Quote:
Originally Posted by Accyexplorer
...Have you had a pleasant experience or been knocked off benefits and wish to share that experience,then please do so...
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I had to sign on 25 years ago.
The small company I was working for at the time went bankrupt (none of the peons like me saw it coming). They owed me about three thousand in salary, holiday pay and unpaid expenses. There was (possibly still is) a government fund that covers expenses and holiday pay and some salary, but to get it you needed to sign on.
I was treated with disdain and indifference by the staff at the Job Centre (as it was back then, I think). "Fill these out and sign them." as a wad of forms was quite literally thrown at me. I didn't look at them. I explained my situation, and finished with "I don't want to sign on, don't want the money, it's a waste of my time and yours. I'll be in a new job within a month. If I don't do it, I won't get the money I'm owed for work I've already done."
The attitude changed, I got help filling in the one form I needed, and three weeks later I was in a new job. In the meantime I got a surprisingly big cheque each week until I signed off. I seem to recall it was deferred by a week or two, so there was a bit of a wait for the first, and I still got one, possibly two, after signing off.
Fast forward nine months and I get a letter stating that I'd been overpaid by £100 but because it was an administrative mistake and not fraud, they would not be seeking to recover the amount.