I recently sent the following letter re my request for backdated unemployment benefit:
Dear Sir/Madam,
I recently received a correspondence from you re my appeal for backdated Job Seeker’s Allowance.
I asked the JobCentre in a recent letter what formed ‘good cause’ -as stated by them- for not making this back payment and, in response, they sent me a short novel of 18 pages. English is my mother tongue but I must admit that I was defeated by this document and could not make head or tail of it and certainly did not see any response to my query.
I then received the correspondence from your office saying that my appeal had been forwarded to a Tribunal Service. For the princely sum of £261.80, they are willing to waste an enormous amount of people’s time, including my own, to deliberate on what justifies ‘good cause’. I’m sure this effort will cost more than £261.80 but then perhaps the Department for Work and Pensions needs the amount they are withholding from me to actually pay towards the process of not paying me. That perhaps forms a ‘good cause’ for them but less so for me.
You kindly ask if I need help completing the form but what I really need is help understanding the Department for Work and Pensions. As a tax payer for most of my adult life, I am baffled by their inability to explain what constitutes ‘good cause’. By all means, let us all continue wasting our time with this appeal but I, or any representative, will not be attending the hearing.
Yours etc.,
Needless to say, they turned down my appeal. More annoyingly, they still didn't answer the question re 'good cause'...
Yes, but what did you regard as a 'good cause' or were you waiting to find out what they regarded as a 'good cause' so you could pick from a selection? Surely you realise there is no 'good cause', since if you have to ask you are filed under 'trying it on'. On the other hand, if you cite being mistakenly shot by the Security Services and being in a coma for months, that is self-evidently a 'good cause' for not being able to make it to the Job Centre. But just not being bothered or having a holiday probably doesn't count. So, what was your 'good cause', really curious now...
ReplyDeleteYour name reveals your lack of experience here.
ReplyDeleteMy 'good cause' was fully explained when I applied for the back payment (a series of interviews leading to a job which was put on ice). Their response was bureaucratic gobbledygook, hence my mail.
Revolution is the only answer here. Storm the palace!
ReplyDelete