hi. my son as just been to the job center to start a new claim for universal credit, he been told he will have to wait 5 weeks before receiving any money but they offered him a loan,he took £100 and he has to pay it back £8 a week. but he as three appointments,at Youth Obligations Workshop 1 , work search review. and obligations review, on three separate days,and they all fall the week hes on holiday with his girlfriend, should he tell them he cant make it as hes on holiday,or should he say hes sick.
dont want him getting sanctioned before he gets his first payment.

If it were me knowing what i know now id do a sicky for sure, but more difficult when your sons claim is in a pre-processed state so to speak.

They have a nasty habit of contacting people particularly by phone when they least expect it.

Good luck with your decisions and sorry cant be of any real help on this.

Is he going away from home on holiday? Or do you mean he`s just taking a break locally london123? Either way, I would secure my UC first and delay the holiday if it isn`t pre-paid for in all honesty. UC barely allows for holidays and there will be some information out there in the UC regs saying this, but I don`t have it to hand right now. Somehow I don`t think this punitive system is geared up to allow people to even be ILL never mind take any breaks. But as jobber says, it`s a grey area and one your son needs to approach carefully and properly without jeopardising his claim.

Comply is right the regs do state some kind of crap about they dont want us to have a holiday as in their deluded world we are all on 1 large one.

However if you know all the information has been processed for his claim like you submitted everything 100% he could go enable phone abroad or where ever hes going so he can correspond with the planks at joke shop,obviously abroad use email only.

Also check dates and times of appointments, i am afraid the only way to get around this system is to be dishonest this is why they are so obsessive when vetting peoples ID's they want a passport,i dont show mine on purpose as its not compulsory to prove ID that way but easy for them to cross reference doing data matching.

hes done is claim, but ive just googled it and found out that he is forbidden to go abroad while on benefits,he can go on holiday in the uk but not abroad, so hes going to skegy for a week in a caravan when they ask.

also if they dont have his passport they wont know hes away as long as hes back for roach club signings.


Can you imagine the scene at passport control, STOP!! you cant go through'this mans on BENEFITS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! '

Its getting to the stage where I wonder are we living in Britain or North Korea

If it’s true you can’t go abroad while on benefits, suppose you have a job interview for a job in another country, what then?

Where exactly does it say 'You cant go away'' the dwp would prefer this obviously as they are deluded enough to think your son will likely find a job asap.

This 'cant go away' is just another threat they like to have hanging over people,how are they getting on with policing that there is no way they will know; unless what i describe about tan etc and dont have passport info beforehand,if they do have that info then they would have to have good reason suspicion to suspect;again tan for instance.

The chances of a job in the eu or outside i'd say are zero unless your son is highly skilled etc. Ive never been offered an interview in 10 years in the uk let alone abroad.

If a claim is up and running the only time outside of regular signing time to attend joke shop would be for instance 'app to visit joke shop for cat sat on mat course.'
Its a case of timing, know next signing time and off to airport.

As i said if they dont have your passport then sod all they can do to stop you leaving uk as they wont know ,of course holiday in the Caribbean and on your return be prepared to buy a gallon of foundation to hide the tan

This question must have been asked in a Freedom of Information request somewhere, surely? I have read that ESA claimants can go abroad for (I think) two weeks or a month, but of course if someone was to action that, chances are at their next assessment they would use it against the claimant stating they can travel, manage to book a holiday and pre-plan engagements etc....you couldn`t make it up.

As soon as your passport hits that electronic reader at passport control its in the Government's system .
Yes they can find out and its happened to a neighbor of mine who thinks someone had said to jobcenter he was abroad (he suspects his housing provider )
anyway they had all the printouts of his passport in and out.
He lost 2 weeks benefit but no sanction .
Go to Northern Ireland (still in the UK) then across the border and fly from there.
Happy holidays folks.

Thats a crying shame, but are surprised their systems at dwp are actually this capable going by the utter mess up in general with uc etc.

looks like me holidays off for now

FOI Holiday in the sun

www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/298762/response/727736/attach/2/FOI%204569%20reply.pdf?cookie_passthrough=1

This section very interesting indeed!

Under Universal Credit a claimant can go abroad for a period of a month for any reason, a
longer period of up to six months temporary absence abroad is also allowable for reasons of
medical treatment. However, if a claimant chooses to go on holiday in Great Britain or abroad
they must continue to carry out the work-related requirements as set out on their Claimant
Commitment.

That says to me prove you are still doing the usual job search stuff if they called you in for any appointment already knowing that you were away and was obviously pre granted then id say their stuffed.

Under Universal Credit a claimant can go abroad for a period of a month for any reason, a
longer period of up to six months temporary absence abroad is also allowable for reasons of
medical treatment. However, if a claimant chooses to go on holiday in Great Britain or abroad
they must continue to carry out the work-related requirements as set out on their Claimant
Commitment.

Yep seen that jobber. Try it and best of luck matey.
What they say is " can you get back if you are offered a job or an interview " ?
So you end up not telling them your going cos they got you by the b----ks.
I think this subject has been on here before and the advice was just sign off for the period.
I agree cos you got peace of mind whilst your in the bars in Benidorm.
If they do catch you its just a load of hassle .

nemesis 3 wrote:
That’s enough to ruin any holiday!

I can see it now... people sitting in hotel rooms behind their PCs looking for non-existent jobs all day. Not the best way to get a tan.

This ruling has to be unlawful in some way as it prevents people from being able to have a necessary mental break from the daily grind, but it also shows the ball & chain mentality that claimants are now under. They pay us money to live on, we obey. That`s about it.

"What they say is " can you get back if you are offered a job or an interview " ?"

Its the above i feel they will come unstuck with as they will be made aware someone is out of the uk and highly unlikely to get back for an interview proposed by joke shop and lets face it, i haven't had 1 offered by them in 3 years so that alone would look unreasonable, best thing is to just go if you need the break and restart a new claim if you have to on coming back , or, nothing to stop you doing re claim on the web while away,photo copy all id and post it to joke shop 1st class air mail and nothing to stop anyone doing a job search either; its just their bloody minded warped mentality they try to penalise people with for what they see as breaking the 'rules ' shame they cant abide by them at that side of the desk

Agree that easiest method is to tell them to shove it for x weeks and reclaim on return saves the stress and worry.

comply or die wrote:
There is always the option of a person taking the DWP to the European Court of Human Rights before we leave it due to Brexit, or The International Court of Justice—assuming the Tories don’t remove the UK from that too at some stage.

The longer the Tories are in power, there will be no human rights for people on benefits.

Anyone planning on Taking DWP (Or anyone else)to the European Court of Human Rights, Had better be quick,
As I have read somewhere buried under a load of Whitehall paperwork, That after Brexit The UK will no longer be covered by European Human Rights,
And also Basic Human Rights in the UK will be abolished.

The nasty party will absolutely love this and i can also see this happening under this current shambles.

I voted to leave the EU like many others. Now I realise that the truth of it all is going to cost us all greatly and the big fat lie we were told about the NHS, It should now go to a second vote to allow people to change their minds before the chop. Given this `no Brexit` outcome, sounds to me like a this was the plan all along. It will take the UK decades to recover. All government really needed to re-negotiate were a few rules around immigration and some other stuff rather than drag us out altogether.

I`m wondering what will happen to our welfare system too given Universal Credit is now being fast tracked. If the economy goes downhill and more jobs are lost, will we see even MORE cuts and the wielding of the carrot & stick I wonder.