Jobcentre public toilet facilities

crosslegs

Are government Jobcentre buildings required to have toilet facilities available for public use ?

Our local Jobcentre is the venue for compulsory numeracy and literacy classes of 2 hour duration but have told claimants that there is no toilet available but drinking water from a water cooler is provided.
Obviously, there are toilets somewhere in the building for their own staff to use but nothing is made available for public use despite being required to be there for 2+ hours.

WestonDave

Call it preparation for work! You'll probably be expected to be able to concentrate on your work for 2 hours at a time without nipping off to the loo every five minutes so its good practice!

zaax

It sounds like you are at work, if this is the case you are.
see http://www.hse.gov.uk/contact/faqs/toilets.htm

JKSandy

I doubt the above applies. It's a two hour training course not work.

Unless you have a medical reason why you can't wait two hours I don't think they would need to let you use the staff toilets.

Plus being a public building they could also say it's a security issue.

crosslegs

zaax wrote: »

It sounds like you are at work, if this is the case you are.

Thanks, but I'm more interested in regulations for government buildings to which the public have access or are required to visit.
I suppose Libraries, schools, colleges, council offices, tax offices etc would be other situations. I can understand the reasons why they don't want to make their nice staff facilities available to everyone but they are effectively using an office meeting room as a substitute classroom in a way.

lincroft1710

crosslegs wrote: »

Thanks, but I'm more interested in regulations for government buildings to which the public have access or are required to visit.
I suppose Libraries, schools, colleges, council offices, tax offices etc would be other situations. I can understand the reasons why they don't want to make their nice staff facilities available to everyone but they are effectively using an office meeting room as a substitute classroom in a way.

My local library has toilets for public use.

There is no requirement for HMRC to allow visitors toilet access, but I am aware that where a visitor had an appointment and travelled a long way, toilet access was allowed, and it may have happened for other visitors.

From memory, when attending a evening class at a school, toilet access was allowed. As a visitor in an official capacity to council offices, toilet access was definitely allowed.

And having worked in a number of government offices and visited others and council offices, their toilets aren't that spectacular.

Retrogamer

WestonDave wrote: »

Call it preparation for work! You'll probably be expected to be able to concentrate on your work for 2 hours at a time without nipping off to the loo every five minutes so its good practice!

Might be a bit of a problem for Jobseekers sufferring from IBS or Crohn's Disease

jackyann

It isn't 2 hours, though. It's walking time from nearest toilets + say 10 minutes to arrive early + gathering up time at the end and another walk.
Whilst most people in good health would usually go more than 2h30m (say) between loo breaks, being unable to go is quite another matter. Any of us, might on occasion get the urge to void, having only "been" an hour before.

This is one of those stupid situations where only people with good medical reasons (or pregnancy) can really complain, but it doesn't feel good does it?
I have done training for people at all educational levels and different employment situations, and have never been expected to organise it somewhere without toilet facilities. I would have refused to put on a training in that situation (but I could!)

As for concentration, I personally would be quite distracted by worrying about how long my bladder would last, and calculating if I could get to the end of class, or when I would need to trek to the loo. If a loo is nearby i wouldn't think about it at all!

My advice to those doing the course would be:
make sure you check out where the nearest loos are; use them if you need to. Do the course without complaining, and then feedback the way it makes you feel.

crosslegs

lincroft1710 wrote: »

My local library has toilets for public use.

There is no requirement for HMRC to allow visitors toilet access, but I am aware that where a visitor had an appointment and travelled a long way, toilet access was allowed, and it may have happened for other visitors.

From memory, when attending a evening class at a school, toilet access was allowed. As a visitor in an official capacity to council offices, toilet access was definitely allowed.

And having worked in a number of government offices and visited others and council offices, their toilets aren't that spectacular.

The nearest alternative would be the public library about 10 minutes walk away, unfortunately though it's closed on Thursdays to save the council's money.

dickydonkin

Retrogamer wrote: »

Might be a bit of a problem for Jobseekers sufferring from IBS or Crohn's Disease

Or indeed a case of the *cough* runs! :eek:

Shortly after I was made redundant some years ago after 35 years of continuous employment, I had the misfortune to have to attend one of those god forsaken places.

Waiting in there for any period is bad enough, however,for whatever reason, I had to wait nearly two hours for my appointment on one particular day.

I asked to use their toilet as I needed a pee, but was told there were no such facilities for 'customers'.

The reasoning was that it would require a risk assessment and other various ridiculous reasons. I asked what would happen if one of her 'customers' was an expectant mother and required to use the toilet? - no response.

Attending job centres was one chapter in my life that I would never wish to repeat. Awful places filled with awful useless staff who treat you like scum.

Owain_Moneysaver

Retrogamer wrote: »

Might be a bit of a problem for Jobseekers sufferring from IBS or Crohn's Disease

It would be a clear breach of the disability provisions of the Equality Act failing to make reasonable adjustment.

In such cases I would !!!! on the floor. In reception. As noisily as possible.