u/DWP_Throwaway93 — reddlx

I received this nonsense on my journal today, which means I've now got to waste my entire Monday morning next week, travelling to and from a completely unnecessary appointment at the Jobcentre to show them the same tenancy agreement that they already saw when I started my claim, so that I can continue receiving the money I am currently relying on to pay my rent each month.

I'm already getting fit notes, and having phone appointments while I'm waiting for my Work Capability Assessment.

It's acceptable for gambling companies, e-wallet providers, adult companies/websites that need to comply with the Online Safety Act, etc., to carry out age/address/identity verification online by simply having somebody upload relevant documents for review - so why on earth do they still think it's okay to drag people into the Jobcentre for an appointment to show these kinds of documents? Can someone please explain to me how this isn't a failure to make reasonable accommodations under the Equality Act?

Furthermore, it's a complete waste of taxpayers' money - why do I need a half-hour appointment to show a Jobcentre employee my tenancy agreement, when it could just be uploaded online and someone could approve my documents in a couple of minutes? Surely it's going to just be 5 minutes of an actual appointment, and 25 minutes of a work coach being paid to sit on their arse? It'll probably take longer for them to go through the security questions than it'll take for them to look at my tenancy agreement and go "Yep, that matches the address you gave us."

Is there anything I can do, aside from making a complaint and inevitably having the DWP tell me that they don't think they're doing anything wrong?

Also, what would even trigger them to query this?

I've recently received the official outcome of my PIP assessment (4 points for engaging face to face, and nothing else), and I will be doing a mandatory reconsideration (MR). I have not yet received any formal support with the PIP application process from anybody (although I've asked questions on Reddit, etc.)

I've spoken to my local council's Welfare Rights team over the phone, who basically said they can't help much with the MR stage, but they can offer extensive support to help me prepare for a tribunal.

I asked them whether I could speak to Citizens Advice about my MR and come back to them for the tribunal (if one is needed), and they advised against this.

To summarise their reasoning: 'If you get Citizens Advice to help with MR, we won't have access to as much information for the tribunal stage if you decide you want our help for tribunal instead, so pick one and stick with it.'

However, they sounded like they would be incredibly useful for helping to prepare for a tribunal (they said they could do basically anything except for actually attending the tribunal), and they said that MR rarely results in a decision being overturned.

Because of this, I'm now unsure what the best option is for getting support with my claim. My logic is that if my local council's Welfare Rights team would be better than Citizens Advice for a tribunal, and MR is unlikely to be successful no matter what, I may be better off writing a MR by myself and not being tied to Citizens Advice for the entire process to potentially have a better chance of success overall, even if it's less likely that I get my decision overturned at the MR stage as a result.

I don't feel like I have enough information to make an informed decision on who I should get help from - so does anyone have any insight on this?
Is there anything that Citizens Advice can do that a local council typically cannot, or vice-versa?
Has anyone here used both services at various points and preferred one over the other?
Etc.

Thanks :)