After doing 2 years at Ingeus and their sub [pejorative term removed, please don't use it] I have been sent for a 4 weeks Warehouse / Forklift course, which finishes in a week, most non Car drivers have failed the FLT tests after an hour practice like myself. Meanwhile I been accepted for a part time BTEC 2 College course but will Need to get the college paperwork stamped by JCP staff. This is starting to worry me, even though the course is under 16 hours as required to Still get JSA. Could they refuse to allow me to go on this course, even though I'm getting off my backside and improving my prospects of employment? Does anyone know if I have any rights of appeal if they refuse to sign the college form? Apologies if posted in wrong thread, please move to relevant section. Cheers

Looks like my time at the sub pimp has ended, towards the end they kept cancelling appointments, I suppose they have got their cut & were not bothered anymore, concentrating on their new intake. Waste of time overall but not too much hassle. Now I'm back at Ingeus, who send me appointments by text after office hours at 21.00, expecting me to arrive the next morning sharp at 9.00. Not the decency of a phone call to check when I'm available beforehand. I complained when I next attended but they just pass you around to the next advisor. Now, at my last interview, I've been told that if I must send my CV to their advisor so they can pimp me to prospective employers without any screening from me. When I mentioned that I wanted to be consulted beforehand & didn't want to have my CV & details on their database the advisor threatened me with being forced to attend every day for jobsearch & possible sanctions. I'm supposed to Email the advisor my CV before my appointment at the end of the month or else!!!

Do these workfare pimps actually get any bonuses / commission if you sign off without supplying any details of future employment / or get sanctioned with your JSA suspended for a period?

I have been on many jobs where East Europeans who were clearly not qualified nor seriously experienced, no one seems to give them a skills assessment nor checks their references abroad. In my experience Bosses will just invoice for X amount of tradesmen, not mentioning that some are clearly not time served & / or qualified nor being paid less than proper tradesmen. More profit in the pocket for contractors & employment agencies often do the same. Many of these unqualified workers will down tools as soon as they are not supervised & some will even pay the Foreman or Boss a weekly "fee" for keeping them employed.

So I went to the sub contractor pimp yesterday, registered in the visitors book at reception, who informed the interviewer I had arrived. The interviewer then came after 5 mins & said they wouldn't be long & disappeared for 50 minutes. I then went down to reception & told the duty staff to leave a message for the interviewer to contract me by mobile & signed out the visitor book. What a compete wast of time & I suppose I will get getting a "sanction" & two weeks suspension of JSA & HB now for reasons unknown

Thanks for the replies Painting & Decorating is not a long term solution due to increasing age, lack of sustainable long term work available all year. I would only consider a full time PAYE position & certainly couldn't afford getting into even more debt as a student. My rent & CT is around £140 a week so a student loan couldn't cover my living costs. Jobseeker Agreement is dated 23/11/11 by JSA client advisor & just mentions Office / Admin, Rail Assistant, Warehouse Asst. I haven't signed anything similar with Ingeus at all. Although one of their advisors did say a year ago I would never work again unless I tried the security industry!!!!!! I guess I'll just go to this interview & not admit, sign or agree to anything, just play dumb....... Cheers

First of all thanks for all the important information on this thread, very helpful as i'm new to all this stuff! Anyway I've been with useless Ingeus for 10 months or so & now they've refered me to another "training" company, who it' turns out deal with the Hotel & Catering Industry. However `i'm in my '50's & have never worked in any similar roles, I have around 20 plus years experience in Admin, Office, Warehouse & similar positions & 5 years experience in Construction Supervisor / Painter Decorator but not fully qualified, so why are they forcing me to do Workfare in an industry I have no experience or interest in. I am considering signing off & claiming the 4 weeks HB & CT before I do as I have no intention of doing Workfare in the Catering / Hotel industry at al, I would even be prepared to help community projects but not this. Greedy Hotel chains & High Street companies. The advisor just refered me after asking what experience I had without telling me the nature of work the "training" company specialised in! Has anyone else been forced to do work in a industry they have no experience or interest in? Also do Ingeus & the other pimps get a bonus for clients signing off & saving the government money?