A LUTON father-of-four, whose benefits were stopped after Jobcentre Plus mishandled a job application, had them reinstated last night – thanks to the Luton News.
This newspaper stepped in when desperate dad Ian Hendry called us at the end of his tether, to tell us his family faced a bleak festive season through no fault of his own.
Mr Hendry, who is unemployed, said he hadn’t slept and had been forced to borrow money from his father-in-law after all his allowances were withdrawn.
They were stopped because he supposedly failed to turn up for a second interview with a media support services company – even though he had a letter from Luton Jobcentre Plus advising him that his original application had been unsuccessful.
And although he’s grateful to the Luton News for sorting out the problem, Mr Hendry said: “I will be very aggrieved if I’ve lost the job simply because someone mishandled my case.
“And it’s slightly worrying that if it’s happened to me, there may be other people out there going through the same thing.”
He said he’d been elated to be sent on the first interview: “I thought it went really well and I was on a high – not only at the prospect of full time work but also because it was just around the corner from where I live.
“I kept ringing my Jobcentre advisor, Maria Sykes, to see if she’d heard anything. But I could never get hold of her. One day I must have made at least 15 calls. She was never there, then they said she’d been involved in an accident.
“I finally heard from her more than a month later. She said she’d left a message on my mobile – she hadn’t – and that I should have gone for a second interview.
“But when I contacted the company, they said they were unaware there had been another interview.”
Mr Hendry then received a letter advising him that his job seeker’s allowance was being stopped from November 25 until March next year because he had ‘failed to take advantage of a job opportunity.’
He and his wife Liane have been forced to borrow money from her elderly father because their only income is child benefit.
He said: “I wanted that job so badly and we’ve been treated like criminals through someone else’s incompetence. I’m absolutely disgusted.”
He spoke to Luton South MP Gavin Shuker who wrote a letter demanding Mr Hendry’s job seekers’ allowance be reinstated immediately until an investigation into the case has been carried out.
The Luton News contacted the Department for Work and Pensions on Tuesday about Mr Hendry’s treatment.
Last night a spokesperson said: “Jobcentre Plus may temporarily suspend payment of benefits if a jobseeker fails to show they have taken steps to get into work.
“This case has now been reconsidered and Jobcentre Plus will reinstate benefits and pay arrears.”
It means the Hendry family of Eaton Valley Road will be able to celebrate Christmas after all.