Help from DWP to relocate to return to work?

Voyager2002

After almost three years on the dole, I have been offered a full-time, permanent job. The problem is that it is the opposite end of the UK from where I now live: eve a train ticket there costs around five hundred pounds! I shall have to spend a lot of money before I can start earning: what kind of help can I get through the Jobcentre? I have asked them, and they say that I have to ask for different things and then it is at the adviser's discretion. So if anyone has ideas what they do or do not usually pay, that would be great.

When I last moved within the UK the employer provided relocation assistance, and these are some of the things they provided:
paid someone in the new place to inspect suitable properties for rent;
paid the agency fee when I rented a house;
paid for a couple of trips by rail to look at houses;
paid a removal company;
paid the legal costs for selling my old house and eventually buying my new one.

My new employer does not provide any relocation assistance, so I'm not sure how I will manage.

Witchfinder_General

Voyager2002 wrote: »

After almost three years on the dole, I have been offered a full-time, permanent job. The problem is that it is the opposite end of the UK from where I now live: eve a train ticket there costs around five hundred pounds! I shall have to spend a lot of money before I can start earning: what kind of help can I get through the Jobcentre? I have asked them, and they say that I have to ask for different things and then it is at the adviser's discretion. So if anyone has ideas what they do or do not usually pay, that would be great.

When I last moved within the UK the employer provided relocation assistance, and these are some of the things they provided:
paid someone in the new place to inspect suitable properties for rent;
paid the agency fee when I rented a house;
paid for a couple of trips by rail to look at houses;
paid a removal company;
paid the legal costs for selling my old house and eventually buying my new one.

My new employer does not provide any relocation assistance, so I'm not sure how I will manage.

Initial post removed. You wouldn't have liked the advice.

jacques_chirac

The best you can hope for is your rail fare. I'm assuming you're joking about the rest of the list?

Voyager2002

jacques_chirac wrote: »

The best you can hope for is your rail fare. I'm assuming you're joking about the rest of the list?

The list was what was provided by a previous employer... I have no idea whether the DWP provides anything similar.

I do remember a relocation scheme for the long-term unemployed back in 1984 that paid lots of things, including stamp duty on buying a house near to the new job. (I almost got this, but in the end they decided that my new job had not been suitably advertised locally, so I ended up with nothing.) Sad that Cameron is less serious about dealing with unemployment than was Thatcher.

BillJones

Voyager2002 wrote: »

Sad that Cameron is less serious about dealing with unemployment than was Thatcher.

He's very serious about dealing wiith it, and it's dropping significantly. Even you are being offered work now, which is great.

His government not handing you money frivolously is scant evidence that he's not serious about getting people back into work.

GrungeMeister

DWP & your adviser could give help from the Flexible Support Fund. It's usually limited to a grant of up to £300, although it can go higher if the office manager OK's it. And it's entirely at the discretion of the adviser ... you could get a rail warrant for your journey, an IPF1JP voucher for Matalan for clothing you might need etc.

You could get cash to cover food costs until you get your wages, maybe hostel costs if you can get yourself into the YMCA, bed & breakfast ... that kinda thing. All depends on how much you need and what you need it for. If you go down that route & apply to that fund, get your costs down to the absolute bare bone ... take the bus instead of the train, work out exactly what living expenses you'll need for food & drink until you get your 1st wages, contact the YMCA/hostel and find out what their daily rate is and if you can get a discount if you book upfront for 30 days etc. Demonstrate to the job centre your willingness to take up the job, your keenness to keep costs down and you'll probably get a better outcome. The flexible support fund is budget limited ... it's not a bottomless pit of free money ... what you get others can't.

The employer might not have a relocation package, but they might be able to advance salary (and it can sometimes take over a month to get onto payroll, so an advance of salary is very common for new staff in some organisations).

Beg, borrow from relatives as well. You can pay them back when you get on your feet.

Bogof_Babe

Check to see if there are Advance rail fares for your journey. These can be significantly cheaper than 'walk-up' fares, even up to a few days (or sometimes even a day) before departure.

Don't use Trainline as they charge booking fees. Have a look on www.eastcoast.co.uk - as with all train operators they sell fares for the whole of the UK not just their own routes.