Return of Work-Search requirements - for those of us in "non-essential" fields, how flat does the curve have to be for the DWP to ask us to risk our lives ?

[Jaybee in CF]

(firstly, a quick, but heartfelt THANK YOU to those essential workers who have been risking their lives in this emergency.  I salute them all.)

The current suspension of Work Search is only until the 29th June (afaik).  No doubt the government are waiting for Death counts to come down, but at this rate, they won't hit zero until the end of July, IF they ever hit zero...

 

Further, if the numbers from Beijing this week are to be believed, the second wave could hit in very, very little time after the first, and with just as little warning, and when it does, how many of us are going to be in the open, interviewing with companies who refuse to recruit over Zoom/Skype, and having to get there/back on packed Tubes, buses, waiting in the crowded Reception areas of multi-tenant buildings, many without plastic shielding?  Dozens or possibly hundreds of office staff hurtling around blind corners towards you with no mask, no social distancing?   You know how difficult it is just to go inside the damn supermarket and avoid other shoppers, how the hell are you going to do this in cramped, "open"-plan offices?  

 

So again - when does it become "acceptable" for the DWP to ask jobseekers to risk our lives?  

Edited June 18, 2020 by Jaybee in CF

[ericsbrother]

so are you overweight, over 60 and diabetic?

If not you are low risk anyway so lets reverse the thought, why is it unacceptable for the DWP to plan restarting interviews?

What is the risk your refer to, not the general hazard but a properly calculated risk that assesses your own health but also the actual conditions that will be prevalent when you start this exercise. you mention a number of possibilities but the actual chances of you catching the virus by the scenarios mentioned are about 50% less than your normal day to day activity at present.

 

Look at the big DIY chains refusing to take cash because of the possibility of contamination of banknotes and coins. This was mooted on Mar 8th but by Mar 31st the research into pathways of infection had shown that not one person actually became ill because of touching money ( worldwide). the shops were still shut for another month after this was publicised but they still want to go cash free. this has nothing to do with Covid, it is all abut saving money  by not handling and banking cash  and harvesting customer data gleaned from the card processing agencies and everyone happily goes along with this deception.

 

Where I live there is an above average number of eldery people but we have one of the lowest infection and death rates in the country and that is down to economic reasons, all of our eldery and ill are generally well off so not crammed together in poor conditions etc.

This is not a one size fits all pandemic as the govt and others like to portray it as, 96% of the dead in the UK were living on borrowed time anyway thanks to modern medicine.

[Jaybee in CF]

19 minutes ago, ericsbrother said:

so are you overweight, over 60 and diabetic?

If not you are low risk anyway so lets reverse the thought, 

Yes, no, and I hope not.  No, let's not "reverse the thought", let's address the risk.  

[unclebulgaria67]

NHS info

 

https://digital.nhs.uk/coronavirus/shielded-patient-list

 

From what I hear, DWP will start to look to add claimant commitments to search for work from 1st July.  I doubt any phone appointments to sort out the commitments will take place in the near future, as there are now over 5 million Universal Credit claims, so Job Centres are going to have plenty of work to do.  And the Summer holiday season is only weeks away, so less staff. 

 

 They should consider current health circumstances  as well as any caring responsibilities.  And most forms of contact will be via the journal and phone.

 

Employers will also be conducting most job applications and interviewing online and by phone.  At the moment, due to the Covid-19 health & safety measures implemented in most work places, they don't want people visiting their buildings unless it is absolutely necessary.  

[tomtom256]

It's coming soon but will roll out to new claims first that have been made after 16/03. No exact date as yet, but next week if not week after.

Edited June 28, 2020 by tomtom256
Typo

[Jaybee in CF]

I was on UC in late March, and recently received some quite non-committal message that the commitments would be returning, but no indication when.  

 

If I remember correctly the expectation was that we could find at least one job per day to which to apply, or some such nonsense.   Given that the government can only guess how many workplaces will be safe : 

1) to commute to/from at the time of job application;

2) to work in at the time of job application;   

3) to commute to/from at the date of starting a job ;

4) to work in at the date of starting a job, 
5) to commute to/from at the date permanent WFH is dropped;

6) to work in at the date permanent WFH is dropped, 

 

and given that we have lost 20% of our economy, I fail to see how they can both reasonably and immediately mandate any minimum figure of jobs we must apply for whilst this virus just killed over 135 people in the UK (stats released today).  That is only down from 155 last week, and about 175 a fortnight back.   At this rate it will be another 7 weeks MINIMUM before the mortality rate is zero - if it ever reaches zero before the inevitable second wave.  

[unclebulgaria67]

@Jaybee in CF Claimant commitments are agreed between yourself and the Job Centre Work Coach.  So you will be able to discuss the local jobs market, transport available and all of the local issues.

 

As it is a two way constructive relationship, you can research all of the relevant information, so when you have your claimant commitment agreed,  the information you have obtained can be considered.