The Work Programme New Thread

LadyMissA

Englisht wrote: »

They haven't told me anything about that yet. Today was just a talk, induction and a skills test.

The person said they expect you to attend every 10 days but it's usually twice within that 10 day period.

I suppose I'll get told all of the details about everything else tomorrow.

Cheers

skills test? Never had one of those.

Englisht_2

LadyMissA wrote: »

skills test? Never had one of those.

Yup. Basic maths & English.

Cheers

looby75

LadyMissA wrote: »

skills test? Never had one of those.

I had one before I was refered to the WP.

Basically you I had to read a job advertisement then answer some questions about the ad, it was to measure my literacy and numeracy.

LadyMissA

looby75 wrote: »

I had one before I was refered to the WP.

Basically you I had to read a job advertisement then answer some questions about the ad, it was to measure my literacy and numeracy.

I must the odd one out then as never had any tests of any kind.

I know the people at the WP need to have a test as they gave me a CV template with mistakes all over it!

Miss_Scrooge_2

LadyMissA wrote: »

I must the odd one out then as never had any tests of any kind.

I know the people at the WP need to have a test as they gave me a CV template with mistakes all over it!

I've never had a test either, before or after being put on the WP. Had my induction then straight to an advisor.

red_devil

Its about putting pressure on you making you attend. Nothing about whether you need to attend.

I have been attending once a week but its clear that the advisors are under pressure and have loads of people to see. My advisor was running half an hour late last week and never has seen me on time. She said they might be doing some group jobsearch to take the pressure off the appointments whatever that means.

LadyMissA

red_devil wrote: »

Its about putting pressure on you making you attend. Nothing about whether you need to attend.

I have been attending once a week but its clear that the advisors are under pressure and have loads of people to see. My advisor was running half an hour late last week and never has seen me on time. She said they might be doing some group jobsearch to take the pressure off the appointments whatever that means.

all appointments are meant to be on time and you can make a complaint

red_devil

i dont like to complain formally because they might say well you havent anything else to do have you.

On the plus side i tactfully said maybe it was getting abit much going once a week as i could see she was busy and she agreed for me to go in a fortnights time instead?:D

Do other people go weekly or fortnightly out of interest?

LadyMissA

red_devil wrote: »

i dont like to complain formally because they might say well you havent anything else to do have you.

On the plus side i tactfully said maybe it was getting abit much going once a week as i could see she was busy and she agreed for me to go in a fortnights time instead?:D

Do other people go weekly or fortnightly out of interest?

thats not the point at all. They are meant to keep to the appointment times. What would happen if YOU were 30 mnins late? They can't pretend to be professional if they can't keep to appointment times.

No, once a month but only seen one person (in Jan) since my assesment in August 2011

imatt

i dont like to complain formally because they might say well you havent anything else to do have you.

If it's YOUR time being wasted for 1/2 an hour at a time, then complaining is not such a bad idea. What people have to realise is that we are living in an age of 'Newspeak' where a jobseeker becomes a 'customer' or 'client' when on daft schemes such as ND, FND and now the WP. Well, as a 'customer' you have rights. You have to remind your provider AND others of this.

After all, if you booked a taxi tomorrow and it turned up 30 minutes late, would this be acceptable? Of course not! Especially if this was more than a one off occurrence. You'd be peeved to say the least. Furthermore, you may well decide to use a rival taxi co. in future as well as telling friends and family to steer clear.

With schemes such as the WP, far too much is weighted in favour of the W2W provider. They can perform poorly and yet you are supposed to keep quiet and accept it. You have no choice. Hardly a healthy business to customer relationship is it?

In my view, if the DWP, Jobcentre+ and W2W providers are referring to you or any other jobseeker as a 'customer', then you would in an ideal environment be able to treat them as you would a supermarket, hairdresser, restaurant, garage etc you received poor service from and take your custom elsewhere. So if I dislike Tesco, I am at liberty to use Morrisons or Lidl instead. If I dislike Apple, I can use Samsung.

Of course, one cannot do this with the WP. People on such schemes are a captive audience so to speak. So if you cannot withhold your custom, the next best thing is to do what customers have the right to in any other situation and complain. Make your feelings known.