Jumping through DWP hoops

[mouse4702]

I'm fairly recently unemployed, but on the Work Programme. This entails regular workshops and jobsearch sessions. Today we had such a workshop and our leader told us a branch of Poundland is opening up 10 miles away and would we be interested? We were, until we learned it is only for 18 hours a week. She understood when I said I wasn't, which I did on the grounds that factoring in the train fare, I would be paying to work there. However as soon as we got outside the workshop, our other advisor said she's already put two of us forward for it, as we are well suited for it. If we don't, we may be risking sanctions. You can imagine how I feel.

[stan3502]

DWP has no idea how these ridiculous hours work in the real world , lose some/most of your benefits , pay to get to work, become worse off , end up in debt, depressed, on the sick ....................... sacked for too much time off Arghhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh

Why do they put people forward for these roles when quite clearly they need part time i:e over 20hrs  or full time

put  Miss S for a role that was 10 hrs a week but not guarenteed could be less some weeks plus she neede to stand for that period (which she can't) then told her if she didn't attend her benefit would be revoked

[mouse4702]

Oh Stan, what a worry for you both.

[rainydaywoman11]

I believe you Mouse, my brother (who was my mother's carer for 7 years) is now unemployed and they monitor his email address to ensure he is 'job searching'.  I think that is outrageous.

He has a separate gmail addy for personal stuff.

When my mother died, it took them 9 weeks to sort out some money for him - what was the man supposed to live on?  He had always kept his own council flat but had no money for electricity, food, nothing.  Luckily he has a big sister who could temporarily help him out, but what would you do if you didn't?

Ironically, I was a civil servant in my youth and worked at 'the broo'and then the Jobcentre when they opened - the running joke in Paisley was they should have been sued under the Trade Descriptions Act - ie - no jobs.

I was the most popular person on the 5.15 bus back to the housing estate we lived on - 'any jobs going Carol?'.  I'd have got my jotters if 'they' had found out I did pass info on, and people I knew well were first in the queue when the doors opened at 9 am.  It was a job I hated, although we were, in the day, well paid.  I don't know how the people who do it now can live with themselves.

[bitsnknots]

Mouse you have a henflop up there ^^^^^^^

Good luck and I hope that you find something soon.

Stan, I hope that Miss S can find something suitable.  The DWP don't take into account now how disabilities affect people and they just don't seem to care.

[stan3502]

Bet you wre lovely rdw

Really annoying now though as no jobs out there but if you don't aply for a set amount per week they stop your benefits wether its suitable for you or not

S is actually having to take a year out of Uni due to poor health but is still waiting for her assesment to get disability living allowance and can't see her getting it before she goes back to be honest and is not supposed to be doing a lot on doctors advice

She had to sign onto the work programme just to be able to get some money even though its not suitable for her but thtas the way it works ............................... or should I say does'nt

[bitsnknots]

You're right Stan.  It doesn't work.  Common sense went out of the window nearly five years ago.  Hopefully, in May, common sense may eventually come back but I'm not holding my breath.

[rainydaywoman11]

Thank you Stan, I was, broke all the rules and on certain occasions I said 'I'm not doing that'.

I was sanctioned by being given the worst job in the place - filing = eeurgh - along with the CAs when I was a CO, usually for a week.

Gawd, we generated so much paper it wasn't real.

I am so sorry about your wee daughter - surely she should be exempt from such jobs if she supplied a note from her consultant?

True story - and one of the ones I was sanctioned for, refusing to interview people.  Job phoned in - night security guard - but you had to home the alsation that came with the job.  Honestly.  I remember vividly a good drinking buddy of my Dad's (John Johnson, he was a riot), time served bricklayer, being offered it.  They told him they would call the police if he didn't calm down.  'A dug' he roared 'Ah've goat to take a dug - ye can **** off'.

I remember going home and telling my Dad and he said, 'Oh they picked the wrong man there'.  

Nowadays he probably would get arrested, we put up with some abuse, but I usually found I could defuse it with humour.  Golly, it was a long time ago.

[stan3502]

Love that Rainy

yes she should be exempt nd was "The sick" but you can now only claim that for 6 weeks and then need dla which she needs to be assesed for but is still waiting in the meantime if she doesn't sign on as fit for work she is entitled to nowt even thogh she aint

World gone mad I tell you plus we are struggling a bit so can't really keep her IYKWIM

We help as much as poss but she doesn't want to have to rely on is, is already depressed at having to take ayear out and puts such a brave face on with everything else

Just want to make things better for her as a mum and I know you know what I mean by that

[bitsnknots]

Stan, you are one good mother and you obviously think the world of your children.  I fully understand where you are coming from.  Every mother wants to make things better for their children.  I can understand where Miss S is coming from having to take a year out of uni.  She must be totally fed up with everything that's going on and the DWP don't help.  The world has definitely gone mad and the stupid rules the DWP have now are absolutely ridiculous.  Common sense is a thing of the past unfortunately.  Hope that Miss S gets things sorted soon.  ((((Stan and family))))

[merc1_clocks]

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@stan3502 wrote:
Love that Rainy

yes she should be exempt nd was "The sick" but you can now only claim that for 6 weeks and then need dla which she needs to be assesed for but is still waiting in the meantime if she doesn't sign on as fit for work she is entitled to nowt even thogh she aint

World gone mad I tell you plus we are struggling a bit so can't really keep her IYKWIM

We help as much as poss but she doesn't want to have to rely on is, is already depressed at having to take ayear out and puts such a brave face on with everything else

Just want to make things better for her as a mum and I know you know what I mean by that

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[stan3502]

Mouse I didn't mean to hi-jack your thread

But yes as you can see I know how frustrating the DWP can be

I hpe you find something that is just right for you really soon but in the mean time make sure you are getting exactly what you are entitled to cos there's lots of extra benefits out there that they don't tell you about

So bite your tongue fill in the daft job search and smile sweetly ..................... and as you walk you of the door secretly give them the finger

[mouse4702]

Thank you Stan, and please hijack away, it's not worth dwelling on the unfairness.  It could be a LOT worse, even if it doesn't feel like that right now.

