Useless, inflexible JobCentrePlus

cassieB57

dookar wrote: »

Other than the small technicality of actually attending, you're right

BTW the sanction (if there was one) would be for 'failing to provide a signature' not failing to attend.

jamespir

dmna wrote: »

In the nicest possible way, Jobcentres are extremely busy places at the moment and you're slotted into a short period to sign on. If you turn up outside of that time you may unfortunately have to wait a little while. There just aren't the staff numbers to have advisors on standby for people who turn up ad hoc I'm afraid, being able to be slotted in within 20 minutes is actually fairly efficient and reasonable if you ask me, I've waited longer to pay for simple train tickets.

are they i went with the missus the other day as she had her disability review and 6 of them were looking at somones holiday snaps others were fussing over a baby

cassieB57

jamespir wrote: »

are they i went with the missus the other day as she had her disability review and 6 of them were looking at somones holiday snaps others were fussing over a baby

Very unprofessional IMO, and where I work not usually time for that except during scheduled breaks. If people are talking in our office its usually to ask advice or guidance. Hate 'gossiping' front of house!

Oldernotwiser

dogfish12 wrote: »

The other advisors have their own appointments. People are talking as if these `advisors` were specialists in some way. My God, this is going way too far for £65 a week and job centre staff lording over the unemployed. Working people in this country have to wake up and rebel against this nonsense.

If they were "working people" they wouldn't be signing on. The working people are the advisers.

SingleSue

OP - was there a reason why you could not wait 20 minutes, even with baby in tow? It's not really that long in the grand scheme of things (I've waited longer with a screaming baby and a hyperactive toddler, to see a doctor and juggled an escapologist, a freaked out complex autistic and a very peed off eldest whilst going to a WFI))

I understand you were stressed after the events concerning the hospital but 20 minutes would have passed by relatively quickly and it would have saved a whole lot of stress.

FTW

The story isn't too hard to believe - there are some particularly unpleasant, jumped-up and apathetical JCP staff in certain branches to say the least. Houghton Le Spring's is notorious around my local area for giving bad advice and being incredibly rude with people.

Then again, dealing directly with the general public is a de-motivating, thankless process, and one which I'm glad I don't have to do now.

starchild1972

I guess you would walk out of a hospital/Dr appointment if he was running overtime and you had to wait 30 mins? No? So why not wait for 20 mins at the JCP?

cassieB57

starchild1972 wrote: »

I guess you would walk out of a hospital/Dr appointment if he was running overtime and you had to wait 30 mins? No? So why not wait for 20 mins at the JCP?

It happens to me every day. 4 mins isn't enough often, so we do get behind which is bad enough but jobseekers regularly turn up late anything from 10 or 15 mins up to 3 or 4 hours then moan when given a time to return later. We operate an appointment only policy and all customers are warned to let us know in advance if they cannot make an appointment for any reason. It's not fair on those who were on time to be bumped so a late person can be seen as soon as they turn up.

cassieB57

FTW wrote: »

The story isn't too hard to believe - there are some particularly unpleasant, jumped-up and apathetical JCP staff in certain branches to say the least. Houghton Le Spring's is notorious around my local area for giving bad advice and being incredibly rude with people.

Then again, dealing directly with the general public is a de-motivating, thankless process, and one which I'm glad I don't have to do now.

It's not just jc staff there are people like that everywhere you go from shop workers to waiters

dogfish12

I know a former job centre worker who claims that the unwritten secret to promotion within the DWP was to make it so uncomfortable for claimants that they would no longer take the stress and sign off. This would help promotion.