Ingeus

[osdset]

I'm not with Ingeus (though I know them from FND) - I'm on the WP with A4greed. My approach has been to tell them that my preferred method of communication is by post - this (helpfully!) is one of the options set out in their sickeningly saccharine "Welcome Aboard!" booklet. So far I have refused to give them any phone numbers or e mail addresses. I have been asked why and I reply that I don't trust them with my data. So far this has worked.

 

Lol! These Muppets must have got wind of the fact that more and more claimants are wise to the data protection act, I bet there is much gnashing, and grinding of teeth when it's brought up, tie them up in knots and make life as difficult a possible, I almost wish I was still signing on I fancy joining in this fun.

[spots1]

Why can`t you just put ....Found a job on my own without any work being done by Ingeus...please do not pay them !!!

 

spots1

[flumps1976]

Because they have a contract with the Government that states if a client moves into work they are entitled to a reward payment even if you don't give either the provider or the JCP office details of the employers. If you state that you found work they will claim that it was due to their help and be eligible to receive the payment which increase each quarter that you remain in employment.

The only way to ensure they are not paid (and you risk losing any run on payments for housing benefit and job grant) is to state that you wish to end your claim an not give any reasons at all. Of course they will still attempt regular contact with you for the remainder of the 2 years that you are contracted with them. You do not however have to answer your phone or reply to any letters

[nickk]

Whether Ingeus get paid or not is kind of a moot point, IMHO

 

I've worked for agencies like Brook Street and Blue Arrow. They get paid for doing next to nothing (they take a percentage of my hourly pay) - it's how they are funded.

 

If Ingeus help me find a reasonable job, one that I have been doing before, then fine, they can have their commission; it makes no difference to me.

[nickk]

A General Reminder

 

Just assume that Ingeus staff monitor this thread. It ranks highly on Google

[nickk]

Very interesting thread, I just signed up with the sole intention of bumping it and getting the discussion going again.

 

Today was my first appointment with this mob and I've to go back in for a cold calling session on Thursday where I will be working with a group of folk on the same boat as myself where we phone up and apply for jobs, who would have thought it could be so easy ? These guys are worth every penny they are getting.

 

My new best mate (well for the next 4 weeks apparently) will find me a job and if by some unforeseen circumstance this doesn't happen then I'll be passed on to some other lovely caring person who wants to help me. Things are looking up.

 

He also booked me in for a "mandatory" work group session in a fortnight called Job Search Methods which I was told will last for two hours.

 

Still, least I got my bus fare back...

 

Anyway, I've had reservations since I was told I was going on this programme a few weeks back and just found this place while doing a search on google, be interested to hear how everyone has been coping with this outfit since the previous posts.

 

 

My experience also. One of their big strategies is cold calling potential employers (part of the hidden job market). It sounds like an interesting theory and a friend of mine said she did it anyway. (she would send hundreds of CVs to potential employers even if they didn't advertise for posts - spamming, essentially). I suppose it's not such a crazy idea(!)

 

They are very prompt at refunding bus fare.

 

 

Just wait a few weeks, where the will find you a job, whether you want that kind of work or not.

 

• Probably working for a big multinational corporation
  

 

If you refuse, they might berate you for 'negativity' . If that happens, be sure to post here and tell us about it!

[nickk]

Makes quite interesting reading:

 

(Won't let me post the url but it's from the Guardian Jobs Site)

 

Any chance you can Pm the link to someone with over 10 posts? Then they can post it in the thread.

[nickk]

Noticed on the wall a huge chart which looks like a point scoring system for the staff...what's that all about?

 

 

Sounds like targets.

 

I challenge someone to take a sneaky pic of a wall chart with their camera phone. Maybe blur out the names before you post on here, though.

[nickk]

I have read further articles online of people being forced to apply for any job as the staff who work for Ingeus are told to force any job on a client. It’s all about numbers and so that Ingeus and other agencies can make money! It’s not about client happiness and looking after clients needs.

 

If this happens to you, please post about it. It's what I am most afraid of

 

I have a solid work history, have paid taxes for years. If they force me to go to some interview, what if i turn up with terrible BO. Or I burp and fart a lot.

