Job centre putting pressure on

Neil_Jones

jay70 wrote: »

I have only be on unviersal credit for 3 months.
My young employment advisor is now saying that I need to start applying for ANY job, I could not believe it when she said that a "job is a job" that I should work at Tesco reception

It's like they do not see me as a person but a number. Is was expected to take a huge pay cut.

Its true, a job is a job and I said this before, at minimum wage you only need to work just under nine hours to get the same (gross) amount of JSA (I presume JSA under Universal Credit is the same rate as outside of UC, which is £73.10 a week).

Unfortunately after three months you should really be open to other avenues as opposed to what you came out of prior to being out of work.

I was told I could be made to retrain and go back to college,that I would have to go for jobs that they felt I could do. I am also 50years old, that they will stop my benefit.

I saw a lady who was aged over 50 and she was on a Modern Apprenticeship, in fact I was working with her on Monday. If she can do it there is no reason why you can't. Note that a 37hr a week Apprenticeship will pay you £144.30 a week gross on the apprentice minimum wage of £3.90 an hour..

I am thinking , is all this pressure worth the little I get in benefit.
I also asked - what about the long term unemployed - how come they have not found work with the kind of pressure that you are putting on me. Surly the job centre would of found them work by now even I they had no skills.

The Job Centre hasn't found anybody anything for years now, since the era of austerity came in most of the help there was has been phased out or scrapped. Anything they do provide is the basics like how to write a CV, handle an interview and find vacancies through the website. That's it. The emphasis recently has been on self help.

I am new to the benefit system, so trying to understand it.
I did Not expect this kind of treatment.

Unfortunately when you claim JSA in this country you have to jump through a large number of hoops. One of these is to actively seek work or take appropriate steps in that direction and if you don't, you run the risk of losing your benefits, its as simple as that.

Whether this is the right approach is up for debate but it is what it is and if you want the JSA money and the benefits, you will have to dance to the government's tune.

elsien

Notnewnotold wrote: »

I'd heard about the 3 month 'any job' rule too, but when I was on JSA for 6 months, there was never a hint of pressure to look outside my industry. Actually there was never a hint of pressure of any sort, just popped in for a chat every couple of weeks with a coach that, coincidentally, used to work in my field as well, and realised very fast that he was unlikely to add anything constructive to what I was already doing.

Plus I suspect he just wanted a chance to reminisce about the good old days in the city, and possibly people on contribution based JSA tend to get a slightly different treatment too. I recall one of his first comments was that he didn't see many of 'us'...

Anyway, it was only me being uber-MSE that made me claim in the first place, especially as I was losing 45% of it to tax. Me working in McDonalds, that could have been really interesting (not denegrating it, but fair to say I would have been a bit of a fish out of water there, think Kevin Spacey in American Beauty perhaps...). Given the stress levels in my current job, maybe I missed a trick!

Back to the OP, yep maybe ease up on the attitude there. If you want the money, you have to accept the rules of the game... and part of that is working to the expectations of whatever coach you get...

I had the three month rule as part of my jobseekers agreement, but as I started a new job just outside of that I didn't find out how strictly it was applied.
I did have quite an annoying job coach though who kept pestering me to give access to UJM account, which I declined on the grounds its job finder wasn't fit for purpose.

Owain_Moneysaver

jay70 wrote: »

what about the long term unemployed - how come they have not found work

Some long-term unemployed people are close to being unemployable in any job - that's why they're long-term unemployed. They have poor customer care skills, poor IT skills, often poor literacy and numeracy, poor timekeeping and reliability, etc.

However, as long as they do what the JobCentre tell them to, applying for jobs, going to interviews, going to courses and classes to improve their employability, they will be eligible to claim benefit.

Mr.Generous

Op has a point, annoying when you have paid in for years to get more hassle than the lifer doleys who have learned how to be hard faced and just play the system. However the Job centre staff have a duty to the taxpayer to try and ensure the hard earned taxes aren't just used to subsidise life style choices.

