What does job centre/society actually expect this woman to do?

[steppemum]

I support a lady (friendship through a charity) I'll change some details to make it less identifiable.

She has a son aged 5 and in school and so the job centre are giving her a lot of hassle to get into work. But I just cannot see how she is supposed to do this:

• she is a single mum. Her partner is not son's dad and doesn't live with her.


• she lives on a large council estate out of town. Very little work on the estate. 20 minute bus ride into town. Some work in town, mostly in shops (which I doubt she would get, she's not likely to get a customer facing job) most work is then a further 20 minutes on the bus from the bus station in town.


• there is no breakfast club or after school club, or holiday clubs at the school


• there are no childminders on the estate. The closest ones are about 1 mile away, and don't do school drop offs or pick ups


• she does have local family, but they are not willing to do any childcare, either before/after school, or in the holidays.


• she is only likely to get a minimum wage job as she has no qualifications.

So, she could only work day time, from about 9:30 - 2:00 in order to do school run, no weekends and she has no-one to look after her son in the holidays.

Job centre has told her she is being too fussy and she must be more flexible with timings.

Am I missing something here? I just don't see HOW she can get a job! She would like to work actually, but is also pretty scared about ending up with less money.

The problem is the job centre has a set criteria for all outlook it doesn’t allow for some people to not fit the criteria I know a couple of mums in this position, it’s really difficult and depressing for them.

is she capable of cleaning? Could she look at cleaning jobs?

Carer: training will be provided by the care company, walking allowance paid, can work around her child's school hours. There's a national shortage, and no qualifications are required. Her salary should act as a gateway to universal credit, so she would have enough money to support herself and her child.
Care companies will accommodate requests to work say from 8.30am-3pm, I did this for 4 years.

The problem is to receive UC or job seekers you must be actively seeking work that is why the job centre are pushing her to get a job and if they don't think she is serious about finding work they will stop her money. Could your friend do dog walking or dog sitting as pp have suggested. Could she volunteer in a local charity to show she is trying to improve her skills. Where I volunteer there are opportunities to help in the kitchen. Could she apply to a local pub or restaurant to do the washing up. I also think that UC would help with child care costs.

I am not agreeing with her that she is stuck. I have been helping her see what skills she has, helping her with the sort of questions she might get asked, and given her a lift to several interviews.
I am encouraging her to keep looking.

I am smiling at many of these responses, because it is such a reflection of mn. Capable independent women carving out a life for themsleves.
It is just that women like this really don't /can't do that, some skills cannot be taught.

She has wi-fi at home, but no computer. I can't imagine her having the focus to do an online course.
Job centre have her in various support and training roles, she goes and does them, and they try and help her, but at the end the childcare is the killer.
And I really worry about her going into a role with flexibile hours and ending up with no money some weeks. She literally lives penny to penny.

Sorry but it sounds like you are suggesting that the school her child attends literally has no useable childcare serving it. This is extremely, extremely unlikely - does every other family with children attending the school have one SAH parent? I have never come across a school with no childcare options at all whether several childminders living locally etc. I do a 1hr plus commute to get to work, that's normal

Does she have a learning disability OP?

Sorry just seen you said she can’t get a cleaning job.

Does she qualify for any disability benefits?

Would the job centre accept a voluntary position as a stepping stone to work so she could still get benefits?

Your question was about society, so I will answer that.

I live in a Scandinavian country. Society is set up so that everyone can work, if capable of it.

There is nursery care at restricted prices for every child and after school care for anyone that needs it.

Cohabiting parents have the right to 12 days off if their child (under 12) is sick, if both partners are working. Single parents get 24.

Single parents get double the child benefit of cohabiting parents (round £200 a month).

Sickness benefits are much better, as is job security.

It still isn’t perfect, but the UK is very poor when it comes to supporting parents into work, married or single.

4 major care agencies have said they would take her on, but turned her down due to her asking for school hours. One of the jobs was cleaning in the care home. I cannot see why that couldn't be done around school hours!
There are care homes within walking distance. She has knocked on the door and been told only through agencies, and then agencies won't employ her if she asks for school hours.

Are there any community based schemes in range? In our local area we have a couple of work focussed (a city farm and a cafe/drop in centre) that offer some basic skills courses and entry to work roles for people with extra difficulties or disabilities. There's a community gardener scheme too. I imagine places aren't easy to get but would something like that be an option?