 

I can kind of see why the government want to force long term unemployed into any old job. I mean, the system would collapse if everyone was a benefit 'scrounger'.

[nickk]

I attended my first FND appointment at Ingeus today.

 

What is FND?

[nickk]

The only pit fall that I can also see is that if you qualify for the payment of job grant and 4 weeks run on of housing benefit aqnd tax credits then do you really want to risk losing those? If you aren't bothered about losing that money then by all means declare any other reason for ending your claim and as posted before the JCP will only disclose the reason to the provider as the one you give for ending your claim.

 

Please explain what you mean? are you saying that once you find a job you can still get 4 weeks of housing benefit even though you are employed?

[nickk]

My husband, a 51 year-old highly skilled cabinet-maker and joiner, has been given an interview by these idiots... as a telephone debt collector! Apparently they no longer get any money unless they place you in a job so will send you to the most ridiculous (and frankly unsavoury) jobs. Why? In the hope that you will refuse the job and therefore be 'off' JSA? Absolutely unconscionable.

 

Ouch. Was it a call centre job?

 

Sounds like he would be made to call up vulnerable people and demand monies. How depressing. If he has been a taxpayer for many years, then I feel like it's immoral to force us to do stuff like this.

 

What was the outcome of this? Was he made to do the unsavoury job?

[nickk]

It may say in their guidance about these items being available but has anyone actually been successful in obtaining any of it? We get nothing but complaints from clients at their signing as the providers can hardly bear to part with travel expenses and frequently try to refer them back to the JCP to try to access the Flexible Support Fund.

 

If you are offered an interview

 

Yes, I've heard of Primark vouchers being made available to males. You have to go and pick out what you want then they might give you some vouchers, up to a limit of £20 (or something).

I think females can get free business suits - one woman said that she got one second hand, on the 'Dress for Success' programme.

[nickk]

Seeing their mental health person at some stage, and next week they are doing a BOC (Better Off Calculation), they go through my financial situation and work of if i'll be better off once in work, all sounds too good to be true at the moment.

 

What qualifications does their mental health person have? Is it an impartial psychologist or someone with targets to deliver?

 

What if you get a minimum wage job that pays less that you get in benefits now?

[osdset]

 

What if you get a minimum wage job that pays less that you get in benefits now?

 

You get working tax credit as a top up, and I think that there is some help with housing benefit, BUT you are still in the benefits trap, stuck on a pittance wage and dependent on handouts to get by. If the BOC is more than benefit level even by a few pence you would be expected to take the job.

[osdset]

My husband, a 51 year-old highly skilled cabinet-maker and joiner, has been given an interview by these idiots... as a telephone debt collector! Apparently they no longer get any money unless they place you in a job so will send you to the most ridiculous (and frankly unsavoury) jobs. Why? In the hope that you will refuse the job and therefore be 'off' JSA? Absolutely unconscionable.

 

I come from a similar skill base to your husband and I was offered a part time job driving a delivery van for Iceland, I know that there is a demand for skilled craftsmen, so what's the problem?

Your husband is 51, I am 55, draw your own conclusions.

[flumps1976]

FND was flexible New Deal the scheme that was running prior to the Work Programme, and yes if you have been unemloyed for 26 weeks or more and find work of 16 hours per week or more that is expected to last 5 weeks or more you will automatically receive a run on payment of 4 weeks housing benefit as mos hjobs are now wmonthly paid and it can help to allow you to manage financially until your first wage is received.

[Bakatcha]

I come from a similar skill base to your husband and I was offered a part time job driving a delivery van for Iceland, I know that there is a demand for skilled craftsmen, so what's the problem?

Your husband is 51, I am 55, draw your own conclusions.

I think I see the problem. I am older than both of you (and, I dare say, better quailified) but I would love a part time job driving a van for Iceland (I have been registered on their website for some time now with no response). I would, however hate a target driven, results orientated, anti-social hours job which involved phoning people up under subterfuge to threaten them in order to try to get repayment of debt. There is absolutely no comparison between the two positions.

