Is this really unreasonable?

Fiddlestick

lostinrates wrote: »

amazingly, people from the Valleys of beautiful Wales have the same right to go to Cardiff..or ANYWHERE in the EU they can find work and a quality of life.

That's because they are lazy !!!!!!!s.

tr3mor

Wookster wrote: »

Is it really unreasonable to ask people to relocate for work if they can't find something local?

Methyr Tydfil, Rochdale and the like only exist because people flocked there looking for work in Victorian times. Before then there was nothing but hills and a few scattered farms.

Now there is no work in these places, why are the current generation so reluctant to up sticks themselves?

Shakethedisease

Generali wrote: »

It's how the rules are framed. That's not the same thing as how the system works.

You're saying that no-one gets sanctioned for not taking a job, or not turning up to interviews etc etc ? It's not how I've read it on the benefits boards here over the last year or so. It seems quite a strict system to me ? You think differently ?

Even if there's no jobs available why can't people do work for the community in exchange for their benefits? Better than just sitting around with nothing to do and they give back

Because if there IS work around then they should be paid for it like everyone else expects to. Being on benefits isn't a crime.

RJP33

Shakethedisease wrote: »

Because if there IS work around then they should be paid for it like everyone else expects to. Being on benefits isn't a crime.

If there is work around they won't be on benefits for long anyway as they should be taking up a job.

If not then they should be proud to do something for their community in exchange for continued benefits.

People are free to move anywhere in the EU for work, it doesn't just work one way.

missworks2jobs

Wookster wrote: »

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-11605318

Is it really unreasonable to ask people to relocate for work if they can't find something local?

I'm not so sure.

It is if it costs them more in travel/commuting costs.
I live 15-20 minutes (7 miles) from my workplace. We recently gave up our car to save on petrol, insurance costs etc. But now on public transport it takes me over an hour to get to work and it requires 2 different buses and also walking to the only bus stop on the nearby industrial estate in the dark in the early hours of the morning (or evening as its starting to get dark at 6pm now). I use a bus pass now because both buses are run by the same company, however its still £57 a month! If I was to pay for each individual fare (as I did at the start of the year when it was two different companies and the tickets were not transferable, it would cost me over £7 a DAY to get into work.

£1.30 for 1 bus and £2.60 for the second = £3.90 each way, which translates to £7.80. Thats £156 a month (5 working days, 4 weeks). That is a LOT of money especially if you're on minimum wage or if you've never had to budget for travel because you lived locally.

AND I dont live or work in a rural area, I live on a new housing estate in a big town just outside Newcastle and I work practically on the High street.

Hectors_House

Bangerchick wrote: »

There are plenty of people who already commute an hour each way, or more, to get to work. Especially people who work in London and probably other big cities too but who don't want to or can't afford to pay high rents. As long as it won't cost the Merthyr jobless more in bus fare than they'll earn, I think they should pull there finger out of their !!!!!! and get on with it.

I've got to agree.

My employer relocated me to the other side of my town so when I started looking at buying a house a couple of years ago I factored this in as much as I could.

Property in that area is expensive (picturesque villages all around so even the old small terrace cottages were £170k) so I looked at the public transport and figured out where I'd be best looking. This didn't cause too many issues as our local public transport covers the outer city very well (as it should).

I now utilise both trains and a bus service in my journey and it takes me one and a half hours each way (3 hours travel a day).

I can relax with a book and my company now subsidises the bus part of the journey so it is free.

As you may have guessed I don't drive but have managed to stay in full-time employment despite being relocated several times during my career.

I think it is high time folks relying on social housing and other benefits got real and realised you might have to travel or even relocate to find work.

And as someone above pointed out the govt or companies should look into making the travel aspect of it cheaper.

RJP33

If it's a choice between a reasonable commute to a job or stay on benefits then there should be a simple choice offered by the system - reject the work and you lose the benefits.

Just because people have to pay travel costs is not a reason not to work.

Shakethedisease

Just because people have to pay travel costs is not a reason not to work.

Oh I think things are a little more problematic than that...

Research by the Public and Commercial Services union showed there were 15,000 people in Cardiff chasing 1,700 jobs, while in Merthyr there were 1,670 unemployed people and 39 job vacancies, all temporary and part-time.

The number of people out of work in Merthyr and Blaenau Gwent combined was more than the total number of job vacancies for the whole of Wales, said the PCS. The vast majority of vacancies in Cardiff were temporary and part-time, mainly unskilled labouring, for just one or three weeks' duration, said the union.

The most popular vacancy on the day the union carried out its research last week was a Christmas job in a well-known store working four-hour shifts on Saturdays and Sundays for the national minimum wage.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2010/oct/25/job-vacancy-duncan-smith-bus?CMP=twt_fd

FTBFun

missworks2jobs wrote: »

It is if it costs them more in travel/commuting costs.
I live 15-20 minutes (7 miles) from my workplace. We recently gave up our car to save on petrol, insurance costs etc. But now on public transport it takes me over an hour to get to work and it requires 2 different buses and also walking to the only bus stop on the nearby industrial estate in the dark in the early hours of the morning (or evening as its starting to get dark at 6pm now). I use a bus pass now because both buses are run by the same company, however its still £57 a month! If I was to pay for each individual fare (as I did at the start of the year when it was two different companies and the tickets were not transferable, it would cost me over £7 a DAY to get into work.

£1.30 for 1 bus and £2.60 for the second = £3.90 each way, which translates to £7.80. Thats £156 a month (5 working days, 4 weeks). That is a LOT of money especially if you're on minimum wage or if you've never had to budget for travel because you lived locally.

AND I dont live or work in a rural area, I live on a new housing estate in a big town just outside Newcastle and I work practically on the High street.

Have you considered cycling at all? 7 miles really isn't that far on a decent bike. Your employer could do the Cycle to work scheme too.

Malcolm.

FTBFun wrote: »

Have you considered cycling at all? 7 miles really isn't that far on a decent bike. Your employer could do the Cycle to work scheme too.

It's a good scheme. I think Cycling to work is probably best started in summer. Frosty weather and dark evenings aren't the friendliest of conditions.