Sheffield Bailey Court Jobcenter Plus in utter shambles ?

Customer calls for investigation into actions of staff at Sheffield Bailey Court Jobcentre Plus... 

Customers made to starve and spend time in hunger due to mistakes of Sheffield Bailey Court Jobcentre Plus staff...

Do Sheffield Bailey Court Jobcentre Plus staff make a mistake 50% of the time ?

Also Read: Fear of incompetence being exposed (Click Here)

                 Details of (some of) their errors (Click Here)

                 Media Release (Click Here)

Bailey Court Jobcentre Plus, Sheffield (Credit: Google Maps)

A Jobcentre Plus customer in Sheffield, who has been victimized on multiple occasions due to the errors of the Bailey Court Jobcentre Plus, has taken steps to reveal the appalling level of service provided by Jobcentre Plus staff to its customers. The customer, who is currently identified only as Claimant X, stated that s/he has been dealing with the Bailey Court Jobcentre Plus in Sheffield on a somewhat regular basis since the middle of November, 2013, with some gaps in between.

“During the current period I have been dealing with the Sheffield Bailey Court Jobcentre Plus, the staff who dealt with me have made multiple errors. I have evidence to clearly prove nearly 10 of these errors”, Claimant X stated.

“As I have been currently dealing with the Sheffield Bailey Court Jobcentre Plus for only about 9 months, being able to clearly prove that the staff at this Jobcentre Plus have made nearly 10 errors relating to me, means that, on average, they make one error each month. As a customer of the Jobcentre Plus, I was supposed to have regular interactions with its staff every fortnight (i.e. approximately twice a month). This means the staff at the Jobcentre Plus make an error every other time (i.e. 50% of the time) they deal with a customer”, Claimant X added. 

Claimant X stated that s/he has now decided to draw public attention towards the appalling standards of service provided by the Bailey Court Jobcentre Plus and the incompetence of its staff. Claimant X also revealed some of the errors made by the staff at the Sheffield Bailey Court Jobcentre Plus...

On 27-11-2013, Darryl Waring of the Bailey Court Jobcentre Plus ‘forgot’ to input to the system that Claimant X attended the Jobcentre. This is one of the most basic tasks staff at Jobcentre Plus are supposed to do upon having an interview with a claimant. As a result, Claimant X did not receive his Jobseeker's Allowance payment on time. Later, the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) issued the Jobseeker's Allowance payment. However, it took the DWP over two months to issue an apology with regard to this incident.

Dave Rogers

On 19-02-2014, Sue Cooper of the Bailey Court Jobcentre Plus provided wrong information on the documents that were required to make an application. As a result, on the following day, when Claimant X attended the Jobcentre, her/his application was refused. Claimant X was requested to leave and asked to come back with the correct documents. Later an apology was issued with regard to this incident.

On 12-03-2014, the Bailey Court Jobcentre Plus reported incorrect information to the Benefits Delivery Centre stating that Claimant X had informed the Jobcentre Plus that s/he was in possession of significant sums of money as well as two operational businesses and therefore, s/he did not need Job Seekers Allowance. Claimant X, who has no such funds or businesses, believes that this was retaliation by the same Darryl Waring who previously ‘forgot’ to input information to the system, thereby delaying Claimant X’s Jobseeker's Allowance payment.

“It is DWP policy to stop all payments to a claimant until an investigation is conducted, when someone reports that a claimant has large amounts of money etc: I believe Darryl Waring made this false report against me, because I had previously raised a complaint against him for forgetting to input my sign-in evidence, resulting in a delay in receiving a Jobseeker's Allowance payment”, Claimant X stated.

Later a DWP investigation revealed that Claimant X did not in fact have any funds or operational businesses and reinstated her/his Jobseeker's Allowance payments. The complaint against Darryl Waring referred to above has also been upheld by the DWP.

On 19-03-2014, Dave Rogers of the Bailey Court Jobcentre Plus took steps to incorrectly disallow Claimant X’s Jobseeker's Allowance for the period 06-03-2014 to 12-03-2014 as a result of Dave Rodgers’s incompetence and lack of awareness of a “benefit week”, a period used in calculating Jobseeker's Allowance payments. The DWP later issued an apology with regard to this and removed the disallowance of Jobseeker's Allowance for that period.

On the same day, Dave Rogers of the Bailey Court Jobcentre Plus also took steps to refer Claimant X to a Labour Market Decision Maker for the period 12-03-2014 to 19-03-2014 for not “Actively Seeking Employment”. A comparison of an audio recording of the conversation between Claimant X and Dave Rogers with a copy of the information Dave Rogers input into the DWP computer system indicates that Mr Rogers distorted facts as well as omitted vital information from the records Mr Rogers made, although Mr Rogers assured that he had entered the information. However, later, the DWP decided that Claimant X was actually “Actively Seeking Employment” and issued the Jobseeker's Allowance Payment, although much later than it should have been paid.

On 08-07-2014, the Bailey Court Jobcentre Plus suspended Claimant X’s Jobseeker's Allowance and imposed a lengthy sanction on her/his claim for ‘not attending an appointment’ with a Jobcentre Plus staff member, although Claimant X was not required to attend the Jobcentre on that day. Later the DWP removed the suspension as well as sanction and issued an apology.

On 18-08-2014, Andrew Smith of the Bailey Court Jobcentre Plus issued a document, which stated that Claimant X was required to attend the Jobcentre Plus on 27-08-2014. However, upon attending the Jobcentre Plus on 27-08-2014, it was revealed that the document was issued in error.

On 22-08-2014, Claimant X did not receive a Jobseeker's Allowance payment, as s/he should have. Having made enquiries, it was learned this was because the Bailey Court Jobcentre Plus had not communicated vital information to relevant individuals within the DWP. The DWP has apologized for this error and later issued the payment, although it was delayed.

Andrew Smith

“In addition to the above, I have also raised at least three other issues with the DWP. It has taken the DWP much longer than the time scales stipulated in  DWP guidelines to deal with these issues. This makes me believe they are attempting to possibly sweep these issues under the carpet” Claimant X said.

“Two issues I have raised, for which I have not had a response yet, are one

Noel Shanahan

 against a Lucy Howson and another against security staff at the Sheffield Bailey Court Jobcentre Plus. I also find it quite surprising that the Director General of Operations of the DWP, Noel Shanahan thought it was appropriate to refer a an issue I raised, to be investigated by Lucy Howson, when a previous issue I had raised against the same Lucy Howson was still pending investigation. This has made me totally lose confidence in the DWP’s complaints procedure”, claimant X added.

“I am also in possession of proof of instances where Jobcentre Plus / DWP staff have either falsified records or provided incorrect information. In addition, I also have proof of instances where staff at the Sheffield Bailey Court Jobcentre Plus have clearly violated DWP policy guidelines. I don’t think this is the right forum to elaborate on all of those instances, due to the vast amounts of background information that would have to be put forward in order to portray everything in context. However, I am willing to layout all this evidence in front of an investigative body, which would look into the actions of the staff of the Sheffield Bailey Court Jobcentre Plus and DWP. Therefore, I call upon those responsible for overseeing the DWP to investigate into the appalling level of service provided by the Sheffield Bailey Court Jobcentre Plus and DWP”, Claimant X concluded.

Also Read: Fear of incompetence being exposed (Click Here)

                 Details of (some of) their errors (Click Here)

                 Media Release (Click Here)