Job offer question

richpoortyke

Just wondered if anyone knows legally the answer to this.

Ive been looking for work for a few weeks now. Full time jobs i can do in my town are few and far between. So chances are i will be working out of town again when i do find work.
My problem is the costs of travel. I applied for a job last week and was interviewed. It was 3 days a week but nearly 20 miles away.
After checking the calculations i found that if i had accepted the job i would have been £10 worse off a week than signing on.
Another job further away was for 5 half days. If i go for this and get it i would be £25 worse off a week.

My question is can you turn down a job if you can show that it would actually make you worse off?

smartpicture

I don't understand why you would want to.

If you turn it down, yes you are better off in the short-term, but nothing will change and you'll continue a life on benefits indefinitely.

If you accept it, you may be slightly worse off in the short-term, but you are getting additional experience on your CV which will make you significantly more employable. You can still look for a better-paid job once you are in work, and you will look a lot more attractive to an employer. And once you have more experience, you should be able to earn more money so you will be better off in the long-term.

The other factor is that the travel costs may not be as significant as you think, you need to look at other options. If there are few jobs in the town you live in, then there must be a lot of other people travelling to jobs in the larger town that you could car-pool with.

Simon11

Have you thought about the experience you could gain? By getting this job, it will increase the chances of finding further employment.... which can only be a better thing?

Also I'd rather be in a job, than just being unemployed getting depressed while searching for jobs. At least with a job your gaining experience, contacts/networking and you can continue your search for a job which would better suit you.

Look at it from a future employer view, two similar candidates
1. Has remained unemployed for a year
2. Has been in a job for a year, even though they have been worse off financially.

DCFC79

Have you thought about cutting donw your bills, doing a possible car share but it wouldnt have to be for the whole time you would working at job A or job B, have you looked at applying for wtc which may not be much but it would be something

richpoortyke

Thanks for the replies. but it doesnt answer my question.

Why would i want to turn the job down? Erm because i wouldnt have enough money to live on
£65 pw is hard enough to live on. How on earth would i manage on £40 pw?

richpoortyke

DCFC79 wrote: »

Have you thought about cutting donw your bills, doing a possible car share but it wouldnt have to be for the whole time you would working at job A or job B, have you looked at applying for wtc which may not be much but it would be something

ive already trimmed my bills down to the bare minimum. i dont drive (i wouldnt be able to afford a car anyway). Tax credits only kick in at 30 hours. The 2 jobs i wanted are both less than this

DCFC79

richpoortyke wrote: »

ive already trimmed my bills down to the bare minimum. i dont drive (i wouldnt be able to afford a car anyway). Tax credits only kick in at 30 hours. The 2 jobs i wanted are both less than this

do you not know anyone who could drop you off or pick you up at work,

since you dotn drive i take it you would get the bus

ive not been in the position your in so dont know what its like, if you turn them down you could end up waiting months for something else,

richpoortyke

DCFC79 wrote: »

do you not know anyone who could drop you off or pick you up at work,

since you dotn drive i take it you would get the bus

I dont really know anyone. Most of my jobs have been in other towns. So the people i have known over the years tend to be 20-30 miles away from me and working in the towns they live in.

I would likely get the train as buses arent very regular. There is also very little difference in costs between the two.

I can understand the reasons behind taking a job that everyone has mentioned. Im not lazy. I do work voluntarily 10 hours per week so my CV is kept up to date. But im only just balancing the household budget on £65 pw. If i then have to live on £40pw instead i will be in debt in no time.
Bear in mind if i took the job and was unable to find anything else i would be in a very sticky situation as i wouldnt be able to give the job up as i would be sanctioned and unable to claim again. All the while i would be getting into more and more debt.
That is my worry

Simon11

Wow, living on £40 a week would be very tough. Could you provide a breakdown of figures of how to get to £40? Ie expected wage, travel costs, benefits expected. We might (might) be able to suggest a way to improve the finances.

If I was in your situation, I would look at
*Is the job your dream job or where you wish to go career wise rating out of 10?
*how long you've been unemployed and how long could it take to find another job- If its been 1 months, it won't be that bad turning it down, but a year is another story

The 5 half days, could you discuss with the future employers to work 2.5 days instead?

DCFC79

OP is there any industrial estates close by and have you looked on the internet to see if they are advertising jobs or been to each 1 with your cv and hand them out

good luck with what you decide to do,

hcb42

20 miles away is not a long distance to travel, especially as you acknowledge full time work in your own town is difficult. If moving isn't an option then you might have to accept it and hope something better comes out of it - you could end up with benefits sanctioned worse case.