Job seekers RANT!! (new here)

beccam

Moggylover, you have nearly made me cry!! Thank you for your very kind and extremely understanding words!:T
You are completely right as regards childminder, she is an absolute star and has said she will hold the place for as long as she possible can (afford) to and has been great letting us use her as and when required. Since this is the 3rd childminder we've had in 2 1/2 yrs I'm very reluctant to lose her, daughter took a long time to settle with her and don't think I could go through that all again!!

We also got a bit of good (hopefully) news today as we found we have an old mortgage protection cover from when we first bought our house, it won't cover all or even half our payments but if the claim goes through it will give us another £150 per month, our current one which would cover his half of payments won't kick in as we only very recently changed it so there is a period where we can't claim. Also hub has signed off as he has just picked up a few days work painting and they are paying him £200 for a weeks work!!!!:j :j
Hopefully things are turning in our favour, now if I could just find out what the heck is wrong with me, get it sorted and back to work I'd be a very happy bunny!!!

My only other problem is my poor child is getting neglected while I get lost in these boards finding money saving ideas!!;)
Thank you again moggylover! You have made my day!!

Jobless_Katie

I can understand where your coming from. I've just been made redundant after 15 years with the same company and an unbroken work record for more than 24 years since leaving school. I had never signed on befor and was also given the runaround, even trying to find out how to claim any benefits took countless phone calls. I had also already booked a holiday, but was not told I would not be able to claim while out of the country and so spent an hour on the phone going over my circumstances, and then was told to attend an interview on a date when I would be away, because I couldn't attend I was told to reapply on my return, which of course meant repeating everything to another 'advisor'. After I plucked up the courage to try again after my holiday I had to wait 2 weeks to see an 'advisor', who looked fresh out of school and could offer no practical advice. 'Signing on' is a nightmare I'm treat with indifference and as if I have brought this all on myself! I don't have any young children but do have a mortgage and the usuall bills, all to be paid out of £60.50 per week. hmm, if nothing else my treatment by the powers that be are certainly incentive to find another job asap! Good Luck!:mad:

Horace

Jobless Katie - I hope you find something soon.

Signing on is a pain in the bum, the advisors treat you like scum and look at you as though you are scum - they are just not used to dealing with professional people. I am like you, I had to fight for everything, they tell you nothing. What annoys me is that there are folks out there who I am sure have got a degree in claiming benefits and as I pointed out to my advisor one day - how to claim benefits wasn't on the curriculum when I was at school.

They will not tell you that they will contribute towards your fares to get to and from interviews. You can use the phone for free from their centres. They will even give you money up to £100 to go and buy some suitable clothes for interviews although you can only buy them in Burton or TopShop (now I wasnt aware that TopShop sold suitable clothes - I thought they only sold miniskirts and clothes of the tarty variety).

They don't tell you about work trials either where you can try a job for 15 days and get your JSA as well as getting bus fares and lunches paid for each day (in my case it was £6 per day for travel and lunch). You can also claim money from them for doing courses - I managed to prise £520 out of mine for an accredited home learning course which is equivalent to an HND. They will never ever tell you that you are entitled to anything as they are just a bunch of lowly paid jobsworths.

Don't you dare ask to sign on early because they will make you come back for another appointment with a different advisor because their perception is that you cannot turn up on time for interviews. I did this once in special circumstances, I even offered to come back at my usual signing on time as it was obviously going to be difficult for them, they relented and then I was given the ubiquitous appointment on another day whilst they signed me on earlier that day. I turned up a couple of minutes before my next appointment and was then kept waiting for half an hour - needless to say I berated the advisor saying how unprofessional she was to keep me waiting especially as my meeting with her was to discuss timekeeping:mad:

Thankfully I dont need to sign on anymore because my money is paid directly to me because I am on a New Deal scheme for self employment:j

beccam

Horace, that is quite amazing how NONE of these things are ever told to people seeking help!! We had enquired about help with re training, my hub was a factory worker and has no real educational qualifications, lots of things relevant to his work but not meeting 'basic requirements' for a lot of jobs.
He asked about either doing maths/English to GCSE standard OR doing his HGV licence as then he would be pretty much guaranteed a job from it. It costs a fortune to do but we were prepared to pay some if they could also help, blunt answer is NO!! I had really thought that with the emphasis being on getting back to work it might have been a possibility but I was foolish in my thoughts!!!
Kate, I really hope something comes your way, it is near impossible to pay a mortgage on £60/week never mind everything else (cue 50 people telling me how it most certainly is possible ) hopefully you will be able to get some extra help or maybe take a holiday period from mortgage (we aren't able to but some companies apparently offer it)

Perhaps if the only people to work in Benefits office were people who have previously been unemployed, it would work better and they could be a tad more understanding of peoples situations.

