People lost their humanity, compassion, empathy. They became monsters.



  9. If you get sanction, fight the bastards all the way. They hope, you won’t challenge their decisions, so they can make up their figures, to please their bosses. I was sanction, over a period of a few weeks, some 5 times. They range from 42 * 2, 53, 56 to 70 days each one, in total I was looking at 263 days.

    They were sanctioning me not once, twice, thrice but four time per day. I only get £10.40 each day. I had good reasons, but as usual, Jobcentreplus claimed otherwise. Then they force you to take of a Hardship loan, which you have to pay back, what a scam hey!! Some of these clowns, have self delusions about its being the public money, grrr were the public and have paid into the system.

    I immediately re-appealed and again they came up their excuses and lies. But I continue with my appeals, I email all the district mangers in England, Wales, contacted various departments within the DWP and Jobcentreplus, obtained numerous Data parcels, innumerable phone calls, emails, scanned documents and pursued my claims, right up to a Social Security Tribunal.

    These people are so incompetent, for each appeal, a different adviser dealt with it, yet none of them review the others work, even though they all use the same system. Hence they didn’t realise all the errors.

    Eventually I wore them down and exposed their numerous mistakes. These range from phantom sanctions which never occurred, so they can increase the second portion of the penalty. Calling you a liar and claiming you miss an appointment, when you actually attended and provided proof through a document with the date on. Deliberately missing re-en-engagement dates, so has to increase the length of the sanction. Failing to phone you, as they are required to discuss these sanctions. These people, will deliberately delay the process, as they hope you will get sick of it all and withdrawn your challenge, don’t!!

    I reduced these sanction to 10 days. When making your complaints, find out these faceless bureaucrats email addresses, even the regional managers and bombard them with emails. It also a way of making sure, they can’t play their usual trick of claiming they never received your correspondence. Another thing, if you get your appeal to the Tribunal, attend. The sneaky bastards will pull a past sanction from out of nowhere and try to get it in this appeal. They also claim the have 2 systems.

    Another’s trick they like to play, is to sanction you, when they find out your about to receive some money from somewhere else, Data Matching!! They found out I was about to get £300 tax rebate. All of a sudden, I was accused of missing a number appointments and subsequently sanction, for guess what £300, coincidence? They will create they own sanctions to fit the supposed penalty.

    So far I have got £75.00 compensation and given the gutless so called public servants, pure grief. I haven’t finished with these liars yet. Remember, you can’t trust any of them, even the ones that smile at you, but will still steal your money, to make their bonuses.

    Update: The Works Programme has finally realise there mistake again and informed Jobcentreplus the biggest sanction was wrong. However, because it went to the Tribunal, the pricks don’t want to acknowledge the correction. So I have to go through the whole appeal process with the Tribunal, costing more money and time.


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