Op what do other parents do for childcare?

As her son is at school she has six hours a day child free to do SOMETHING.

If her literacy/numeracy skills are stopping her from getting a job can she not look at returning to education? An infinite number are now remote and she could do them at home. There are so many programmes which are either subsidised or free to low income families.

In the same ilk can she not look at getting a qualification in something or setting up a business? You focus a lot on what she can't do... what can she do? What does she like doing? Is she creative? Can she cook? Does she enjoy hair and makeup? Is there something there that she can expand on. Possibly return to college for a nails, hair and beauty, makeup - something that would allow her to build up a client base?

Also you are entirely ignoring the world of remote work. Innumerable jobs offer working from home, call centres, customer services, taxi lines etc. She could easily work that around her son.

It's shit that she's in such a predicament but simply saying 'she can't do it' does a disservice to the innumerable parents in her situation who manage every single day.

Frankly, if she is that hopeless, how is she parenting her child? I know that sounds means but it sounds like a classic case of someone refusing to do anything to improve themselves to be responsible for another life - which she is supposed to be.

yes that's right. 2 schools in the area, neither have wrap aorund care. No childminders registered on the estate, nearest ones are not willing to do school drop offs.
And yes, I would say that on that estate most families have either a SAHP or grandparents doing care, or are like this lady.

First sensible comment I've read. She's not saying she would prefer not to commute, just that it cuts into her very limited potential working hours. Some cleaning roles or as you say dinner lady are all I can really think of. There's no way care work would be those short/specific shifts. It is a problem which nobody here has solved for her despite many replies belittling the problem.

Actually, I re-read your question and it wasn’t about society. 😶

The points still stand though.

Could you contact the school and ask if they've investigated the potential demand for wraparound care for children at the school. DS' school didn't start breakfast club until he was year 4, because they recognised a lack of before school care available. Also ask on local Whatsapp / Fb what childcare options other parents use locally - does a local nursery offer breakfast club cover for primary age children, for example?

What do the people of MN not get about being poor? You can't just train and get a qualification. It takes time and money. A single, piss-poor parent with no support has very little of both.

But that’s not entirely true is it.

This person sounds like they have a lot of challenges for sure. They also have 6 hours every day child free to improve their numeracy and literacy (for free) as a starting point, plus time in the evenings. If someone isn’t doing that as the absolute minimum what do you expect the job centre to say in all honesty. There are lots of free courses beyond that for people on benefits to break the cycle.

Easy - no. Nothing is easy. Achievable - yes.

Bottom line is there aren’t enough coffers in the pot to pay for benefits, education, NHS, mental health and social care services etc. so it’s only going to get worse and this lady would be well advised to try and do something now.

well, this is not her first child. The others don;t live with her. I think that tells you something about her abilities.
She does not have a diagnosed learning difficulty, no, but I would suspect that there are some things there.

So she's created all these blocks to her being able to find work and expects the taxpayer to fund her lifestyle. There's a word for that.

ok I read back

why does the area have so many families with one at home? What is the factor that makes it different to here where the wrap around care has lengthy waiting lists and is full

In which case there must be lots of parents living locally to her in a similar position. Can she team up with another mum, offer to do the school run for a friend's child 2 days a week in return for the other parent helping her two days a week?? I think some people just are determined they want school hours work when really it doesn't exist now. Alternatively if her mum is doing shift work at a distribution hub could she do opposite shifts to her mum so that between her and her mum they could cover sch runs, even 3 days per week?

Right, bit of a drip feed to the situation OP.

I’d keep trying with the care jobs that sounds like best fit and usually crying out for staff. Are you able to support her. Eg she’s knocked on door, told agency, agency say must sign up for shifts. You go back with her to care home and agency and see is there any way around it? Advocate for her. Any in home care roles - none drivers they pair with a driver.

Does she have any other skills that are non academic? The way you describe her sounds v similar to a relative of mine (although she was able to keep a clean home). She was really artistic though and became a tattoo artist after years of unemployment!

It is really hard though and I sympathise and I do think some of the responses on this thread show how many people don’t ‘get it’. Like a pp I also wondered if she has some sort of mild learning disability. It sounds like she could do with more support really.