[Raven1]

A General Reminder

 

Just assume that Ingeus staff monitor this thread. It ranks highly on Google

 

I hope they do.

[flumps1976]

They probably do monitor this website, I have no problem with that at all and I work for JCP.

It is only the same as DCA monitoring the other parts of the forum and and of course as I work for JCP (just to add on a considerable lower salary than the post for the WP jobs and probably worker much harder for my wage too) should I not use this site? Or can I be of some use and advise using the knowledge that I have to help people on here with querires?

[osdset]

I think I see the problem. I am older than both of you (and, I dare say, better quailified) but I would love a part time job driving a van for Iceland (I have been registered on their website for some time now with no response). I would, however hate a target driven, results orientated, anti-social hours job which involved phoning people up under subterfuge to threaten them in order to try to get repayment of debt. There is absolutely no comparison between the two positions.

 

I was not making a comparison between the two positions, both jobs are IMHO demeaning taken in context, I was drawing attention to the ages involved. Regardless of whatever skills or qualifications a claimant may have, if age comes into play the tendency seems to be to push for what I would term 'no brainer' positions.

 

As for the comment (and I dare say, better qualified) I find it offensive, on what do you base that assumption on exactly? I hold an advanced City & Guilds carpentry / joinery, a HND in Musical Instrument Technology, and a BSc (hons) in Musical Instrument Technology.

I think I am qualified enough in general terms thanks very much.

 

If a part time driving job is sufficient for your needs and if you can secure such a position then all well and good, however as you have aptly demonstrated, with your better qualifications, and advanced years no driving jobs were forthcoming, I rest my case.

[Bakatcha]

Perhaps you should have made your case clearer at your first attempt?

I was not making a comparison between the two positions, both jobs are IMHO demeaning taken in context, I was drawing attention to the ages involved. Regardless of whatever skills or qualifications a claimant may have, if age comes into play the tendency seems to be to push for what I would term 'no brainer' positions.

 

As for the comment (and I dare say, better qualified) I find it offensive, on what do you base that assumption on exactly? I hold an advanced City & Guilds carpentry / joinery, a HND in Musical Instrument Technology, and a BSc (hons) in Musical Instrument Technology.

I think I am qualified enough in general terms thanks very much.

 

If a part time driving job is sufficient for your needs and if you can secure such a position then all well and good, however as you have aptly demonstrated, with your better qualifications, and advanced years no driving jobs were forthcoming, I rest my case.

[nickk]

You get working tax credit as a top up, and I think that there is some help with housing benefit, BUT you are still in the benefits trap, stuck on a pittance wage and dependent on handouts to get by. If the BOC is more than benefit level even by a few pence you would be expected to take the job.

 

Really? the government tops it up? Do you have to fill out mountains of paperwork and wait an eternity?

 

So, let me just get this straight:

 

 

• Suppose Ingeus can get me a menial job, paying minimum wage, and I take it
  
• The government would top up my earnings to give me what I would be getting from Housing Benefit + JSA?
  

 

 

I wish there was a YouTube video that explained Working Tax Credits in simple terms. Or a website written in simple English.

Can I do a BOC (Better Off Calculation) myself?

[nickk]

I would, however hate a target driven, results orientated, anti-social hours job which involved phoning people up under subterfuge to threaten them in order to try to get repayment of debt.

 

I recall a hidden camera documentary about one of these places. Seems awful. Did you outright refuse?

[osdset]

Really? the government tops it up? Do you have to fill out mountains of paperwork and wait an eternity?

 

So, let me just get this straight:

 

 

 

• Suppose Ingeus can get me a menial job, paying minimum wage, and I take it
  
• The government would top up my earnings to give me what I would be getting from Housing Benefit + JSA?
  

 

 

 

I wish there was a YouTube video that explained Working Tax Credits in simple terms. Or a website written in simple English.

Can I do a BOC (Better Off Calculation) myself?

 

You have to be better off working than on the dole even if it's not by very much otherwise there would be no incentive to sign off, the DWP recognise this, although their idea of better off and yours may be quite different!

 

If you can understand the minefield that is working tax credit then yes, you can do your own BOC, good luck!