£1 an hour

[Ponka]

will you be so keen if you lose your job because they can get someone to do it for a lot less money?

I'm a printer and I know of a printing company that has been using a scheme similar to this, a lot of the untrained staff (labourers/van drivers etc) have been made redundant and now they have people on JSA working for f*ck-all on a non-contract basis. Again its the people that want to work who can't demand a decent salary that will be punished if this is brought in! Its akin to the Torys bringing in the YTS when I was a school leaver, instead of getting a real apprenticeship a lot ended up on YTS's on £28 per week. It wasn't so bad if you got a trade behind you off the back of one but there was some who simply got a load of school-leavers in, paid them £28 for the first year then £35 for the next and then f*cked them off and got some more in. No training=No Future

Exactly.

Just like now, the people who 'play' the system will most likely continue to do so... the one's who are trying to use it for the purpose it was designed will continue to get shafted.

Also, since when has £65 a week in this day and age been considered "generous"... it works out at about £3k a year.

Yeah but thats when they get all their rent and council tax paid for as well, it doesn't include child benefit which we know many benefit scroungers have kids to get more benefits. As i said in my post above how can people on benefits afford sky telly and the latest games consoles almost everyone in the council houses round the corner from me has it and I know a lot of them don't work

 

[denislawsbackheel]

Could you please explain why jobcentres refuse JSA to people who are doing voluntary unpaid work experience citing the reason being that it is not part time despite the 16 hour rule being abolished in 1998 (and never appyling to JSA anyway only incapacity benefit)

If in receipt of means tested benefit you cannot work 16 hours per week or more. That includes JSA, Income Support and Employment Support Allowance.
If your partner is claiming any of the above benefits on behalf of both of you you cannot work 24 hours per week or more.
You should be allowed to work on a voluntarry nature although if in receipt of JSA you must be "fit, available and actively seeking work," so if your mate said that he was willing to give up his voluntary job if and when a paid position came up then he (or she) should still have been entitled, though they would have to declare to the Department of the hours they were working.

He isn't my partner her is a single bloke with no other benefits.
He was denied JSA on Friday despite telling them the voluntary work he would be doing still left him available for an interview at 48 hours notice and work at a weeks notice as required by the terms of JSA.
This illustrates to me that there are some nasty twats working at the job centres preying on people's lack of knowledge to fuck them off or there are some ignorant twats working at job centres who don't know their own legislation.
Anyway he has asked for a reconsideration and the reasons put in writing and will appeal formally if necessary. He wasn't told he had the right to do this either by the twat who dealt with him, the same twat who didn't inform he could apply for expenses for going to London for an interview, but that the application had to be before the interview.

 

[BrianW]

MPs should be put on £1 an hour. They'd be overpaid at that...

 

[TheMightyQuinn]

I was signing on for a bit in the summer until they bullied me out of it.

I pointed out to them that my degree meant that sending me on a 6 hour course which teaches me how to fill out applications and set up an email account would be a waste of time.

They got arsey, I told them to go and fuck themselves and that was that.

I refused to be treated like a piece of shit and was punished for it.

Majority of job centre staff I've encountered have been abusive and bullies. Obviously not all, I've had experiences with some helpful people who have aided me but generally they're piggie fuckers.

The unemployed are this nations scapegoat.

 

[law74]

I was signing on for a bit in the summer until they bullied me out of it.

I pointed out to them that my degree meant that sending me on a 6 hour course which teaches me how to fill out applications and set up an email account would be a waste of time.

They got arsey, I told them to go and fuck themselves and that was that.

I refused to be treated like a piece of shit and was punished for it.

Majority of job centre staff I've encountered have been abusive and bullies. Obviously not all, I've had experiences with some helpful people who have aided me but generally they're piggie fuckers.

The unemployed are this nations scapegoat.

I find it strange that you have had such bad experiences as in my time working in the Jobcentres almost all of the staff were polite and curteous to most of the customers, though of course, when a member of the public comes in with a bad attitude this often rubs off on the member of staff, wrong I know, but that is human nature.
Now gladly I seldom have to deal with the public unless I am interviewing them with a view to removing their benefit, raising an overpayment against them and or looking to take them to court.
A much better way to work.

 

[TheMightyQuinn]

I was signing on for a bit in the summer until they bullied me out of it.

I pointed out to them that my degree meant that sending me on a 6 hour course which teaches me how to fill out applications and set up an email account would be a waste of time.

They got arsey, I told them to go and fuck themselves and that was that.

I refused to be treated like a piece of shit and was punished for it.

Majority of job centre staff I've encountered have been abusive and bullies. Obviously not all, I've had experiences with some helpful people who have aided me but generally they're piggie fuckers.

The unemployed are this nations scapegoat.

I find it strange that you have had such bad experiences as in my time working in the Jobcentres almost all of the staff were polite and curteous to most of the customers, though of course, when a member of the public comes in with a bad attitude this often rubs off on the member of staff, wrong I know, but that is human nature.
Now gladly I seldom have to deal with the public unless I am interviewing them with a view to removing their benefit, raising an overpayment against them and or looking to take them to court.
A much better way to work.

I rarely have altercations of any sort in my day to day life. I'm a pretty unassuming guy when all is said and done. However, I do object to being spoken down to which is why I think I've struggled with these people.

I was unemployed yet treated like a sex offender. It was demeaning and offensive if truth be told.

It's abhorrent the way they treat people and the simple fact is that I was in need of the money and refused it as I was too proud to be spoken to like shit. They also wanted me to attend a class to make sure I could read and write to a certain level. I pointed out I had a 1st class honours degree and she got nasty.

Piggies.

 

[Anonymous]

Now gladly I seldom have to deal with the public unless I am interviewing them with a view to removing their benefit, raising an overpayment against them and or looking to take them to court.
A much better way to work.

you sound almost giddy at the prospect.

 

[charliebigspuds]

Now gladly I seldom have to deal with the public unless I am interviewing them with a view to removing their benefit, raising an overpayment against them and or looking to take them to court.
A much better way to work.

you sound almost giddy at the prospect.

like a traffic warden giving out their 100th ticket of the day

 

[law74]

Now gladly I seldom have to deal with the public unless I am interviewing them with a view to removing their benefit, raising an overpayment against them and or looking to take them to court.
A much better way to work.

you sound almost giddy at the prospect.

When you get someone to admit that they have been happily married for the entire 10 years that they have been claiming as a lone parent in their maiden name for the entire period, or when you prove that someone that has been stealing our taxes for 8 years while working full time, you do get a piece of satisfaction.
The downside is when you know that some poor sod is likely to be prosecuted for not declaring the money that their mother left her because if her husband knew about it he would waste it in the bookies and the boozer, or the lone parent that took a months work in a shop to pay for her kids christmas presents, so there are some very rewarding aspects and some hard parts to it as well.

 

[mackenzie]

Can I just clarify something here?

If you want to do voluntary work for a charitable organisation or something that lends itself to some kind of community service then that is usually OK.

If you want to work unpaid for an employer that may be using you then that isn't. Unless it has been agreed through the Jobcentre beforehand and it is a Work Trial.

You can't expect a Government Department to condone unpaid labour. The employers out there would have a field day if that was the case. There are laws in place to protect the individual.

As for Jobcentre staff being shitty....yes some of them are. Just like any place of work really. We need to get rid of them though.

30 years service and I have seen it all.