Jobcentre wants friend to sign more detailed agreement, he is worried

Viberduo

Before anyone assumes, he is happy to work even a few hours a week cleaning toilets or gardening but is so far out of area that his nearest jobcentre is like 30 miles away so he signs on by post and his parents refuse to let him use the internet so he is forced to use mobile which at most gets dial up speeds as countryside.

Anyway they want him to spend a hour a day on the jobcentre website looking for work, not just log in, they also want him to apply for at least 8 jobs a week when as I say he lives in middle of nowhere.

He doesnt mind looking for work he is more worried that since he has almost no internet access he cant do a hour a day and apply for 8 jobs a week(sometimes he may be lucky and get more sometimes only 2 or 3 a week) so if he signs the new agreement he may get sanctioned.

Does he have to sign the agreement? He is also worried that when they rang him to talk about his claim they may have recorded it despite not warning him of this but may be a clause somewhere saying they can.

seven-day-weekend

How is he ever going to get a job if he can't look for work? He can spend a day a week in the nearest towns looking for work and putting out CVs/fliers etc. If his parents won't let him use the internet then he will have to get his own and pay for it out of his Jobseekers' Allowance, or go to the library if there is one. An hour a day and eight jobs a week is hardly anything. He really has to be more proactive.

His job at the moment is to find a job and he won't be able to do it sitting at home with no internet, he will have to take steps so that it is possible.

I don't know whether he is obliged to sign the agreement, but he needs to take more action looking for work.

Voyager2002

If he is unable to search on-line for an hour each day, then he needs to think of an alternative means of searching and persuade them that this other approach would be effective. Since he is being paid to look for work, he needs to think of some way of doing this that is feasible in his situation and likely to prove effective.

dookar

He can refuse to sign the Jsag, it will be sent to a decision maker who will decide what is reasonable between what your friend wants and what the adviser wants. If neither is reasonable then the decsion may impose an entirely new Jsag.

As you've used the word 'agreement', I assume it is under the old rules - in which case ASE is measured in steps, not length of time

lighting_up_the_chalice

Viberduo wrote: »

......his nearest jobcentre is like 30 miles away .......

Where in earth does he live? The furthest point from the SEA in the UK in only 60 miles.... !!!!!!!

Viberduo

seven-day-weekend wrote: »

How is he ever going to get a job if he can't look for work? He can spend a day a week in the nearest towns looking for work and putting out CVs/fliers etc. If his parents won't let him use the internet then he will have to get his own and pay for it out of his Jobseekers' Allowance, or go to the library if there is one. An hour a day and eight jobs a week is hardly anything. He really has to be more proactive.

His job at the moment is to find a job and he won't be able to do it sitting at home with no internet, he will have to take steps so that it is possible.

I don't know whether he is obliged to sign the agreement, but he needs to take more action looking for work.

Hmmm, as I expected you go by what I dont say rather than what I say

He IS looking for working and going over the amount currently required, he has a small"town" a few miles away that pretty much consists of a convenience store, a cafe(that just closed down a few weeks ago) and 1 bank.

What he is currently doing is using his mobile to get a slow connection on the internet to look for jobs and asking relatives and friends if they have any short term or full time work available as its a fishing area in the north of Scotland(hence why not many jobcentres around)

I dislike when people assume the worst about people as I never said he didnt apply for work nor that he didnt make an effort but it is automatically assumed he isnt, he is doing the best he can so that may mean 10 jobs one week and the bare minimum the following week, and if he has enough credit on his phone may be a few hours a week doing that, and I never said he wasnt phoning employers or anything and that he didnt spend hours in other ways jobsearching, jobsearch existed before the internet!

I can only go by what he said but I know he has worked in jobs like gardening before just to pay the bills and worked whilst at uni but had to move home as couldnt find somewhere that took tenants on jobseekers and was fired from his last job.

And he has asked his parents if he can pay for his own internet ant they REFUSED.

Just because he is on benefits doesnt mean he hasnt thought or done these things, he has a 2/1 degree in engineering for example and is happy to work even a few hours a week to get a cv built up, he even said to me he doesnt mind voluntary work but he lives in middle of nowhere and has unhelpful parents.

iammumtoone

One hour a day job seeking and 8 jobs per week is not very much, read some of the other threads what people have to do, whatever was he doing before if this is more?

Why do his parents not let him use the internet? can he not offer to pay some of the cost towards it, would that help? Or offer to pay a friend something towards the cost to use theirs?

Where is the nearest library? He could use a computer there, even if he went just two days a week I am sure he would find 4 jobs each time meeting his target. He could maybe spend the hour a day on the other days phoning companies to see if they have any vacancies.

How about accessing the internet via a dongle?

GwylimT

Why isn't he using the computers in the job centre, is there a library in the town where he signs on?

Viberduo

GwylimT wrote: »

Why isn't he using the computers in the job centre, is there a library in the town where he signs on?

Read above, he signs on by post as his nearest JC is around 30 miles way(as he lives in the north of Scotland)

And his local town is so small its more like a large village.

GwylimT

Viberduo wrote: »

Read above, he signs on by post as his nearest JC is around 30 miles way(as he lives in the north of Scotland)

And his local town is so small its more like a large village.

Yes, I am well aware that he signs on by post, as someone who has in the past claimed JSA I am also well aware that he will have his transport paid for so he can go to his job centre to use their computers to job hunt, on that day he is also more than able to walk to the nearest library or internet cafe to continue job hunting on the internet and giving out CV's/asking local businesses if there are any available vacancies.

Viberduo

iammumtoone wrote: »

One hour a day job seeking and 8 jobs per week is not very much, read some of the other threads what people have to do, whatever was he doing before if this is more?

Why do his parents not let him use the internet? can he not offer to pay some of the cost towards it, would that help? Or offer to pay a friend something towards the cost to use theirs?

Where is the nearest library? He could use a computer there, even if he went just two days a week I am sure he would find 4 jobs each time meeting his target. He could maybe spend the hour a day on the other days phoning companies to see if they have any vacancies.

How about accessing the internet via a dongle?

Its NOT what he has to do, its what he CAN do, he has no real internet access and lives in middle of nowhere so cant apply for the amount of jobs they want, the amount of times he tells me he would take the first job that comes his way as he hates signing on as he is proud as he feels like not working is basically making him rot away and hates being forced to live with parents as they are stereotype strict ones that wake him up 8am every day regardless if he feels rough like has a cold, or been kept awake by dad working late etc.

He even talks to me about moving down to England for work as he would have more opportunities etc.

He has offered to pay the full internet costs to his parents but they refused, the way he speaks about them is he is never good enough even when he was at uni because he has a sucessful older brother who is only a few years older but married and in a good job.