letter received from job centre

Hi everybody. I am sorry if this point has been posted before.
I was placed in the support group of contribution based ESA in November 2013 for 3 years. I was very surprised to receive a letter from Job Centre asking me to go for an interview next week to discuss the help available for me to get back into work. I rang them straight away to question why I had received the letter and to tell them that It would be impossible to attend the appointment and would need either a home visit or a telephone appointment.
My "advisor" was on a lunch break but rang me back later in the afternoon. He asked me questions about my health conditions and the reasons why I would find it difficult to attend and then said that everything was fine and the appointment for next week had been cancelled.
Is this unusual or have you had other support group members reporting the same thing. He seemed quite reasonable and I didn't feel under pressure to attend but I wonder whether I would have to go for the interview if he had insisted.
Once again I apologise if this point has been raised before.

elainegem wrote: Hi everybody. I am sorry if this point has been posted before.
I was placed in the support group of contribution based ESA in November 2013 for 3 years. I was very surprised to receive a letter from Job Centre asking me to go for an interview next week to discuss the help available for me to get back into work. I rang them straight away to question why I had received the letter and to tell them that It would be impossible to attend the appointment and would need either a home visit or a telephone appointment.
My "advisor" was on a lunch break but rang me back later in the afternoon. He asked me questions about my health conditions and the reasons why I would find it difficult to attend and then said that everything was fine and the appointment for next week had been cancelled.
Is this unusual or have you had other support group members reporting the same thing. He seemed quite reasonable and I didn't feel under pressure to attend but I wonder whether I would have to go for the interview if he had insisted.
Once again I apologise if this point has been raised before.

Hi ee,

Yes, we have heard from a few members who have received similar letters from JCP.

Also discussed on : rightsnet.

As you seem to have grasped, a member of The Support Group (SG) does not have to take part in any form of Work Focused Interview (WFI) or Work Related Activity. (WRA)

They cannot be compelled to take part, but can do so voluntarily if they wish.

The danger is that some WRA that starts off being voluntary can become mandatory once the SG member agrees to it.

This type of interview should not be confused with a Benefits/Compliance Check Interview which is to check that a claimant is receiving the correct amount of benefit, and is mandatory, even for an SG member, as seen : Here.

In my opinion, The JCP are simply "trying it on".

bro58

I was going to post this as a new topic but it may be related. My son was transferred to the ESA Support Group in August 2013. This morning, I received a call, not from JCP, but from a woman at Ingeus. He was previously 'on their books' when in the WRAG. She asked to speak to my son, who wasn't available (he gets up rather late) and I asked her what they wanted. She said they just wanted to 'touch base' with him, to see if anything had changed.

I reminded her he was in the SG, which they were aware of but they were checking to see if that was still the case as they say they aren't always told when someone moves onto another benefit (surely not true?). She said they were checking how he was and if there was any support they could offer him. I told them that the support they had given him previously was non-existent! She apologised and finally asked with me once more 'so he is still in the SG?'. I confirmed this was the case.

My question is: Has anyone else received a similar call and if they phone again, or write, how should my son respond? He is better than he was a year ago but by no means ready to re-enter the world of work. He still has difficult spells and is still receiving privately paid for counselling.

Thanks Gordon. Yes, he was on the WP, although due to his illness, only managed to attend 2 or 3 interviews. It will be just over 2 years since he was forwarded to the WP. We did receive a letter from them requiring him to attend a meeting, after he had been transferred to the SG and we wrote back to inform them of this fact. As you say, communications between the DWP and the Providers is poor and I have also found that Ingeus are very inefficient and either do not update their files or consult them before telephoning/writing.

Thanks again for your help.