[rainydaywoman11]

Aaaw Stan - I wish things were different for you and your wee daughter. FGS, I couldn't work now, so if I had still been in employment, I'd be in the same position.  It's nuts.

Last night there was a post on the Myeloma blog from a woman of my age asking 'how long does the fatigue last after a stem cell transpolant as I have to go back to work?'   No one has answered her yet, she only had it 2 weeks ago, so now her body is just getting ready to 'expel' all the toxins from the chemo and the chemicals which they store your cells in when they freeze them.  It is Hell on earth.  Poor woman, she doesn't know what's coming - and they don't tell you either.  So, in that respect I am very lucky.  I don't have to work.

Maybe make you smile - one day we (Linda and I, she'd been a year above me in school), were the ones in the Jobcentre, with all the cards on the wall.  It was separated from the main building by 2 flights of stairs.  Each desk had a panic button.  So in come 4 loonies all shouting 'everybody out' - which they did - and then chained and padlocked the door - from the Socialist Workers Party.  Both panic buttons pressed but in the meantime, this one guy saunters over to Linda and I and asks 'do you know what day it is?' - so we're like, yeah, doh, Tuesday.  'Well', he says, this is the day they release the unemployment figures.  We're here to make a protest on behalf of the unemployed and the poor.

So we both laughed, which disconcerted him a bit and I said to him, something like (and in a quiet voice), I live in a lousy housing scheme, I am 21 and share a room with my 2 sisters who both share a bed, my brothers have a bedroom so damp and mouldy, my Mum empties it every month, washes down the walls and puts paint stuff on it, you couldnae swing a cat in the kitchen.  I bet you come fae Ralston or the like (posh) and Daddy's an Accountant - I'm right on your side pal, sign me up.  Linda and I were paralysed with laughter.  The cavalry then arrived (big Donald was the goalie for St. Mirren, still then a part time time under a certain Alex Ferguson, on loan from Rangers) and others.

We were taken upstairs, given a cup of tea, and taxis booked to take us home.  Made the front page of the local paper.  Next day we were both asked to sign a piece of paper to declare that we would not disclose to the Press (or anyone else) any details, then we were given a week's leave.  What a win 

[bankhaunter]

Ah the Job Centre, the only place where, should the claimant be lucky enough to find a job, may also find, much the their disbelief (and any other person who goes through life using rationality as a guide), that attending a job finding interview is considered more important than going to their new workplace.

[stan3502]

Haa now that's one way to get a break rainy.

As for the poor womans post ........... so sad that no-one prepares you for whats about to smack you in the face and so appalling there isn't more support.and info available that she needs to ask on a blog and isn't sat down by a qualified counsellor before and during treatment.

as for you my dearest ............. Idon't know how you do it or cope I really don't but sometimes feel like I don't know what to say as never want to put my size 6 in it or be the one who drops a clanger

You are always in my thoughts though even though I am sometimes silent

[aernethril]

The unbelievable truth and that happened to me at one point in my long affair with the JC.

I'm so very grateful that, because I was on JSA when I hit official retirement age, I could let it all go.  But they still booked me in for a 'special' interview for a fortnight after that date, even though I said just a few days before that if I got a job before the cut-off date I'd be working and if I didn't get a job, I'd be "retired".

Mouse, have you contacted the JC to ask for help to get to the job for the first week or two and then for what other help you can get such as tax credits to boost your income?

I managed to find out too late (ie after I'd taken a job) that there were discretionary payments and other benefits and the like which are not paid after you've started, but can be arranged before hand.

Shove it back at them - yes you'd love to be back at work but the pay will simply not even meet the travel costs so how can 'they' help you make the most of this opportunity?

[rainydaywoman11]

Och Stan I'm fine-ish, most of the time.  I do cry every morning when I wake because I forget, well I'm asleep.  Physically having a not bad time atm, mentally strong (more important), because peculiarly, looking out for my brother and sister (who are not coping well after sis and Mum's death), takes my mind off me, stops me being so self centred. 

Be all change in a couple of weeks, back on tablet chemo, steroids and daily injections, I'll be up and down like a yo-yo,

Thank you for your sentiments, you've no idea how much it helps, all of you 

Now I've nicked Mouse's thread -'nickers.

C'mon Mouse, give me some witty verbage, keep me going.

[stan3502]

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@rainydaywoman11 wrote:

C'mon Mouse, give me some witty verbage, keep me going.

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She is currently unavailable as orf on a secret pillaging mission

[rainydaywoman11]

Do you know, I can just see her doing that, lol. 

Off to feed the man of the house, been at some church meeting.