'Forced' work from Job Center.

jbond

jondav wrote: »

Some of the posts on this thread are really shocking, absolutely no need for such hostility and judgement. Terrible behaviour.

Yep, totally agree!
I'm afraid that some of the posters on here, are just demonstrating either complete ignorance or straightforward bias, probably because they subscribe to the s**te that the MSM puts out on a daily basis about scroungers, cheats, etc. - which has been seriously pushed by our current Govt.

To the OP - be extremely careful how you handle this one, and DON'T accept anything until you've gained advice from CAB, especially when it comes to the JC!
Even with JSA, I would NOT work anywhere for free. You are perfectly entitled to JSA whilst you look for work, but I would definitely NOT accept work without a proper salary. All these employers are doing is taking advantage of people.

There was a case a while back, where a girl won a high court judgement about being forced to work at Poundland I think it was.

Take it look at thepoorsideoflife dot com - I don't know how easy it is to navigate, but there is some info on there I understand, about the JC.

To the others on here - gettingready, and doshwasher on here (I think?) - I hope one day, you hang your heads in shame at the drivel you're coming out with. It would be nice if you could take your heads out of the sand, and wake up to just what is going on!

annandale

You don't get your mortgage paid if you are on jsa. You get support with mortgage interest only and there's a 39 week wait period before that's paid. As said above, it's 6000 you can have in the bank before jsa is affected. Not 16.

annandale

As for getting paid to do nothing, jobseekers are expected to spend 35 hours a week job seeking.

When I was on jsa I couldn't wait to get off it, 73 pounds a week isnt easy to live on particularly if you are running a home on that amount of money.

Some people can't save, not because they can't manage their money, but because there's nothing left over after rent and bills are paid ..

Charityworker

I'm self employed and I work full time hours for £75 a week and I don't claim any benefits at all. Don't see why it's okay for me and not for others.

Sharon87

Charityworker wrote: »

I'm self employed and I work full time hours for £75 a week and I don't claim any benefits at all. Don't see why it's okay for me and not for others.

You're self employed so NMW doesn't apply. When you work for someone else you're entitled to NMW.

These work placements are morally wrong. If a company has someone full time working for them for no money then they're getting free labour. That also means the company may not hire an extra person - which means all in all less jobs and more people on JSA. Why should the government pay these company's wages!

This is why the scheme ended. If I was unemployed for 3 months I would be peeved if someone tried to put me in an unsuitable 'job' for free, rather than spending my time looking for something suitable. I remember trying to get a job in my dream career when working almost full time at a cinema, it was a lot harder than when I wasn't working.

ohreally

Doshwaster wrote: »

So if you had £15,000 in the bank you think that the taxpayer should pay your living expenses - including paying your rent/mortgage - so that you didn't have to touch your savings?

If you otherwise meet the eligibility criteria why not?

Charityworker wrote: »

I'm self employed and I work full time hours for £75 a week

This situation is not a sustainable business and may be an exercise in futility.

kazzah

my hubby is currently unemployed
he has to sign on for JSA every week
he gets NO job seekers allowance due to a small pension ( £500) per month
out of that we need to pay £681 mortgage
council tax £145 per month ( adult son living with us so no point applying for reduction)
water rates £45 per month
food
fuel
he has worked for 42 years
when he is unemployed ( he works in the voluntary sector and jobs are usually contract not permanent) he spends ALL day EVERY day searching for suitable jobs to apply for - he spends HOURS tailoring applications for roles against his skill set
he does this willingly because
HE WANTS to WORK
He NEEDS to work until our mortgage is paid off.
if he had to travel to a "workplace" to do unpaid work- who pays his travel costs ?
we don't have any spare money and have almost exhausted our life savings - there are lots of people who DO want to work- but I don't see why they should be forced into unpaid work - which lets face it rarely leads to permanent employment - why would an employer pay someone to work if they can get free staff from the Job Centre+

annandale

If you are self employed, even if you earn a pittance and don't claim other benefits no one is forcing you to put the hours in or risk losing money.

It's not the same thing. I've been self employed. It's hard going. But if I was putting in full time hours to earn 75 pounds a week I'd probably be looking at finding work.

A lot of work for very little return

annandale

And from other posts you've posted saying you have a shop and it's thriving. I wouldn't assume why you pay yourself 75 pounds a week if your business is doing well, but that's not the same as being forced into unpaid work or lose your benefits.

Londonsu

I agree people on work experience like the old work fare should be paid at least NLW then at least they can pay their own NI and possibly tax at source as obviously they would have to come off JSA if earning.


But is it worth the hassle, they would of course not be entitled to a lot of the automatic benefits that IB JSA brings, like free prescriptions, eye tests, glasses and dental work, HB and CTR, they would have to reapply using the appropriate means testing/low income schemes at the same time they would have to ensure once they went back onto benefits that they had enough savings to tide them over as they may not get their benefit money reinstated immediately they leave the work experience.


But the above is not actually what people want when they talk about being forced into 'unpaid work' what they REALLY expect is to be paid for this work whilst still getting automatic rights to income based unemployment benefits in other words getting the best of both worlds and that I don't agree with.