Putting things right: complaints and learning from DWP - the ...

Mr G’s complaint about Jobcentre Plus
In Mr G’s case, Jobcentre Plus lost his papers, hampering our, and their own, investigation of
his complaint.
Background to the complaint
Mr G separated from his wife, leaving the
marital home, in October 2005. He was made
redundant January 2006 (he had previously been
self‐employed), and claimed jobseeker’s allowance
in February 2006. The claim had not been dealt
with by the time he reconciled with his wife and
moved back to the marital home on 27 April. Mr G
then made a fresh claim for himself and his wife in
April. On 22 May Jobcentre Plus said that they were
looking into Mr G’s circumstances before deciding
his claim. In particular, they were considering
the implications of his self-employment and his
ownership of a ‘second property’. In June Mr G told
Jobcentre Plus that he had found employment.
On 1 August 2006 Jobcentre Plus told Mr G that he
was not entitled to jobseeker’s allowance because
he had not paid enough class 1 National Insurance
contributions (as an employee) and because he
had savings of £16,000 or more. Mr G queried the
decision: he said he had previously been told that
his contributions were sufficient to support a claim,
and said he did not have over £16,000 in savings.
On 1 September Jobcentre Plus told Mr G that the
tax years 2003-04 and 2004-05 were relevant to his
claim for contribution‐based jobseeker’s allowance,
and that he had paid only ‘self-employed’
contributions (class 2 contributions) during those
tax years. Jobcentre Plus referred to a property ‘in
which you do not reside’ and said that Mr G was
being treated as having capital of £97,000, and so
he was not entitled to income-based jobseeker’s
allowance. (When a claim is made by a person
after leaving the marital home, the value of the
claimant’s interest in the home is treated as capital
after an initial period of 26 weeks.) On 5 September
Mr G wrote to Jobcentre Plus saying they had
ignored the fact that he had been employed for six
months in the year before his unemployment, and
that although he jointly owned the marital home,
he received no income from it and had paid rent on
his own temporary accommodation.
Meanwhile, in August 2006, the Ombudsman
received Mr G’s complaint about Jobcentre Plus.
In September we asked the Chief Executive of
Jobcentre Plus to respond to the complaint.
Accordingly, Jobcentre Plus wrote to Mr G’s MP
(but did not copy their letter to Mr G). They said
Mr G had not received the level of service he
was entitled to expect, and apologised for the
inconvenience caused. They explained that Mr G
had not paid sufficient class 1 contributions in the
relevant tax year (those he had paid fell outside
the relevant tax years). They said that, because
Mr G was living apart from his wife at the start of
his claim, the value of the matrimonial home had
to be taken into account when determining his
available capital. Jobcentre Plus said that after Mr G
returned to the marital home, his wife’s part-time
earnings had to be taken into account and they had
sent him forms on which to declare them. (Mr G
received the forms but had mistakenly thought
they were for him to declare his earnings.)
On 3 January 2007 Jobcentre Plus told Mr G
that they had looked at his claim ‘following a
recent change’, and had awarded him jobseeker’s
allowance from 10 January 2006. They would make
him a final payment for the period from 10 February
Putting things right: complaints and learning from DWP | March 2009 51