Now jobless, need advice

willgraham

I have been out of work for almost 2 weeks now so i've decided to go on JSA (thought I would have found a job within the past week at least but something tells me its gonna take slightly longer )

and I was wondering when on JSA are you entitled to go on any kind of training course for free
could i enroll at a local college and have the fee waived?


I want to try my hands at plumbing , plastering or possibly electrician
i want to learn a trade and go into business for myself

LittleVoice

I think you would generally have to have been claiming for at least six months but there may be particular schemes that your Jobcentre Personal Adviser will know about.

Be very careful before enrolling with a commercial organisation for any course which is offering training for work as a plumber, etc. To get work, you need to have real life experience and that doesn't necessarily come with the courses which have places available.

If you are on JSA which is income based, rather than contribution based, you may well find that your local public sector college can offer reduced fees.

ukdickie31

Hi

JSA and training courses can be fine as long as you keep within the Availibility and Actively Seeking Employment rules.

If you enrol at college, generally a full time course will affect your JSA (ie stop it !). Even part time ones can as well if they impact upon your Jobsearch activity or availibilty.

If you do enrol for any college training, you have to declare it and will be asked to bring in your Learning Agreement. This confirms the course, the learning hours and times of attendance. To get your full Electricians on sufficient qualification to be industry recognised, you will need a full time course, at least one year in duration.
http://www.learndirect-advice.co.uk/helpwithyourcareer/jobprofiles/profiles/profile7/


If you want to go the more flexible route, try Learn Direct. The courses here are generally lower level, ie not fully qualified, but are tasters.

http://www.learndirect.co.uk/


In general terms, The Jobcentre can help you find training, but much of the training organised by the Jobcentres are limited until you are unemployed for six months (it's all to do with Contracts and Government funding). Even then, the courses are specifc and maybe only up to NVQ level 2 equivalent.

In the meantime, use Learn Direct or other free short courses offered by colleges.

Google will provide most of the answers for you,

willgraham

thanks for the advice, will look up on learndirect

just realised colleges break up for summer soon, just my luck