Unpaid internship - Job Centre will deduct travel costs from my benefits

Flyonthewall

AnnoyedGuy wrote: »

I don't think so. Most of them either live in West London or North London. They get paid pretty well. (I've seen a break-down of much they charge their clientele) I live in East London, and most of them commute to work, like myself.

I see. Thought that might be the case, but always worth asking just in case lol.

Voyager2002

I understood that people on JSA were allowed to earn up to twenty pounds a week before anything earned was deducted from their benefit. Check this out carefully. And if you were to travel to/from work by bus using an Oyster card, the amounts involved would be lower, making things a bit more manageable.

Your other option would be to ask your personal adviser to arrange some kind of unpaid work experience at the company where you have your internship. If they arrange it for you then they pay travel expenses.

Voyager2002

gibson123 wrote: »

This, speak to the manager at the workplace, ask them to buy you a travel card, most workplaces can do this, as they will do this for staff travel for tax purposes. The JC cannot take this off your benefits, however cash can be deducted.

The problem is, this is still classed as 'payment in kind' and so would be treated in the same was as cash reimbursement of travel expenses.

AnnoyedGuy

Voyager2002 wrote: »

I understood that people on JSA were allowed to earn up to twenty pounds a week before anything earned was deducted from their benefit. Check this out carefully. And if you were to travel to/from work by bus using an Oyster card, the amounts involved would be lower, making things a bit more manageable.

I'll look into that. But they said they'd deduct the amount I'm to be reimbursed from my JSA. I'll be interning there for 3 more weeks. (I've completed a week) That works out to be around £140 for the month.

Voyager2002 wrote: »

Your other option would be to ask your personal adviser to arrange some kind of unpaid work experience at the company where you have your internship. If they arrange it for you then they pay travel expenses.

It's a good idea, but I don't think the company I'm interning with is willing to do this. I think they'd rather let me go, than spend time dealing with the Job Centre. It's not something I want to risk, as I've performed well in my first week and I'm really trying to prove myself to them.

Fleago

I agree with Voyager2002 about asking your personal advisor if they can arrange with the company for it to be a work experience placement agreed by Jobcentre Plus.

As you describe it at the moment, it looks like they are considering that the work you are doing is work that the company would normally have to pay someone to do, hence it not being voluntary work by their own definition, for which you would be allowed travel expenses.

If you can get it changed to work experience agreed by your PA, you should be ok.

I think the earnings disregard for a single person claiming JSA and without any of the exceptions, eg a disability premium, is only £5 per week.

I wish you luck and hope you can get it sorted out so that you can continue - it just seems so unfair that you're being penalised for doing something to improve your job prospects.

Edit - sorry, we must have cross posted - I now see that the work experience idea probably won't work for you.

AnnoyedGuy

Fleago wrote: »

I agree with Voyager2002 about asking your personal advisor if they can arrange with the company for it to be a work experience placement agreed by Jobcentre Plus.

As you describe it at the moment, it looks like they are considering that the work you are doing is work that the company would normally have to pay someone to do, hence it not being voluntary work by their own definition, for which you would be allowed travel expenses.

If you can get it changed to work experience agreed by your PA, you should be ok.

I think the earnings disregard for a single person claiming JSA and without any of the exceptions, eg a disability premium, is only £5 per week.

I wish you luck and hope you can get it sorted out so that you can continue - it just seems so unfair that you're being penalised for doing something to improve your job prospects.

Edit - sorry, we must have cross posted - I now see that the work experience idea probably won't work for you.

Thank you for the concern anyway. I mean I've seen people do less than myself - i.e. nothing for a year or more - and here I am trying to actually do something rather sit around and applying for every job possible, which is what I done for the first month. I think I do need more experience - as my previous job didn't really have any transferable skills, other than administration - and let's face it, everyone is applying for those types of jobs.

I've applied for McDonald's, Iceland, Tesco's, Sainsbury's and many others. So, I definitely haven't set my bar too high, even though I'm mainly trying to apply for jobs which relate to my long term goals.

I have had a few interviews since I've been unemployed, but most of them turned out to be door to door sales or for an IT job which messed me around and cost me money on travel. It became unfeasible to go to job interviews, unless I called them first. (It seems an e-mail is too easy to send - not just for the job seeker, but the employer too)

I just want everyone to know, that I don't want to be unemployed, and I genuinely feel bad for being unemployed. I can't stand not doing any type of work, which is one of the reasons I did this internship. I mean sitting at home all day and applying for jobs - which hundreds are applying for is depressing. I can so easily do both, but it seems there is something always trying to block me.

Gah. I'm so frustrated.

Fleago

I can sense your frustration through your posts, you must feel gutted just now. I think it's still worth speaking to either your PA or a manager if you can get hold of them and put across what you've put across so passionately here to see if there is something that can be done.

Failing that, if it were me, I'd be very tempted to get in touch with my MP to highlight the situation.

dandelionclock30

Why did you tell them in the first place about getting travel costs reinbursed? When I've done voluntary work before the jobcentre have never asked me anything about this.
The company that are paying you nothing to work everyday are in effect totally exploiting you.It wont lead to a job with them as why would they pay when they can get you or some other unemployed person for free?.
I'm sorry to hear of this, could you do any free courses instead? or some very part time voluntary work for a few hours per week where they provide proper accredited training? Then at least you would be able to concentrate on applying for jobs at the same time and you would'nt be getting taken for a ride.

This_Year

Voyager2002 wrote: »

I understood that people on JSA were allowed to earn up to twenty pounds a week before anything earned was deducted from their benefit. Check this out carefully.

Most people have a £5 disregard on earnings when claiming jsa.

dandelionclock30

What age are you O.P ?, if your 25 or less theres places like The Princes Trust which can be helpfull.