Mandatory Work Activity - Anyone done it?

scheming_gypsy

The 30 hour week is based on the first post... Where the OP would be expected to work 30 hours for their benefits; so the use of 30 hours is to compare with the situation in this thread.

DebiT

scheming_gypsy wrote: »

The 30 hour week is based on the first post... Where the OP would be expected to work 30 hours for their benefits; so the use of 30 hours is to compare with the situation in this thread.

Sorry, lost track of the OP's post, thought we were just talking generally.

Coco_H

It is 30 hrs a week which I think is the maximum for this programme I believe, I'm waiting to find out more on tuesday when I have my appointment with SEETEC I have no objection about doing a work placement as I do need the experience as I have a gap in my work history as I was at college before but the only issue I have is from what I've been told I won't have much choice in where I do my placement and it will have nothing to do with what I'm qualified in but otherwise I'm trying to look at it as a more of a positive then a negative I just think they way they titled the programme is wrong and the threat of sanctions if you take a step out of line makes people angry and feel like they are being forced rather then encouraged to better themselves.

I'm in the lower group as I'm in the 18-24 brack I receive £106.90 a fortnight.

leasky30

people on benefits and people that work can claim cb/hb so you cant take them into consideration for working for jsa, and if it was me, i don't claim them so for 30 hours a week it be £2.18 a hour

WPN

It is always going to be a debate, one which ends when someone can justify everything.

On one side its benefits are not / should not be guaranteed and that there is an option to sign off...

On one side its if a person is claiming benefits and seeking work with no other income, although they can get out of mandatory working, they would otherwise have no money to live - so no home or food...

Then do other factors imply a "no choice" card... like if you have kids... you would have to work to avoid them losing their home too... you could then say its ok as they would be taken into care and "looked after" .. where do you draw the line?

Its also complicated. You claim JSA and seek work as you are "unemployed" but by working for free you are "employed". Now, if we say you are actually working for your benefits and not for free... your unemployment benefit is being earnt by fulltime work... something sounds not right there. Now you are doing work... and "employed" why not get NMW like everyone else?

I think the long-term unemployed should work for their JSA... but not for commercial enterprise and for NMW (so say if this ever catched on, NMW was £7/hr and JSA was £70/week... they would work no more than 10 hours)

Why would a person, just because they have a period of unemployment, not be entitled to the same as everyone else?

QuackQuack_2

I think this is a brilliant scheme and applaud the government for it!

My only reservation is this; Commercial retailers should not really be allowed to take advantage of this. I'm fine with charity shops and other voluntary organisations - but not commercial businesses that may see it as a way to get free staff, and as a result, take jobs out of the market.

I'd guess that most genuine out of work folk would be happy to be doing something useful and keep busy. Nothing worse than sitting at home doing nothing for moral or employability imho.

scheming_gypsy

QuackQuack wrote: »

My only reservation is this; Commercial retailers should not really be allowed to take advantage of this. I'm fine with charity shops and other voluntary organisations - but not commercial businesses that may see it as a way to get free staff, and as a result, take jobs out of the market.

.

I agree to a point, they should be allowed to take advantage of it but they shouldn't get it totally for free, but I can't work out how free it actually is.
Yes they're not paying the staff but the additional they're not paying in wages, will be profit which they'll have to pay tax on. It also means their outgoings will be lower which means they have more money to invest back into the company,
So maybe it should be available to the smaller companies who would benefit from additional staff and lower outgoings, rather than bigger retailers who don't 'need' to benefit from it.

wantsajob

scheming_gypsy wrote: »

So maybe it should be available to the smaller companies who would benefit from additional staff and lower outgoings, rather than bigger retailers who don't 'need' to benefit from it.

An interesting thought. But it still amounts to Government subsidised employees who put a drain on the benefits system for the benefit of a business. There's other more effective and cheaper ways for the Government of helping reduce the cost of taking on extra labour for small businesses.

The only benefit I can see is it might get those who would otherwise find it difficult getting work - i.e. long-term unemployed, into some sort of routine and get a reference. However there are still some problems with that. 4 weeks is a very short time. If I was an employer and saw someone had done 4 weeks at Tesco, I'd be wondering what happened and why they were only "employed" for 4 weeks (unless I was really canny and saw that it was this programme). In both cases, the scheme is of absolutely no benefit to them regardless, as it's not going to help them get a job! 4 weeks does not compete with a year or more.

What we really need is jobs created. Not positions for free labour which reduce the number of paid jobs out there. The current levels of unemployment only go to show that a Capitalist society is unsustainable, because this is what happens when you make everyone work for the sake of being greedy bar stewards.

Coco_H

Hi All

Went to my meeting with Seetec, it was a complete shamble, arrived on time, the staff seem bored and unhelpful, the place was pack and it seem it had been over booked with people sent by the Job centre, the bloke who worked there said he was only expect 3 or 4 people, had to sit in a room with a load of other people waiting for the consultant bloke to come and call us, after a 1hr and half wait I finally got seen, he told me the it would be 5 days a week for 4 ks, 30 hrs a wk, I would get my travel reimbursed, I got place at a charity organization which has zilch to do with what I'm qualified for, all the charity shops placements got filled, the place is really disorganized and the computers they used are ancient, I wasn't happy with what went on but just going to get on with it and hope to god I get a job soon, good luck to everyone else placed on the MWA scheme your properly going to need the patients of a saint.

Gargleblaster

Coco_H wrote: »

Hi All

...after a 1hr and half wait I finally got seen, he told me the it would be 5 days a week for 4 ks, 30 hrs a wk, I would get my travel reimbursed, I got place at a charity organization which has zilch to do with what I'm qualified for...

I've 'worked' for a couple of charities for the same hours that you are doing and my advice is to bring a good book with you. Most of these place simply don't have enough work to keep someone occupied all day for five days.
If your experience is anything like mine then you will spend half your time sitting on your backside drinking cups of tea.