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

Viberduo

Voyager2002 wrote: »

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.

This is something he thinks of, but the jobcentre that rings him seems to act like he has to do things like online jobsearch, he got a phone call a few months ago from a rude person saying he was only spending like 2 hours a week on the jobsearch website and he should be on about 11 hours a week and threatened to cut his money despite him doing it voluntarily, on that occasion he said he stood his ground and the person slammed phone down on him.

Again from what he tells me he asks his dad who works full time to ask friends if they can get him even one off work to build a reputation but gets nowhere, or he phones local places but gets turned down(probably due to lack of employers) I cant tell how many jobs he does apply for but from what he tells me sometimes he struggles to do the amount and sometimes he applies for 10 jobs or such.

I know from back when I signed on I had issues, glad I stopped claiming before the changes.

He is mostly worried about if he struggles to find enough jobs to apply for now despite spending time on it then increasing what he has to do would be impossible to do every week, fine some weeks so he feels its just a way to get him sanctioned.

He is almost 26 and been claiming JSA just under a year apart from 3 months when he worked before being fired so its not like he is intentionally not finding work.

Viberduo

GwylimT wrote: »

He would go to the nearest town thats what, what is he going to do when he does get a job, say "oh sorry, I live in the middle of nowhere so I can't get there", I'm obviously benefit bashing, I used to spend my days benefit bashing myself when I was on JSA, loved doing that.

Because the nearest real town is 30 miles away and takes 2-3 hours to get there, that isnt like living a short distance away from a jobcentre on a bus.

Not the same thing so dont treat it as such, you seem to be just focusing on the negative or have a attitude of "if I can do it, so can anyone" though your situation may of been simple in comparison.

iammumtoone

Viberduo wrote: »

I can only go by what he tells me but as I say he is willing to do things to the point on the rare occasions I see him online he may be doing jobsearch for 3 hours a time to make up for lack of other times.

I have no idea of what jobs he actually applies for though he keeps saying gardening but I assume from his comments he is trying further afield but doesnt even get a response.

so maybe he can ask his advisor to put 8 hours per week rather than 1 per day, that doesn't seem like an unreasonable request. I still say the 8 jobs per week is easily achievable if he flexible where he applies to.

There is nothing wrong with gardening jobs but he has an engineering degree! would he not be better applying for jobs in which he could use it? yes it will mean he will have to move but from what you say he would be happy to do this.

Where does his Dad work? is that anywhere near a library? Would his Dad give him a lift back and forth twice a week?

Viberduo

iammumtoone wrote: »

so maybe he can ask his advisor to put 8 hours per week rather than 1 per day, that doesn't seem like an unreasonable request. I still say the 8 jobs per week is easily achievable if he flexible where he applies to.

They is nothing wrong with gardening jobs but he has an engineering degree! would he not be better applying for jobs in which he could use it? yes it will mean he will have to move but from what you say he would be happy to do this.

His idea is that an engineering job would take a while to find, but a gardening job or cleaning or something would be available to everyone so "easier" to find

seven-day-weekend

But the thing is,unless he looks further afield, he is not going to get a job at all, is he?

Although I have lived most of my life near a city centre, I do understand how difficult it can be in a remote area, I lived in a tiny village in the mountains in Spain for eight years and we'd have been lost without a car and internet (although the bus was quite cheap), so I do understand some of the difficulties.

Could he not get lodgings (i.e a room in someone's house) in a larger town? He would be able to claim his rent payment for this and then it would be easier for him to look for work

iammumtoone

Viberduo wrote: »

His idea is that an engineering job would take a while to find, but a gardening job or cleaning or something would be available to everyone so "easier" to find

Whilst that is true, there is nothing to stop him applying for engineering jobs at the same time (this would help him get up to his target of 8 per week)

SJI85

Viberduo wrote: »

If he DOES get an interview and its only a few miles away where did I say he wouldnt walk there, I was talking about large distances where no public transport would be available, or would cost almost the whole days wages just for travel and about 7 hours a day travel and 8 hours a day work to be in debt at the end of the week, yeah that means he is lazy.

He can move, can't he?

But I agree this thread is getting off tangent. Are you able to summarise the questions you want answered? Maybe just two questions or areas you want feedback from?

Whether he is obliged to sign the new JSA agreement has been discussed already. As far as I'm aware he is not obliged to sign it. A discussion will take place where his objections will be discussed and an adviser will decide if these objections are reasonable/a compromise will be reached. If an adviser doesn't think these discussions are reasonable then the matter will be referred to a decision maker who will decide whether the agreement is reasonable or not.

Viberduo

SJI85 wrote: »

He can move, can't he?

But I agree this thread is getting off tangent. Are you able to summarise the questions you want answered? Maybe just two questions or areas you want feedback from?

Whether he is obliged to sign the new JSA agreement has been discussed already. As far as I'm aware he is not obliged to sign it. A discussion will take place where his objections will be discussed and an adviser will decide if these objections are reasonable/a compromise will be reached. If an adviser doesn't think these discussions are reasonable then the matter will be referred to a decision maker who will decide whether the agreement is reasonable or not.

Yes and no, he has some money in the bank saved so can afford a deposit but if he moves he worries he will be in the position where he cant find work even though he is in a large area and that way he has to pay rent top ups and bills, however he agrees that he will move soon but wants a plan first.

He is a proud person so hates claiming benefits, and thinking about it would people be happy he would be claiming housing benefit but not working or living with parents so not paying rent to a private landlord that is paid for by benefits?

Laurajo_2

Can he move in with a friend or relative even temporarily?

I appreciate that, without internet access it is going to be difficult to get a job if local employers are limited, however, I suspect the job centre staff will see it more like previous posters have.

As I can see, his options are:

1. Try and get a compromise on the agreement ie he travels into the nearest place with an Internet cafe/library once or twice a week and uses this time to job search.

2. He carries on as he is, and risks sanctioning. Could he not point out to his parents that he might lose his JSA due to them not letting him use the internet?

3. He moves to an area where there is more chance of finding work.

Just as an aside, if he's in the middle of nowhere, how is he planning on getting to work?

iammumtoone

Viberduo wrote: »

Yes and no, he has some money in the bank saved so can afford a deposit but if he moves he worries he will be in the position where he cant find work even though he is in a large area and that way he has to pay rent top ups and bills, however he agrees that he will move soon but wants a plan first.

Maybe his plan should be to look for work now in the area he wants to move to, if he pick a large town he will easily cover his 8 jobs per week, that only leaves the problem of searching 1 hour on the internet per day, like I said a few posts up I don't think it would be seen as unreasonable to ask to change this to read 7 hours per week, which given his intermittent internet access should be more suitable for him.