Do I have grounds for making an ombudsman complaint

Steam Roller

A couple of weeks ago I saw an employment officer in the fas office.

I felt like a complete idiot the way how I was treated. Treated like I was stupid.

The outcome of this meeting was that I would contact employers to ask them to take me on a job bridge to get experience. Not exactly happy with being a slave and its meant to be voluntary. Why force people. But I did contact employers but there wasnt anything available.

Anyway I was called back in and forced to take up a course. I hadn't a choice. They signed me up to a course where I have no interest in and already qualified.

I thought employment officers are meant to work with you and find out what you may be interested in and work out a plan of action. I wasnt given a choice. Is this allowed.

Anyway I found a course I would like to do and rang up the course manager, where I got loads of helpful advice. The course is run privately but fas can also pay for it.

As soon as I got this information, I went into the fas office to tell them that this was the course I wanted. The employment officer said that because its run privately that I would need a job offer before they will pay. I dont know if this is true or not.

I told them that I would need a job offer before I would do the other course. And I asked was I going to get a choice of course or do I have to make a formal complaint. Only when I threatened to complain that she got the forms for the training provider to fill in.

Do I have grounds to complain officially about this person. Was she giving me mis-information. Not doing her job properly, is she meant to work with me and find out what I may be interested in. I hadn't a choice on courses.

Also, a few more things happened I wasnt happy about. A letter that was sent last week was addressed wrong. It was addressed Mrs second name and surname. Im not married. If this letter didnt come, my dole would be cut. The phone number provided with this other course was wrong. It didnt ring. I googled the course and phone number. Was she trying to catch people out by providing a wrong phone number to a course.

Do I have grounds to make a complaint about this employment officer.

mrsbyrne

You can only complain to the Ombudsman when you have exhausted the complaints procedure in FAS.
So you need to ring the office tomorrow or otherwise find out who this persons superior is, then write a letter of complaint. You need to know the names of the staff you dealt with, days dates and times. You need to set out your complaint as briefly as possible. Set a time limit on when you expect a reply, say ten working days
If your still not happy then write to head office including a copy of the original letter and response.
Again, set a time limit for a response.
After that if your still not happy you can go to the Ombudsman.
They will require copies of all correspondence.
Ringing e-mailing etc will not do.

dudara

Moved to the State Benefits forum

dudara