sharski

And perhaps the people complaining on here may realise that the amount of pressure 'signing staff' are under is HUGE.... they really do 'get it in the neck' when they have not met the stringent targets set by management. Also, try seeing up to 50 people a day to sign - the majority of whom are rude and abusive - it is difficult at times to treat everyone as an individual...
Don't get me wrong - there is NO excuse for rudeness to customers - although I must say... I work in a Jobcentre & some of the most bad mannered people I speak to are 'professionals'!!!!!

bunny999

Many years ago I worked for the DHSS (as was) and the staff were often abused. Generally if you are polite towards them they will try and help you. I often went beyond the call of duty in trying to help people but, not if they were rude to me.
At the office I worked at in London we covered the W10 and W11 area and we were dealing with everyone from the homeless to titled Ladys, millionaires and even a few famous people.

mcc28_x

People who offer advice on benefits and Tax Credits i.e. this board in some cases will work in a Job Centre and offer the advice in the hope of helping others with potential problems.

It is a little disheartening to read some of the recent posts on this thread criticising Job Centre staff. Like all organisations there are some good staff and some not so good.

Unfortunately you are not told everything that is available through the Job centre because some staff have simply not be trained in these areas, it is not necessarily their fault.

Mark

moggylover

beccam wrote: »

Moggylover, you have nearly made me cry!! Thank you for your very kind and extremely understanding words!:T
You are completely right as regards childminder, she is an absolute star and has said she will hold the place for as long as she possible can (afford) to and has been great letting us use her as and when required. Since this is the 3rd childminder we've had in 2 1/2 yrs I'm very reluctant to lose her, daughter took a long time to settle with her and don't think I could go through that all again!!

We also got a bit of good (hopefully) news today as we found we have an old mortgage protection cover from when we first bought our house, it won't cover all or even half our payments but if the claim goes through it will give us another £150 per month, our current one which would cover his half of payments won't kick in as we only very recently changed it so there is a period where we can't claim. Also hub has signed off as he has just picked up a few days work painting and they are paying him £200 for a weeks work!!!!:j :j
Hopefully things are turning in our favour, now if I could just find out what the heck is wrong with me, get it sorted and back to work I'd be a very happy bunny!!!

My only other problem is my poor child is getting neglected while I get lost in these boards finding money saving ideas!!;)
Thank you again moggylover! You have made my day!!

I'm glad I have helped - I think that was the whole ethos behind MSE in the first place, and it is good to know that a few kind words and a little understanding can be all it takes to make people feel a bit less hurt and bewildered (at least for a while) when life deals them a carpy hand.

I'm so glad your OH has a little work coming his way, hopefully there will be other things that come up to help you all until you can get well, and he can find another permanent job.

I believe that you can get things like HGV courses free, but that you have to have been out of work for a longer period before they offer these: which once again I think is ar*e about face and leaves people to get into debt and depression before any assistance is there, but there we go - nothing much appears to be based on common sense these days .

Congratulations on the old mortgage protection policy - hope that this pays out so that you can weather the bad period and get back on your feet.

Good luck with the medical side, and the job front, I think you need and deserve it.

Kind regards
Moggy

ETA: Hey, and no tears - there are far more nice people on MSE than there are spiteful ones, which does give me some hope for the future of humanity;)

moggylover

mcc28_x wrote: »

People who offer advice on benefits and Tax Credits i.e. this board in some cases will work in a Job Centre and offer the advice in the hope of helping others with potential problems.

It is a little disheartening to read some of the recent posts on this thread criticising Job Centre staff. Like all organisations there are some good staff and some not so good.

Unfortunately you are not told everything that is available through the Job centre because some staff have simply not be trained in these areas, it is not necessarily their fault.

Mark

I think you are probably right, but most of the people trying to sign on in the near future are going to be very stressed and unhappy, and in need of well trained and compassionate help and advice. Not going to be a nice period for the Jobcentre staff either - but I think those that are employed will need to hang on to the thought that they too could find themselves sitting there being told they need to come back in a weeks time because their bus arrived a few minutes late;)

lauzjp

SmileyHappyBeing wrote: »

You are right in some ways though,cos the system isnt fair alot of the time, like with tax credits, if you are under 25 and no kids, not entitled, over 25 though still with no kids, entitled.. crazy, why should a 25 yr old need more money than a 24 yr old.. !!!

I know how hard it is not having people to help out, so I feel your pain on that one .

I hope things work out for you, I know its hard to explain your circumstances, especially when you are writing it down, and then you get people nit pickin over it all... Im glad you've calmed down a bit lol, and I wish you all the best, good luck

I was told by tax credits - when my hubby turned 25 we would qualify for tax credits (no kids), but as he now earns a wee bit more - that little wee bit is too much and when he turned 25 and we claimed; we're no longer eligable!

Why on earth does anyone under 25 not get tax credits unless you have a kid? I really don't understand that. :mad: