My Story - The email.

Today, i recieved a letter off the jobcentre, which informed me that as of 2 weeks ago, i was no longer entitled to any benefit money for the next 3 months.

Because of this, i tried to complain to the job centre itself, only to have the sanction proceedure explained to me over and over again, yet not 1 person took down any complaint details.

fter abit of digging tonight, i found the email address for the ministers of the department for work and pensions (They basically run the job centre). Below is what i sent them.

There has been no reply to this.

Dear sir / madam, whoever finds themselves reading this.

I write to you not wishing to complain, not wishing for sympathy, but just to explain to you my story with the wild fantansy playing out in my head that it creates the changes i know that will not happen any time soon.

My name is Kevin and i live in Skelmersdale, which is a poor town located just outside of liverpool.

My story begin's almost two years ago now, when i was told that as i had been seeking work for over 9 months, i was to be going onto the work programme at a private company outside of the job centre, which would help me get into work faster and provide me with qualifications which would improve my chances for work.

I was told that in order to carry on recieveing benefit, i had to sign up, no alternatives.

I of course signed up and attended when i was asked to by i2i, which is one of these 3rd party providers. They would bring me in for endless meetings, in which people would say to us "yes, the job market is hard at the moment, we know that", to which everytime people would always reply saying "Yes, so do we". Time went on and i felt myself being distanced from the course that i was apparently on, i felt that sitting for 2 hours a week infront of a computer looking for jobs, was something i was doing at home on a daily basis anyway, that i was actually getting no help.

I was told one week that i would be contacted and told when to next come in. Within a few weeks, i recieved a letter off the job centre, asking me for my reasons for not attending an appointment with i2i. I hadn't been told of any appointment. No phone calls, no letters, no emails.... nothing, yet i2i have all of my details.

Of course, whoever it was in the job centre, decided that i must have recieved a letter, and i was sanctioned for 1 month. During this month, i had no money for water, electricity, food... anything. My electric meter was on a prepayment key and as i had no money to top it up, i had to spend some nights with no electric, no hot water to even get a wash in. Is that really fair?

I only mention of this to you because the exact same thing has happend again, only now i am expected to last 3 months. Luckily for me this time, i had my electric meter changed, so i'll just have to get into more debt. This is a 3 month sanction straight after a 1 month sanction, because an advisor said i wasn't looking for work, because i'd been told to fill a form in wrong, the way i had been filling in the form was the same way i always had done, yet this 1 advisor didn't like it and i was sanctioned. In effect, i'll now be having to go through a 4 month sanction, minus the part where i recieved 1 payment of £140 something, which was spent on food, luckily, buying in advance, since i now know what the motive is now at the job centre plus.

See, years ago, the job centre used to want to help people get into work, I used to feel that when i was signing on that the advisors were there to help me. This feeling has now long gone, everytime i arrive, with my paperwork filled in, my heart will start racing and i will feel sick, because i know it's only a matter of time before an advisor turns around and will sanction me over the slightest thing.

Now that i'm going through yet another sanction and understanding that the government thinks it is ok for me to be living on nothing, getting into debt in order to put food in my mouth, i cannot explain to you how low i feel.

I have never in my life felt so offended by something. I simply did not recieve a letter, and yet because of this, i have to live with nothing until october.

My cubards are already empty as it is, i already owe on my water bill and my electricity account will now go overdue and i face being cut off and with charges being put on. I face high charges because to make it through the last sanction, i had to take out loans in order to get by, these will go unpaid and will now get daily charges put on them.

My life feels like it is in ruins, i'm 25 and mentally, i feel that i cannot cope with this world anymore. The chances of me finding work are already slim to none and yet thanks to the place that is supposed to help me find work, i'm becoming a growing number of people in the UK who are beyond poverty.

I have complained to the job centre plus, they simply explained to me about sanctions, no complaint paperwork was filled in, no details taken. Exactly what am i to do?

I find out that ministers in this country can claim what i have to live on per week, they can have per day on a meal, one meal? And here's me having to make that same money stretch out over a week.

I have completely lost my faith in politics in the UK, not 1 political party isn't calling for the harsher treatment of those who aren't in work, yet, i cannot help being out of work. Im not provided help, but simply sanctioned because im a burdon to the tax payer.

Thank you for reading this, i understand it is long, but i can only try to give you this bit of insite into my world because i have nobody or nowhere that i can vent and someone will even take the time to read, let alone care.