Post work programme support - Your experiences?

[antone]

good to hear u should always have gone to your local job centre in the village instead of the one in the town less travel more job search.

 

my local job centre is not that big up and down stairs but its not the biggest of offices but it gets use to its limit but cant believe a jcp down where u live has 4 floors lol!

 

A lot of Jobcentres look pretty big but most of the space is taken up by processing or DM teams who never actually meet the public. That's just because of the way things are structured - boring historical reasons, really. The ones I can think of in Scotland like this are Springburn and Anniesland in Glasgow, and the building that is now Coatbridge BDC, where I worked for a short time, used to be a Jobcentre as well but they closed down the public facing part and sent all the claimants to Airdrie.

 

My "favourite" Jobcentre used to be Clapham Common, in London, where I had to sign on back in the day. It had a small courtyard with a duck pond. You could watch ducklings play as you waited to be interrogated. Well, when you're on benefits you take the small pleasures where you find them.

[boomboomboom]

my local jobcentre sent me there coz all the staff that deal with post work programme are at the big jobcentre in the town centre its the same with other small jobcentres as i spoke to a woman who had also been sent frm her local office but now they are rolling out universal credit in our area they are sending one or 2 staff from the team that delt with pwps at the main jobcentre in town an placing them in smaller jobcentre in the district

 

aww i see,but they should have already had a few staff in there smaller officers like your local job centre instead of having them all in the town one they should spread there advisers about like for pwps etc

 

am sure going to your local job centre now will save u a lot of time of traveling into the town centre one

[boomboomboom]

A lot of Jobcentres look pretty big but most of the space is taken up by processing or DM teams who never actually meet the public. That's just because of the way things are structured - boring historical reasons, really. The ones I can think of in Scotland like this are Springburn and Anniesland in Glasgow, and the building that is now Coatbridge BDC, where I worked for a short time, used to be a Jobcentre as well but they closed down the public facing part and sent all the claimants to Airdrie.

 

My "favourite" Jobcentre used to be Clapham Common, in London, where I had to sign on back in the day. It had a small courtyard with a duck pond. You could watch ducklings play as you waited to be interrogated. Well, when you're on benefits you take the small pleasures where you find them.

 

yeh the big ones in Scotland here will be in Glasgow and yeh i noticed that processing/dm teams who are through another door in my local job centre where they only come through to take people upstairs or through to the next room or give stuff to the jcp.

[antone]

yeh the big ones in Scotland here will be in Glasgow and yeh i noticed that processing/dm teams who are through another door in my local job centre where they only come through to take people upstairs or through to the next room or give stuff to the jcp.

 

Yup, that's how it works. The biggest JCP office in Scotland is just north of Buchanan Bus Station in Glasgow, and that's where I spent most of my JCP time as an employee. Most folks don't even know it's there.

 

Also, a lot of Jobcentres look big because government departments often share buildings to save money. So some of the building might have staff from HMRC or whatever. I used to sign on in Hamilton, and half of that building is actually the Procurator Fiscal's Office. At the big office in Glasgow, some of it is the Passport Office.

[ghost whistler]

as Wirral has be chosen to change over To Universal Credit in July

 

Isn't Esther McVey your MP? Well well well!

 

I thought UC wasn't coming out for at least another 3 years?

[neword]

It is my understanding that UC is being rolled out a small area at a time. This is so that they can train any staff up in those areas only

They can then bring them areas online slowly so that any problems can be ironed out without it causing a total shut down of the system if it was to be rolled out nationally at one go and something major goes wrong.

 

In fact I think it's definitely the best way to bring a all encompassing system like this out. If there is a problem in a small area then it only effects that small area. If it was brought out nationally in one fell swoop and something went wrong them the system would be in utter chaos and in the period where they tried to sort out the system there would be a lot of benefit dependants struggling to cope because the payouts would not be sent out.

 

Whether UC is a good idea is a matter of personal choice, rolling it out slowly is a sound idea even if the system has flaws at the beginning.

[Tj rodgers]

Isn't Esther McVey your MP? Well well well!

 

I thought UC wasn't coming out for at least another 3 years?

Yes she is but wirral is split into a few different mps and mine isnt her thank god my part of wirral is a Lib Dem MP

[Tj rodgers]

Isn't Esther McVey your MP? Well well well!

 

I thought UC wasn't coming out for at least another 3 years?

