Ipswich Unemployed Action can reveal that the £4 weekly travel deduction on New Deal is unlawful.
An intense investigation reveals that no legislation warrants this £4 taxation.
The Training Allowance is mentioned in legislation but the £4 deductions is not. At current the Provider Guidance (a manual for New Deal providers) which is referenced into the New Deal contract gives permission for the New Deal provider to deduct £4 per week. This however isn’t statutory law and thus is only a contractual agreement between Jobcentre Plus/DWP and the New Deal providers.
As this deduction was unlawfully acquired you may claim it back. The first instance would be to ask for it back. If they refuse to do so the next step would be via the legal system – if you still are a Jobseeker it would be free to do so.
Using the DWP provided data for NDYP alone up to November 2008 it leaves a pool of £68,377,400 of potential total travel deductions since New Deal started – or as an average just shy of £7 million per year. Of course not everyone will claim for travel reimbursements and we can’t assume that everyone lasted the full 13 weeks.
I would estimate it as nout less than £2 million fraud involved here. New Deal participants assumed that the New Deal training provider has the lawful authority to make such a deduction – they didn’t – they profited from it. Jobcentre Plus was involved. I wouldn’t be surprised if it did reach reach near the £20 million mark.
For each time you been on New Deal (assuming you claimed travel for whole 13 weeks) you can claim £52 plus any applicable interest – roughly a weeks money. If you had been on New Deal 3 times then you are looking at around £156 – or 3 weeks dole money.
[...] Deal Scandal and Ipswich Unemployed Action has confirmed this is in fact unlawful and New Deal participants may take action to recover the £52 deduction [...]
Pingback by Jobseekers: Up to £156 grants courtesy of New Deal providers | New Deal Scandal — August 10, 2009 @ 9:56 am
[...] the DWP provided data for NDYP alone up to November 2008 it leaves a pool of £68,377,400 of potential total travel deductions since New … – or as an average just shy of £7 million per year. Of course not everyone will claim for travel [...]
Pingback by Jobseekers are advised to claim back unfair New Deal travel deductions « Jobseekers Allowance Advice: — December 9, 2009 @ 12:32 am
It’s all well and good having random people tell us this, but unless you can get actual ‘legal people’ (lawyers and the like) to confirm this or look into it, you could be talking a load of rubbish and making us look stupid if we ever bring it up, or even take it to court.
Comment by joe — December 30, 2010 @ 2:03 pm