Mandatory Work Activity

yappycat

Had a Pathways to work interview today where I was told that the Mandatory Work Activity Scheme will be applied not only to JSA claimants but to ESA (with LCW status) claimants too. To her obvious discomfort the advisor I was speaking with had absolutely no idea as to what the criteria would be for 'mandating' (read forcing) people into participation but from what I read here: http://www.workprogramme.org.uk/201104011169/mandatory-work-activity-scheme.html it doesn't sound very inviting. The advisor's comment of 'they want people to work for free' didn't instill any jolly thoughts either. Sounds very much to me like this government is attempting to create a pool of slave labour from the unemployed, and quite possibly the sick and disabled too



From the end of April 2011, the Conservatives are going to surprise Jobseekers Allowance claimants. No, they aren’t going to increase their benefit. A new employment programme scheme called the “Mandatory Work Activity Scheme” will kick in. It is identical to the 4 week Mandatory Work Related Activity period on Flexible New Deal, but with some differences:-

• It is a standalone workfare employment programme scheme that all JSA claimants may be subject to from Day 1 of their claim (no minimum entry)
• There is no clause preventing a person to be requested to complete it unlimited times
• Minimum sanction (first) for refusal, lateness, or failure to “actively participate” is 3 months (13 weeks)
• Maximum sanction stands at 6 months. Considering this is lasting only a month its probable to get. It is also possible for a person to get two sanctions in one scheme (i.e. for lateness, failure to actively participate etc.)
• Unlike the MWRA period on Flexible New Deal where an adviser and the “customer” can negotiate valuable experience on such work experience placement, this is likely to be more workfare: participant has little choice of choosing where to work and such might be unrelated to his or hers job goals or past experience
• Claimant has only 5 days to appeal to a sanction

nannytone_2

i don't see a problem with people receiving 'out of work benefits' being required to complete these programmes.
after all, the longer someone isn't working, the harder it is for them to find a job.
getting new skills or just brushing up on old ones is alwats handy!

roy_harper

In theory it sounds good - new skills and help to find opportunities, but the reality is totally different.
My experience with help back to work wasn't helpful at all. I live in a rural area, and to get to the DWP office meant two buses each way. Leave at 7.30 am to meet a 10 am appointment. If you don't get there on time, they won't see you that day. You don't get help with fares. Sometimes I wouldn't get a bus connection, and have to take a different route, only to get home at 8pm., cold through and totally exhausted.
Then eventually they sent the interviewer to my home in a flash Galaxy people-wagon, with SatNav for crying out loud! She sat down with a laptop and made calls on her mobile to random people and then gave me the laptop and told me to look for local work. I didn't even know how to use a laptop.
Okay you could argue I gained that skill, but how much did they pay out to send her - and eventually she backed off and told the DWP I wasn't ready for work.
So maybe you can see that it's not that easy when you have a disability to get to the interviews in the first place.

yappycat

Personally speaking I can see a wealth of problems in forcing someone in my position to participate in such a scheme.

I've been assessed as having limited capability for work (and for good reason) and I still participated in doing permitted work (a very limited 2 hours per week) despite being in the Support Group and having no obligation to work at anything at all. Now I am told that there is a possibility that in the future I may be forced into working at a job that may have little or nothing to do with my skills or any employment aspirations I may have. I will have no control over where I will be sent, and possibly not the working hours. I will have no power to object nor refuse. My benefit may be sanctioned for up to 6 months should I be late for said job, or unable to 'actively participate' (which due to my medical condition is a distinct possibility).

I am not actively seeking work because I am unable to do so at the moment, and because I suffer from a degenerative and progressive condition I am unlikely to improve enough to do so in the forseeable future.

The implications of applying such a mandatory work scheme to those with LCW are very grim imo.

dark_lady

And when people are sent on these schemes to places like Poundland they will be eyed suspiciously and treated like rubbish by the employed staff because the staff will be worried that the employer will sack them and then get staff for free from the Jobcentre. This will make things worse because you will get more people claiming benefits because employers will get rid of more workers then take advantage of this free labour system.

Nephthys50

http://mandatoryworkactivity.co.uk/

I think the main thing to take on board here is that this is 'discretionary' and the 'advisor' must be prepared to justify their decision.

IE not 'because I was short of my sanctions target that week and my manager was on my back to save the public purse'

My starting point would be to ask for a written explanation of the the decision. What was the criteria, how was it met, and how would the person benefit.

It is a given that many unemployed people need only for the economy to pick to get back on their feet without any further intervention.

I would want that reply within 7 days. And based on that I would decide where (and to whom) I would take my concerns next.

clouty

Thank heavens I passed 60 last year, or I would be caught in the new stricter ESA web. I was in the work related group, despite being unable to remain upright for more than an hour without suffering a worsening of my symptoms (dizzyness, pain, nausea, weakness, tinnitus and more) which can last for days.

The new rules also demand a return to JSA after a year on ESA in the work related group, when many conditions are longer term or for life, and the latest figures show only 6% (down from 9% last year) get put into the support group. Disabled people, the new whipping boys of this society.

These rules, if enforced, will inevitably mean that sick people become even sicker. Such a waste, such a shame. First they came for the Jews, but I was not a Jew, so I said nothing. Then they came for the Communists, but.... Then they came for me, and there was no-one left to speak out.

Nephthys50

clouty wrote: »

Thank heavens I passed 60 last year, or I would be caught in the new stricter ESA web. I was in the work related group, despite being unable to remain upright for more than an hour without suffering a worsening of my symptoms (dizzyness, pain, nausea, weakness, tinnitus and more) which can last for days.

The new rules also demand a return to JSA after a year on ESA in the work related group, when many conditions are longer term or for life, and the latest figures show only 6% (down from 9% last year) get put into the support group. Disabled people, the new whipping boys of this society.

These rules, if enforced, will inevitably mean that sick people become even sicker. Such a waste, such a shame. First they came for the Jews, but I was not a Jew, so I said nothing. Then they came for the Communists, but.... Then they came for me, and there was no-one left to speak out.

There are too many people out there who still do not realise how fascistical our current government is.

Remember though, they keep rushing things through without checking existing law and keep coming a cropper because they are so gung ho. It has already been established that the government is not above the law. It must comply with it like everybody else.

MrsManda

I don't think it's as bad as you think it is.
Being in the Work Related Activity Group means that you have to attend interviews to discuss what help you need to get into work. The way my advisor described it is that once I feel capable of working at least 16 hours a week she'll discuss putting me on a work programme to see if I really able capable, as a stepping stone to eventually getting a job. This is as an alternative to 'ah ha you're feeling better and thus must be able to work FT so we'll transfer you to JSA' and then you crashing and needing to reapply for ESA.

My advisor was positive and wasn't pushing me to go on a work programme, she was giving me a plan of how I can get off benefits and back to work as my health improves.

Sometime I think that just as claimants being negative makes JCP workers want to wash their hands of them, negative JCP people don't do anyone any favours.

FleurDuLys

I agree with MrsManda, being in the WRAG isn't a bad thing at all. By the time I had my first Pathways meeting I was already studying for a diploma and organising voluntary experience for myself, but if I hadn't got those sorted already then they would have paid for the diploma for me and helped me find some work experience. The Pathways guy was supportive and friendly rather than pushy and unsympathetic.

Being in the WRAG allowed me to work towards my new career whilst I was having hospital treatment and recovering from an illness and I always felt supported rather than pressured. I thought it was fab actually!

yappycat

This thread isn't about being in the WRAG, its about the new Mandatory Work Activity Scheme that's being rolled out in the near future.