 

Oh and no in 3 years its supposed to be accross the country universal credit started rolling out last year in Wigan and early this year St Helens and in march it was Knowsley in Liverpool and by july it starts in Wirral

[boomboomboom]

does anyone know where in scotland that companies will employ people for night shift jobs as u never seem to see any up on the job sites.

[essexmat]

I think this needs renaming as you get no support whatsoever whether during your time at JCP, WP and then post-WP back at JCP. To say anyone has had support at any level I find difficult to believe. In the 1 year and 3 months the people I see regularly, some who have no chance which I shouldn't say but quite honestly haven't even got basic English and Maths skills and some others with a good work history and many skills no one has got a job - do you know why? Not because they are not trying, but because THERE ARE NO JOBS and those that are real amongst the many fake ones have 200+ applicants per position

[boomboomboom]

I think this needs renaming as you get no support whatsoever whether during your time at JCP, WP and then post-WP back at JCP. To say anyone has had support at any level I find difficult to believe. In the 1 year and 3 months the people I see regularly, some who have no chance which I shouldn't say but quite honestly haven't even got basic English and Maths skills and some others with a good work history and many skills no one has got a job - do you know why? Not because they are not trying, but because THERE ARE NO JOBS and those that are real amongst the many fake ones have 200+ applicants per position

 

yep i think it does need renaming as i have not had much support and if i had am sure there support wouid have helped me get more interviews and maybe even a job and another thing they are suppose to have there colleagues who go out and about and find jobs that dont get put up on the job sites so ingeus clients have a good chance of getting the jobs but the 2 years i was there i was only offered 1 job and did not get it and 2 jobs for me to apply for i would say waste of money all these jcp dwp etc schemes.

[Chester6]

Ingeus etc were useless

PWP has only been a combination of petty, vindictive **** who have failed to bully me or break me. They seem to agree the schemes are useless but one dared blame for not taking advantage of the schemes but he blames the jnemoyrd for being unemployed which seems to be the latest tactic, the PWP even try to tell the unemployed what to spend their money on

[boomboomboom]

what do yous all think of these changes that these Tory want to bring in been forced to take zero hours contracts jobs?

do yous agree or do u not agree with these changes?

 

for me personal i dont see why people should be told to take zero hour contract as u could be skint or have a good wage but more likely will be skint.

 

its just another money saving dwp etc scheme instead of helping the unemployed its attack after attack.

 

i dont want to be signing on i want to be in a full time job going to work and coming home and getting a good wage at the end of the week rather than sitting applying for jobs going to wp jcp getting the threat of sanction over my head and waiting 2 weeks for jsa money that it helps but skint within the next day or so

[essexmat]

I think most of us that want some quality of life want to be working. I was earning £30k a year, 2 holidays a year, eating our regularly, out with friends 2-3 times a week and in one swoop all gone. Now I fester at home unable apart from once a month to see friends or go on holiday - I even had to sell my car. Since redundancy it has been all downhill and the only saving grace is I haveno mortgage as I rent and can claim HB and don't have a partner or children. I also got debt free with my redundancy money. Some people are content on benefits because they have no aspirations to better themselves or havenever had a previously good way of life whereas some of us have and have lost it all.

[essexmat]

I also agreen with boom that it is attack after attack and generally making jobseekers lives a misery for a paltry £70 a week which most of us have paid in over many years so in effect it is OUR MONEY not the governments. We are all tarred with the same brush and that is what is unfair. 25 year old, never worked, never paid taxes etc £72.40pw. 39 year old, 19 years tax and NI and under stress daily = £72.40pw - sickening

[boomboomboom]

yeh attack after attack i get like just over £50 a week and yet u get attack for that when u have people companies avoiding taxes yet its like aww we will get them yeh in what like 1000 year time thats money that would help the country but yet they go for the poor who get job centre cash and they are not gonna get much money from us that will get the country cash all i say is go for the people who own millions of cash not the poor!

 

i have had a job but only through a training course years ago for 3 and a half months and i enjoyed it and fought maybe get another job as i have worked now but years later i am struggling for work and it stresses me out

 

and all u get from non jobseekers is u dont want to work u would rather just get cash from the job centre and enjoy life when i only sign on to pay things and get me food etc and look for work and if i did not want to work i wouldnt go on to jsa as i would not waste money but i really want work and am sure everybody wants to work.

