What exactly is the work programe?

LadyMissA

mattw7 wrote: »

Good on you LadyMissA. The thing is this WP is just another re-hash of all the previous long term jobless schemes that have run for the last 15-20 years or so. As soon as one has had its time it just gets re-named with the same old schemes in place, i.e. how to do a C.V, jobsearching, interview tips etc etc. Its about time they brought about 21st century help for people out of work. We simply are not providing enough resources or real help to get those long term out of work into suitable sustainable employment.

Putting people into Tesco or Poundland stacking shelves or doing this CAP programme which is likely to come into effect for longer term unemployed is going to do nothing to enhance their opportunities for employment. Its simply a way of appeasing the tax payers who get lied to in the media that everyone out of work is a lazy good for nothing waste of space..

I have done none of the above on the WP.

mattw7

Well I'm just using those as an example of things that are currently used by some providers and going by comments by users on this site as well as some others. Its just the point I'm making that none of these schemes do anything to create jobs or really are of any help to a large majority of people forced on it.

Its like using old methods in a new era whereby the job market itself is changing but the govt and providers are so out of touch that their methods of help simply are out of date.

LadyMissA

mattw7 wrote: »

Well I'm just using those as an example of things that are currently used by some providers and going by comments by users on this site as well as some others. Its just the point I'm making that none of these schemes do anything to create jobs or really are of any help to a large majority of people forced on it.

Its like using old methods in a new era whereby the job market itself is changing but the govt and providers are so out of touch that their methods of help simply are out of date.

they are not meant to create jobs they are meant to get you in one but they have agreed with me they actually have no powers to do this and if a company wont interview the unemployed there is nothing anyone can do about it.

Yours may be exmaples of what people have said here but its false to think this is common and people watching the news or reading the papers must think the WP is helping people and it's not.

essexman77

mattw7 wrote: »

What I really would wish is that everyone on the WP would all make a concerted effort to make complaints to the providers, to their local MP's and to those in power so that they know exactly how they feel to be treated this way.

Surely if everyone made the effort that it would force some kind of change to the system. The problem is people moan on the Internet and to their friends etc but really you have to make a noise if you want to at least try and enforce change. Its getting to the point where people seem happy to be walked all over these days without any sort of fight or trying to stand up for themselves.

There has been a lot of action look at the work for free programe all the big names pulled out due to protests.

The work programe is designed for one thing to make life hard for long term unemployed like making you look for work for 9+ hours working for free going on usless training courses.

Rember if you dont sign data consent forms it could crush the work programe as it means if you are found a job they cant contact employer and they wont get there money and looks like they wont be able to so easily fake signitures since the a4e investigation.

If youve already signed send letter in recorded delivery to say you no longer give consent templates availble on internet.

scooby088

I am due to start with a provider next week, i will not sign the data consent form as i really don't want them contacting any future employers about me, but then again if i got a job and left within a year to go to another employer they wouldn't know anything. I was told by the jobcentre to use them for any training i want which is exactly what i am going to do.

Was also thinking do the provider sell you information to companies like debt collection agencies and the like.

November5th

What a 'Work Programme' should do:

CV and interview help - the latest methods overseen by the best recruiters. Many recruiters I have met are brilliant at the latest fashions in CV and interview formats. This has been the largest and most important contributor to my job seeking.

Proper avenues to retraining on professional free courses, be it IT, administrative or a trade. Give people options, and hope.

Financial assistance for the first month in work, allowing you to afford travel costs and eat. This also means you can take that job a little further away. I had to start restricting my job search to those that I could cycle to. How I am going to eat I don't know.

That's it. Can't be more expensive then what we have now. Why shouldn't 3 to 6 months out of work be a good experience? A chance to improve, and sometimes a chance to improve the shattered confidence a bad job or the loss of a job can bring.
It would be fair not to have to feel shame for being out of work, and have to hide the fact from potential employers as a toxic stain on your character. The vast majority WANT to work, it is idiotic to think otherwise.

The current system is failing in the most disgusting way on the first hurdle with not only outdated advice, but bad advice. From the JC to the WP the things I have heard and read being given out to people beggars belief. You have to get really smart to handle it, it is life sapping and destructive and impedes your chances of employment more often than not, confidence destroyed, time wasted, employers hassled so much they won't touch a JC/WP applicant for fear of more of the same.

I have been fortunate in that I met decent human advisor in 2011, they do exist and it is possible to provide decent respectful support, but it is a s rare as hens teeth. I was told recently by my JC advisor this time around that I wasn't getting jobs because I was too old, I am just past forty. I was then, bizarrely, advised to sign off and go on ESA. I am fit and healthy and was getting plenty of interviews.

The recent outcry against the mandatory work shows that if people knew what was going on, perhaps they would rethink the hogwash they have swallowed about work shy !!!!less scroungers.

saintjammyswine

To answer OP without any opinion but simple facts.(makes it easier)

The Work Programme is confusingly the name of both the overall scheme and elements of that overall scheme.

Work Programme - Overall name given to scheme tagged 'Get Britain Working' which includes:

Work Experience - 2-8 weeks placement at company for up to 30 hours per week (not required to have vacancies)

Sector Based Work Academies - Pre-Employment Training (for example CSCS card, Food Safety, Customer Service, Employability Skills) followed by Work Experience (2-8 weeks, 30 hrs/wk) and Guaranteed interviews. Usually linked to real vacancies (such as opening of new company/site/depot).

Work Clubs - like the old 'Job Clubs'. Groups of people meet & discuss best practice, opportunities etc, often sponsored by companies/community groups.

Enterprise Clubs - supported by companies/groups set up to allow people to set up own businesses.

Work Together - Voluntary Work at organisations

The first 2 are know as the Work Programme.

Hope this helps.