Jobcentres send you 90 miles for job?

Oldernotwiser

HappyMJ wrote: »

No the income from tax credits (assuming nil income last year) is taken into account and when added onto the minimum wage of £228 (37.5 hours per week) makes a total of £280 income per week and then that cancels out any housing and council tax benefit. The following year tax credits would go down and then housing and council tax benefit can be claimed.

So you're not actually working for £6 per hour, are you? With tax credits you're working for quite a bit more than that!

FBaby

Why can't people look at the long term benefits on anything they do any longer? Why is it all about immediate gratification? It is a well known fact that the longer you stay on benefits, the lower your future work prospects. You stay on benefits, your self-esteem and confidence goes down, so does your enthusiasm and motivation, all attribute absolutely key to be selected at a job.

The important factor is not whether one will be better off on benefits to taking a NMW job, it is about what that job might lead to. You have to start somewhere and if it means a long boring exhausting day for a few months so that you can get to the stage of being self-sufficient and maybe even ejoying working, surely that is worth giving it a go? I travelled for over an hour walking for 15 minutes up and down, then taking one train and two undergrounds up to the stage I was 39 weeks pregnant, it was hell, but I did it, it paid off. Later on, I travelled 1 1/2 hours mornings and evenings with a 9 months old baby to go to work (had to take them to nursery there because no local one opened early enough). We survived and again, it paid off. I am now doing well in my career, not through luck (at least certainly not only), but also dedication which was recognised by my employers.

Nothing comes for free...

Oldernotwiser

bestpud wrote: »

That's a different mindset, as all those people are travelling in the hope of better prospects in the near future.

Being realistic, most people going for a minimum wage retail or factory job will have little or no chance of their situation improving anytime soon.

We can all excel ourselves when we have an end goal, but it's much harder if we see that slog as indefinite.

Sorry , I don't agree. There are prospects in retail and factory work but there are no prospects in being unemployed.

Marisco

I agree with you up to a point FBaby, but there are some NMW jobs that will have no hope of progression "up the ladder" i.e cleaners, shop workers etc. It's all well and good always focusing on what people in London do, but they have an excellent public transport system, as do most cities. But if you live in the back of beyond, then it's not so easy, when perhaps transport is sporadic.

I think it's unrealistic to expect someone to travel 90 mins each way, for a NMW shop job. The cost alone would be prohibitive, especially as most NMW jobs are usually part time. Unless there is any chance of promotion in the company, then I certainly wouldn't travel far for a job. I'd go to Newcastle (about 10 miles and 25 mins on the Metro away) anything else would be hit and miss on the buses.

MrsManda

2sides2everystory wrote: »

vbe they the blissfully ignorant several years retired types or employees of the still cosseted public sector. You haven't a clue what it is like for people who have to visit Job Centres in 2011. Not a flaming clue.

Where do you get the information that the people on here are employed/retired?
I've been very ill over the last 2 years and have long term conditions making it difficult to travel and I am not allowed to drive. I am now feeling well enough to work and I am perfectly willing to take a job upto 90minutes travel via public transport if it'll get me out of the house and give me better prospects for the future.
The majority of the people I know who are in work commute for at least an hour each way as that is where they've been able to get a job.
I do not understand people who complain when they're given conditions to their benefits as everyone who works has conditions they have to follow in order to get paid.

debrag

eskimo26 wrote: »

90 miles is very roughly how long time wise? I don't drive so i have no idea. What is the equivalent train journey we talking manchester to london proportions or edinburgh to london...?

Nottingham to London is 122 ish miles by car is 1.5 hrs or so I'd say.

debrag

eskimo26 wrote: »

90 miles is very roughly how long time wise? I don't drive so i have no idea. What is the equivalent train journey we talking manchester to london proportions or edinburgh to london...?

Nottingham to London is 122 ish miles by car is 1.5 hrs or so I'd say. Train is also around 1.55 hrs

HappyMJ

Oldernotwiser wrote: »

So you're not actually working for £6 per hour, are you? With tax credits you're working for quite a bit more than that!

Yes around £7.50 per hour isn't that what tax credits are for to give people more of an incentive to come off from JSA and into work.

After the first full year of work they will reduce to about £10 per week and housing benefit will go up to about £15. Hopefully by then the employee as you say should have found some new prospects in this work and increased their wage by £27 per week (to £6.80 per hour) to offset that loss so they will still be on the same rate of pay of £7.50 per hour. Hopefully then by the third year they should have another pay increase to £7.50 per hour then all benefits will stop.

Why don't they just set the minimum wage now to £7.50 per hour then there would be no need for in work benefits?

jazzy

adindas wrote: »

There are a lot of unqualified teacher need to travel more than one hour a day each way to a different school in a different location. The unqualified teacher who recently start their work just earn a little bit more than the minimum wage.

There are many students who are even worse than people on minimum wage (as they they earn nothing or just work part time on minimum wage) need to travel more than an hour just to get a cheap accommodation in the southern or Eastern part of London.

Perhaps in that case there is more incentive to do all of that travelling and to pay the travelling expenses.

It's very much different when you only have a dead end job or possibly a part time job at minimum wage rates.

PoorCharleyBear

I was signing on earlier this year and I found it soul destroying.

I live in London and my commute is 1hr 20m in the morning and 1hr 5m in the evening. I have to leave my 4 year old in the care of others, which I hate, but I dislike being on JSA more and want far more than that for my daughter.

(We make the most of our time together when I do get home)