community work placements referrals

red_devil

If you are mandated onto one of these pointless schemes by the jobcentre please be aware its come to light that charities are not covered for you on placement for 6 months.

They are only covered for genuine volunteers not workfare conscripts. Many dont know and dont question it. They just accept what they are told.

Ask to see the policy and the wording. You do not have to attend if your not insured. Also your provider must treat you like a member of staff while you are at their offices.

This means you must have access to the kitchen and fridge, they are sneaky and dont tell you this. Most offices are small and ill equipped also.Provider guidance is available to read on the internet. The gvt never checks them out though and the provider is only interested in the cash it gets.

Use these points to refuse the scheme. You shouldnt be sanctioned but if you are you can appeal, list the reasons why and you will get money back.

tomtontom

It's a shame some people put more effort into avoiding job seeking, than they do actually finding work

Londonsu

red_devil wrote: »

If you are mandated onto one of these pointless schemes by the jobcentre please be aware its come to light that charities are not covered for you on placement for 6 months.

They are only covered for genuine volunteers not workfare conscripts. Many dont know and dont question it. They just accept what they are told.

Ask to see the policy and the wording. You do not have to attend if your not insured. Also your provider must treat you like a member of staff while you are at their offices.

This means you must have access to the kitchen and fridge, they are sneaky and dont tell you this. Most offices are small and ill equipped also.Provider guidance is available to read on the internet. The gvt never checks them out though and the provider is only interested in the cash it gets.

Use these points to refuse the scheme. You shouldnt be sanctioned but if you are you can appeal, list the reasons why and you will get money back.

I work in a charity shop I don't use workfare people ( I have enough genuine volunteers to help me run my shop including BTW people on JSA who volunteer but are not mandated )


My Charity does use workfare people and at a recent conference the question of insurance for both volunteers and mandated worker was discussed - the question was answered by 2 people 1 was a senior HR manager and the other was our retail compliance manager whose specific job is to go round the shops ensuring that all health and safety laws are complied with, which includes making sure all insurance policies are displayed and all managers are compliant and understand them - I assure if work place people were not insured no charities would use them.


And yes as far as my charity (and others) is concerned - adult training programme covers mandated workers.


This is from an insurers website Now your OP said only VOLUNTEERS are covered - this show that you are incorrect about volunteers even though you wont accept that other unpaid worker are covered.

You may not be covered by employers’ liability insurance if you are a volunteer or:

a student working unpaid;■■
not employed, but taking part in a youth or adult training programme; or■■
a school student on a work experience programme.■■




In practice, insurers will usually cover such cases under an existing employers’ liability policy. If you are in one of these situations you should ask the person you are working for whether their insurance covers you. The advice given to employers is that there is generally no need to inform their insurer if they take on any of the above people. However, employers should talk to their insurer or insurance broker if they take on these people either for long periods, or to do work that is not the company’s usual business, and employers should also bear in mind the level of risk the people may be exposed to during the time they are working for them.

BigAunty

red_devil wrote: »

Also your provider must treat you like a member of staff while you are at their offices.

This means you must have access to the kitchen and fridge.....

It would be terrible if any person working at a charity (in any capacity, via a JC placement, voluntary or paid) were treated differently in terms of access to basic amenities so I hope that there isn't any kind of exclusion and discrimination out there.

Are you sure that a JSA claimant can turn down a work placement on insurance grounds? That's a suggestion that could carry a lot of risk for them.

Do you know anyone who has turned it down on these grounds without being sanctioned or who has been sanction and then successfully appealed it?

My mum (warning: Daily Mail reader) volunteers at a charity and she has an extremely dismal opinion of JSA claimants who are placed there on workfare grounds. I did warn you about her political views but she hates them and wishes the charity would stop accepting them. As far as she is concerned, they are lazy, often have poor personal hygiene and only do it as a last resort in order to retain their benefits.

red_devil

bump. There is a good website keep volunteering voluntary. net encourages charities to sign to say they wont use benefit claimants.

People have been known to stop donating to charities that use workfare.