Told have to to Volunteer work

pinkykat

My son went to jobcentre on Friday to see his advisor. He was given a letter and told to go for an appointment at the Heart foundation on Monday and he would be doing voluntary work for them for 8 weeks. He has been out of work for two months.
He has been doing casual work but, it is never over 16hrs so he is on jobseekers to make up the amount.
He told his advisor this.
The advisor said that because there is no guarantee on when he is doing the casual work that he has to do the voluntary work aswell. They advisor said that the voluntary work is 30hrs a week or he will not his jobseekers.
The volunteer work is not even local so he has to get a bus which is 4.50 a day if he goes 5 days its 22.50 a week out of his jobseekers. Does he get travel expenses and how does he claim it he hasn't got the money to even get there on Monday.
He has walking difficulties so cannot walk to it.

robpw2

he should get expenses ,

hcb42

Seems odd there is no requirement to do this after two months...

thegirlintheattic

You get expenses and it will make him more attractive to employers.

Lith

Very odd... i think there messing with him,

JC never sends anyone to do VOLUNTEER WORK...

Work Trail is different,

unless i missed something.

mynameistallulah

hcb42 wrote: »

Seems odd there is no requirement to do this after two months...

Two things ...

From the OP's previous posts, it looks like the son has been on and off JSA for longer, so with linking he may be further on than two months.

If someone is deemed to need extra help seeking work, they can have extra conditions applied to their Jobseeking Agreement (and referral to the WP) at any time.

kizzie_nikita

The job Centre, DOES send people to do volunteer work. I had to do it for 13 weeks. (at the British heart foundation) They do pay your travel aswell, you will get a bus voucher/money weekly.

I also know many, other people who also had to do the 13 weeks volenterring work, should be glad that he's only got to do 8 weeks, not 13.

patman99

It's called 'Workfare' and BHF are now on the receiving end of a barrage of abuse from anti-workfare campaigners and quite right too.

wantsajob

patman99 wrote: »

It's called 'Workfare' and BHF are now on the receiving end of a barrage of abuse from anti-workfare campaigners and quite right too.

http://www.boycottworkfare.org/

However, to me it seems more ethical when a charity is abusing free labour, as opposed to multi million corporations like Tesco, Poundland, Matalan etc.

dandelionclock30

I dont think its ethical at all for a charity to be abusing free labour to the tune of someone having to work 30 hours per week for their JSA.This is completley different to someone volunteering for one day or so per week because they want to, or have a particular interest in that area.
A lot of big charities are very rich and its soething like 95% of all charity giving goes to the top 10% of charities.Barnadoes and Guide Dogs for the Blind being obvious examples.
Charities should be offering proper paid jobs not perpetuating exploitation of the poor.I personally think its ethically unsound for a charity to expoit people as it undermines the core essence of that organization. I think the current recession has made me see some of these charities in a totally different light.

Lovelyjoolz

To those that think that it is 'unethical' for BHF, or other charities, to take advantage of free labour: I think you're looking at this from the wrong perspective. The government wanted to make it a policy that no one gets anything for free, and that Jobseekers claimants have to 'give something back' for their JSA. Essentially, their intention was to make the workshy scroungers who are not bothering to look for work get off their bums and do something. And in that scenario, it seems a great idea for charities to benefit from it. It's certainly a scheme that most MSEer's would approve of.

Unfortunately, its indiscriminative and all JSA claimants are subject to the same rules, so those who genuinely are looking hard for work are also going to get caught in the net. It does sound like the OPs son's JC advisor is being a little over enthusiastic with the ruling however.

Are the end of the day, voluntary work does look good on a CV. And, when many employers are refusing to even interview anyone who is out of work, being able to put on your CV / application that you are currently doing volunteer work will enable you to still apply for those jobs.