I think its also down to individual job coaches, I was made redundant at 49 and got no hassle whatsoever, my brother a few weeks later got quite a bit of pushing to apply for all sorts of stuff. We had both enrolled on the enterprise allowance scheme to start our own businesses and were going through the processes the Job Centre supported. My job coaches just had a chat and talked about what I was trying to set up, my brother was told he should spend 35 hrs a week looking for a job - we were both starting businesses in the same field, in fact he just used my business plan to get his grant signed off. Luck of the draw I'm afraid. Hardly worth it for the money to be honest. I don't know how the lifestyle choice scroungers stick with it.

theoretica

sam70 wrote: »

i just do not understand, why some of these vacancy, like meet and great, packing, working reception, fast food places have not been filled by the long term unemployed.
i am aware of people who are 3-4 years or more not working and there is nothing wrong with them.

A job which comes vacant won't have been filled by anyone yet. Some of these may go to long term unemployed, but it's not a first in (to unemployment) first out queue. Or are you asking how some people remain long term unemployed? Some people are less attractive to employers, and longer periods of unemployment is one thing many employers find unattractive - which will be one reason you are being so pressurised at the moment not to fall into that vicious cycle.

sam70 wrote: »

i guess i am scared that if i took ANY job, i will miss out on jobs - meaning that if i start a new job, then start taking time off for interviews what employer will continue to employ me after my probation period..as its oblivious i am not going to stick around.

It is a concern, but if your job hunting for a better job is successful it won't matter that you aren't kept after a probation period. Have you looked at short term jobs which would also be a way round this. Also you might have shift work or be able to take holidays without saying why so you your employer need not know until you hand your notice in.

[Deleted User]

Oh boy in three months I've had three jobs. Amazing what you'll do when the support isn't there. The first two offerings even just delayed my start date, never starting work to the date first supplied by both so there was certainly no fear of a next day start with them.

During this time I have never had any assistance and have had to pay council tax in full when out of work, recently discovered the council for the past 3 years never even applied the 25% single person discount despite having the letters returned that confirmed I always lived solely in the property. It makes me angry when I think of the benefit fraud that likely is going on when a couple say they like alone and then do receive this discount with no problem.

I even have to give up my family holiday in order to work the next 8 weeks on third time lucky. (Should I be so lucky, as this latest employer while got me working under a week of interviewing does have quite an issue with a reference problem for December 2017 when I once thought I was doing the right thing accepting 4 weeks work on the Friday 1st December at 3pm to start Monday 4th December at 8am to pounce about in a warehouse, purely for CHRISTMAS so I kind of understand your reluctance of accepting any old thing for the agro it causes later down the line)

It's even looking likely I'll have to chase a debt collector at this point; can't even do that right!

CIS

recently discovered the council for the past 3 years never even applied the 25% single person discount despite having the letters returned that confirmed I always lived solely in the property.

Make sure that you challenge them on that.

Exodi

The irony of the OP taking issue with people remaining long term unemployed whilst simultaneously rambling about the pressure being put on him to find work.

I'm also somewhat surprised DonnaJunkie hasn't jumped on this thread to protest how it doesn't make sense that job seekers have to seek jobs to get their job seeking benefit - is she still around?

@OP how long do you propose the job centre should allow you to find a job in your field before you accept that maybe you should lower your standards?

Comms69

Exodi wrote: »

The irony of the OP taking issue with people remaining long term unemployed whilst simultaneously rambling about the pressure being put on him to find work.

I'm also somewhat surprised DonnaJunkie hasn't jumped on this thread to protest how it doesn't make sense that job seekers have to seek jobs to get their job seeking benefit - is she still around?

@OP how long do you propose the job centre should allow you to find a job in your field before you accept that maybe you should lower your standards?

Check out discussion time - ironically there's a thread about this exact topic there. Donna's got a few similarly minded comrades now

Exodi

Comms69 wrote: »

Check out discussion time - ironically there's a thread about this exact topic there. Donna's got a few similarly minded comrades now

I'll put the straight jacket on then, I have a feeling I'll need significant restraint to read that thread...