Jobcentre plus travel discount card

Bella_b · 28 February 2012 at 12:27PM

Has anyone managed to get a Jobcentre plus travel discount card?

It is a scheme run in partnership with jobcentre plus and transport for London.

Find out more here http://www.tfl.gov.uk/tickets/14423.aspx

I've tried to apply for this card and it is seemingly impossible. I am not in London but this is a national scheme. You can get discount on national rail travel outside of London and get discounted rates on the underground. You pay child fares instead of adult. You have to have been unemployed for 6 months or more.

I've asked about this in my jobcentre and they are clueless about it. They've never heard about. I was told that I should make an appointment to talk about it. I made one and a few days later I was phoned up and was told that the appointment had been cancelled!

I phoned them up and asked to speak to someone about it, they said they'd have to ask someone and get back to me.

They told me that because i'm on the work programme they don't deal with me anymore.. really? so i am dead to them? I don't exist! People who have been unemployed for over a year are still unemployed!! I still need this card as I am looking for jobs in London even though I don't live there!

I told them that I'd spoken to my advisor on the WP before and she had never heard about it and to ask at the job centre! That is what I have done and people don't know about it.

So since writing this post the jobcentre have finally rung me back.. they have said that no-one has asked for this procedure before and they would need to get new stationary in for it and everything! Seriously? People are missing out!

You entitled to this! I was told that the person I was speaking would have to speak to her manager and get back to me again.

I just keep going round in circles. I need this card, travel in London is expensive. It states nowhere on the site that it is just for London and from the criteria I am eligible.
They drive me mad down at the jobcentre.

Has anyone got one of these cards? Was it hard for you to get?

Elvisia · 28 February 2012 at 12:45PM

I asked for one of these, I had done some research and there's apparently a card you can get if you're on New Deal or something, but no one appears to have ever got one. I asked two different people at the Job Centre, one said she hadn't heard of it and to ask my advisor next time I saw him, he didn't know what I was talking about and ended up saying I could get the cost of my interview travel back, so I said no it's a special discount card and he said he'd look into it and never did. Although he was a spectacular idiot who never seemed to understand anything anyone said. Another advisor came over to help him once as he could hear our conversation and looked about ready to smack him.

Sodthisforagameofsoldiers · 28 February 2012 at 4:52PM

This looks to be a London only scheme.

"You can then travel at reduced rates in London when looking for work."

In the Midlands, are there's a similar scheme which kicks in when you start work. You can get a free local transport travel pass for a couple of months, but it's only in certain areas.

supertomsk · 28 February 2012 at 4:55PM

This card is still available, you need to be claiming JSA for 6 months but you are not eligible if you are on the work programme. It is national for train travel.

manulike · 3 May 2012 at 11:17AM

Just as SuperTomsk said.
It is only issued if you are on JSA for more than 6 months, but not on a work programme. It seems that the 12 month upper limit is flexible, as quite a few people stay with Job Centre Plus for 18 or even 24 months, before they are 'outsourced' to out side programmes.
You need 2 passport size photos, the card is issued free and it is valid for 1, 2 or 3 months at a time

brightonman123 · 3 May 2012 at 4:27PM

i had one in Brighton, but i think it may have stopped-
available only for stage 2 (6+ months unemployed?) i think..

any travel now i guess would be restricted to (and need prior proof) a job interview, to save money..

selonuk · 10 May 2012 at 12:20PM

I am currently unemployed and have been for 15 Months, at no point did the Job Centre tell me about a Travel Discount Card (which I think they should really do automatically!). However after 11 months I was looking up a journey on the TfL website when I saw the discount card.

On Speaking with my Advisor, he promptly told me that I was entitled to it, got a form and filled it out and stamped it etc which I promtly took to the Post Office - however the discount card I got was the Bus & Tram, as I was rarely using Tubes or Trains this made little difference to me.

Now though I have been put on the work programme and doing training courses which require me to use both the Train and Tube's, when I explained this to my work programme advisor, he told me that they would refund "Bus" Fare's Only and that I should speak to the Job Centre to get the Full Discount Card.

The Job Centre told me that they had no form's available and weren't sure if I was entitled anymore.

I am now annoyed that I was not on the full discount card which it appears I was entitled to then but also that it's only available to those unemployed for 6-12 months, it appears as if after this period you are then being put on the work programme so stop being entitled!

Has anyone been able to get this discount card after being unemployed for over 12 months and on a Work Programme?

Mark

out_of_cash · 11 May 2012 at 12:38PM

dwp and wp what a cocked up load of crap they really are.

if you still getting jsa i cant see what those sharks at the WP have to do with it,it maybe ok for j c + to say they have nothing to do with us now we are on the slave programme,then how come we are still signing on at their premises and having to justify what we do in job searches to them,in my case even more so than the work prgramme provider.The whole systems bloody ludicrous.Just a money spinner for these companies.

I wish you luck.

gaum · 13 June 2012 at 2:21PM

I got one in March because I happened to come across the info by chance on the TfL website - couldn't find anything on the Direct.gov website and noboldy at the Jobcentre had heard of it - no surprise there as they don't know their a**e from their elbow most of the time. I had to print off the TfL info and take it in to back up my claim. I asked if it could be renewed when it runs out tomorrow (I am still unemployed after 9 months and use it a lot) but was told it was a one-off for 3 months. Does anyone know if this is true? Has anyone had a 3-month tube and train card renewed? Thanks.

Elvisia · 13 June 2012 at 2:31PM

I never managed to get one, I saw there are both cards on the TFL website and thetrainline.com when you book train tickets, and I even got as far as getting a leaflet from the local tube station. They advertised for a New Deal railcard, that I could get if I went on New Deal. However no one in my JCP had heard of it (either New Deal or the train card), and I was told continually "ask next time" and I'd go and ask again and in the end I gave up as all I got was "we refund interview train tickets" except there were so many subclauses to it I also gave up on that. At one point after arguing that these things must exist I was offered a bicycle.

It is rubbish that if as an unemployed person you are entitled to something that would help your job search no one knows anything about it. It's one of those fantasy magical things, like unicorns.

minxie32 · 4 October 2012 at 11:00PM

The card CAN be renewed, although I was told it is at the discretion of your Adviser. I had one card for 3 months and then another for a month as my Adviser was on leave and I had to deal with someone else.

Book an appointment to see your Adviser for the express purpose of filling out the paperwork for one of these cards, take 2 passport size photographs with you.

Once you have the card, register it against your Oyster card and re-register it each time you renew the discount card.

Jobcentre plus travel discount card

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