[essexmat]

Anyone with any morals wants to work, what they don't want to do, and rightly so is after paying for travel etc earn the same or less than they get on benefits. Why would you work somewhere with no room for development for the same or less than you get on benefits? Some would say "at least you are working" I would say "No, it is slave labour for 20+ hours a week for the same as I get for signing on plus I am liable for other stuff as I am working so I am worse off by a mile"

 

After my HB pays my rent and I pay my utilities and food I am left withabout £10 a week for myself - brilliant when you used to clear around £2,000p/m and be left with around £900 of it after bills were paid and yest some still think we live an easy life - we don't, we only do this because we need the poxy JSA pennies to keep us alive. As I have said before and as my parents said to me, if they could give me the £70pw they wouldn't want me anywhere near the JC or WP

[boomboomboom]

yeh i have said this to my adviser i dont want to work for the same or less than my benefit as i dont see why when u could sign on and get the same cash for not working.

 

yeh my parents have told me if they could pay the same amount the job centre pay u then i would not let u sign on but they cant as they have things to pay and dont even have another to keep there selfs happy when they have payed bills etc

 

am sure the jcp wp dwp etc could come up with things to help the unemployed not stress them out by coming out in the news every week with a new thing scheme to force us to work or get sanctions we sign on to get help into work as they say but now it is if u sign on you do force labour thats what they are now!

[essexmat]

Exactly, by forcing people to do slave labour and sign on daily etc all the DWP is doing is giving people LESS time to job search. The simple fact is the government/DWP have not got a clue as everyone is tarred with the same brush

[boomboomboom]

yeh like they always say they are there "to help u back to work" yes ok u mean forced labour/community service HELP us stop forcing us simple as that it is not hard to understand us!

 

lets sign on everyday yeh cause that means less job searching and 6months voluntary what to end up back at the start signing on and looking for work or training for a few weeks but why would u need to offer training to people who just came off a WP?

[boomboomboom]

i have a mate who is asking this course he likes its not in a college but its ila funded and he was wondering do u get paid for been there? as i dont know as i have not used an ila account

[antone]

i have a mate who is asking this course he likes its not in a college but its ila funded and he was wondering do u get paid for been there? as i dont know as i have not used an ila account

 

Generally you can use an ILA and the course will be treated like any other college course (even if the institution running the course isn't a "college" as such) provided you meet the basic availability requirements for JSA.

 

So, as long as your friend is still looking for work and the course is not considered "full time" then he's probably OK and will still get JSA. He won't likely get any extra money, though, and would have to meet his own travel costs. He would need to talk to his JSA adviser about that.

[boomboomboom]

Generally you can use an ILA and the course will be treated like any other college course (even if the institution running the course isn't a "college" as such) provided you meet the basic availability requirements for JSA.

 

So, as long as your friend is still looking for work and the course is not considered "full time" then he's probably OK and will still get JSA. He won't likely get any extra money, though, and would have to meet his own travel costs. He would need to talk to his JSA adviser about that.

 

a will let him know as i was not sure as to how ila and going on a ila funded course when on jsa

 

its only a 5minute work from where a live and 10-15 mins for him so not really going to be bothered about travel and i might consider it so am gonna see with my adviser next week and see what they say to it cause if i will still get my jsa when on this course it would suit me and my friend as its something to add to cv and another path option in our careers

[antone]

a will let him know as i was not sure as to how ila and going on a ila funded course when on jsa

 

its only a 5minute work from where a live and 10-15 mins for him so not really going to be bothered about travel and i might consider it so am gonna see with my adviser next week and see what they say to it cause if i will still get my jsa when on this course it would suit me and my friend as its something to add to cv and another path option in our careers

 

Note to our non-Scottish friends - ILA is an "Individual Learning Account" which is available to people in Scotland who are on benefits or low incomes. It offers funds, paid directly to the college or other institution, to such people in order to help them fund training courses. Several years ago I used one to fund my Microsoft Certified Professional qualification, for example. At that time, the max amount available for most courses was about £250.

 

Right, anyhow, yes, a course of a few hours per week is normally fine for JSA, but you do need to declare it to your adviser before you start.

[boomboomboom]

Note to our non-Scottish friends - ILA is an "Individual Learning Account" which is available to people in Scotland who are on benefits or low incomes. It offers funds, paid directly to the college or other institution, to such people in order to help them fund training courses. Several years ago I used one to fund my Microsoft Certified Professional qualification, for example. At that time, the max amount available for most courses was about £250.

 

Right, anyhow, yes, a course of a few hours per week is normally fine for JSA, but you do need to declare it to your adviser before you start.

 

do england get any sort of things like ila in scotland? ye it is handy to pay for courses

 

ye of course i will speak to the adviser first about it and do u know how many hours a week u can do the course without it affecting your benefit ?