After the Work Programme

BurnleyBob

imatt wrote: »

"There's a lot we need to do in this party of ours. Our base is too narrow and so, occasionally, are our sympathies. You know what some people call us – the Nasty Party."

Theresa May - Oct 2002.

Have the Tories learned nothing? I guess not! Perhaps Mrs May needs to have a word with her former self!

It's not the Tories per se, nor is it the Tories and LibDems in alliance. It's the political class because bar for very minor differences the three major parties are exactly the same.

I know of no reform that Thatcher/Major enacted during 18 years in power that Blair/Brown undid in the following 13 years and these past three years has been the same story. Labour protested about about privatisation and anti-trade union laws but singularly failed to renationalise the railways, etc, and kept all the trade union stuff. For over a decade the Tories bleated about the enlargement of the surveillance state... and of course have done nothing whatsoever to reduce it.

Labour introduced work for your dole in 1978 via the Youth Opportunities Program, and it was Labour who built brutal workcamps for the unemployed in the late 1920s.

Work camps that tackled Depression - http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/scotland/7842448.stm

Nada666

Adamthegreat984 wrote: »

I do 12 hours per week voluntry in an office on mondays and wednesdays and they can kiss my !!! if they think im gunna do 30+ hours for £72 a week.

You should enquire about the third strand - help with elementary (and appropriate) writing and counting.

gdw1987

Anyone else been put on the "Intensive Support Program" since leaving the Work Programme? Apparently it last 4 weeks approx, I've already had a couple of meetings with an advisor asking the same old questions, offering the same useless advice and giving me homework to do including forms I have already filled out about a month ago but I still had to fill out again for some reason luckily I photocopy everything I do for them.

I have to do another 2 week course in a week or so as part of this "Intensive Support Program" which I'm guessing is going to be exactly the same course as I did at the Work Programme, anyone else done this yet?

Jerry_Mander

All the talk about how the Jobcentre will manage this new regime is irrelevant because it won't be them that handle it, it'll be private concerns like A4E and G4S (the usual suspects) because most of them do have onsite toilets and are already set up for job searching.

And AP007 - no, you won't get any allowance for anything because the "centres" will be local and things like lunch etc. have to come out of your normal JSA payment.

donnajunkie

AP007 wrote: »

Will the people be getting subsistence for lunches? Harder to do a lunch out than when you are at home etc

i dont think they will supply lunch. people will probably get bus fares and thats it. i cant see job centres extending their opening hours. so it wont be 9 to 5.

AP007

Jerry_Mander wrote: »

All the talk about how the Jobcentre will manage this new regime is irrelevant because it won't be them that handle it, it'll be private concerns like A4E and G4S (the usual suspects) because most of them do have onsite toilets and are already set up for job searching.

And AP007 - no, you won't get any allowance for anything because the "centres" will be local and things like lunch etc. have to come out of your normal JSA payment.

Well no the WP wasn't local at all - a14 mile round trip so if that's the case you couldn't go hone to get lunch.

And if this is going to be run by WP providers I wonder where the people on the WP are going to go? There is not enough space or enough PC's etc

donnajunkie

AP007 wrote: »

My JC have no toilets for clients and you are told when there for a session like for Learn Direct if you need to use one you have to walk 5 mins to the shopping centre to use theirs. The JC wont know who is coming and going.

sounds like a perfect excuse to skive. i bet people will walk really slow and even say they need the toilet when they dont.

AP007

donnajunkie wrote: »

sounds like a perfect excuse to skive. i bet people will walk really slow and even say they need the toilet when they dont.

Of course and why wouldn't they? Or are the JC going to escort people to loo once an hour

donnajunkie

Jerry_Mander wrote: »

All the talk about how the Jobcentre will manage this new regime is irrelevant because it won't be them that handle it, it'll be private concerns like A4E and G4S (the usual suspects) because most of them do have onsite toilets and are already set up for job searching.

the training rooms at the local wp provider only have capacity for a small number of people. they dont all have computers in them either.

donnajunkie

AP007 wrote: »

And if this is going to be run by WP providers I wonder where the people on the WP are going to go? There is not enough space or enough PC's etc

this is a very good point.