Can Jobcentre remove certain jobs from my work search commitments?

[careassistantjobs]

Can I have a certain type of work removed from my work search commitments?

I’m being pushed into applying for care assistance jobs and this is something I am not prepared to do. I have explained to my work coach but they are saying I have to take their recommendation to start applying for these types of jobs as well as I’ve not been successful so far and need to widen my job searches.

i have requested a GP letter detailing why I can’t do this type of work (severe sensory issues and phobias due to autism) and I’m hoping that will be enough?

Has anyone else been through this ? I feel they aren’t being understanding at all. I have limitations and I’m trying my best but there are some things I just can’t do, or do they just expect me to apply with no intention of doing it to fill the work search hours ? But if I was offered a job and declined I would be sanctioned ?

Having had carers in for an elderly mother who were often incompetent, uncaring and illiterate, I worry that the system is expecting any Tom, Dick or Harry to do this as any old ‘job’.

It often involves wiping up shit and other bodily fluids too - really intimate care, I couldn’t do it. Plus the people at the receiving end deserve compassion and dignity - not just a press-ganged jobseeker.

I agree with you op - this is an unreasonable expectation.

I lead a recruitment team for a large social care provider and this is why I don’t tend to engage with the DWP. I want people to want to work in Social Care. I don’t want people who are forced into it back they can’t get a job anywhere else (not saying that’s you op)

This!

@careassistantjobs

Are there any jobs showing in your area in retail during the pre-Christmas period, OP?

Places like Tesco, Asda, M and S, Morrisons, Sainsbury's, Boots, Lidl and Aldi.

Apply for the jobs, tick the disability box and in the covering letter/at interview make sure to tell them that your reasonable adjustments for your disability include not being able to do x, y & z.

Have you been through the health care assessment with UC? If you have does the report from that mention all your needs?

Yes I agree. You can’t force people to care.
picking litter, cleaning graffiti, yes yes yes no one should turn it down but caring….vulnerable people deserve more

Would you say the same about working in a nursery, for example? As a pp has mentioned - no wonder there are so many unsuitable people working in the elderly care sector, if the only criterion is that you’re available for work!

Loads of people do jobs they aren’t suited for or don’t like. They get on with it because they have to pay their bills.

Why should the tax payer (me) fund your life when there are jobs available that you could do? Take the job and keep looking for another job.

Some people are so entitled!

I'd be honest at interview stage, surely the job centre doesnt expect people to lie about their skills. At least the interview will be good practice for you.

Same here. My current new job is so stressful it's making me ill. I'm honestly considering doing care work as an easier option !

Yes, it will leave the ‘cared for’ totally vulnerable with a resentful, non caring carer having to turn up.

Care work just isn’t suitable for everyone. The real answer lays with getting the right sort of people - and paying decent wages to those wanting to do this difficult work.

For context, meant to quote:

How long have you been looking for a job? I’m just not sure that it would be considered reasonable to refuse one of the industries which always has jobs available, if you’re claiming benefits and have been assessed as fit to work then you need to apply for the jobs that are available, not just the jobs you want to do.

So what can you actually do? No care work, no warehouse work, no catering work.
You’re going to be sanctioned if you aren’t careful.

@careassistantjobs

Are there any openings with the Royal Mail for pre-Christmas, OP? Not lifting parcels, perhaps something else.

careers.royalmailgroup.com/gb/en/seasonal-roles

caring is not for everyone, and people that need carers deserve good ones.

but what can you do? You have said a lot about what you can’t do. What skills do you have and what have you done to gain new ones suitable for employment?

Care is not an industry to go in to unless you feel able to do the role well. It’s absolutely appropriate for someone to say that they do not want to be a carer, for health or other reasons.

I dread the idea of my DPs ending up paying £50k per year from their own pockets and ending up being looked after by people who hate the work on minimum wage - while the home owners bank it all..

Who would want this for their own future?

Of course you are reasonable not to want to do care work.

You are getting some really petty answers here but I wonder how many of the people commenting would be willing and able to lift elderly people, clean strangers' bums or deal with unpredictable people with severe disabilities...

Being a carer is a difficult job and you really need to be the right type of person to do it.

Suggesting that people who have no interest in being carers should be forced look after vulnerable, sick and elderly people is a disaster waiting to happen.

I hired a carer when I had abdominal surgery and needed a long recovery, not to do personal care but to help with things like cleaning, shopping and doing the laundry and help me on my first walk outside once it was safe for me to start going out again. The last I would have wanted when I was in a vulnerable state is to deal with someone in my own home who was reluctant to help and was there because they were force into a job.

I am 55 and also looking for a job and it is tough out there. In the past year the only thing I managed to find after I lost my job were short term freel
ance contracts and I am back signing for JSA on Monday! As an older worker with a long term health condition I am finding as well that the job market is really tough and there is no way I could physically or mentally become a carer.

Also I think there are serious issues in the care industry with care home owners making a fortune and charging high fees to families and the people being looked after while the carers who do the actual, difficult work are paid poverty wages.

Just because you have a developmental disorder doesn’t mean that you can’t learn to do some things or find work arounds. I think you’re giving too much power to your phobias and taking away your agency to do things. Yes, maybe you might find it harder than some people to get used to aspects of the role but phobias can be addressed. Eg ‘hypnosis downloads’ are reputable and might be a cost effective way of helping you.
I had a job where I found that personal care of disabled children and young people was unexpectedly part of it. I always sprayed perfume a little way up my arm so if the smells got to me I could smell that and I got through it. Seriously, does anyone like helping someone else in the toilet, I doubt it, but we get used to it because some people need that help and we need to keep a roof over our heads.
There might be reasonable adjustments but maybe this works both ways. I find it hard when people think that they can’t do anything to help themselves work. I’m afraid that there isn’t much choice at the moment and there might be aspects of Cari g work that you enjoy and are good at that help you cope with the harder bits.

Admin work, retail work, cafe jobs, cleaning. I apply for lots and lots but as I mentioned especially with retail (this is the sector in which I find the most applications) it seems like they aren’t genuine ?

Do you want a “woefully shit” carer looking after you or your loved one?

To those people on here saying that they have jobs that are really stressful so the OP shoukd just suck it up, are you responsible for intimate care and physical and emotional support of vulnerable individuals? Could you cause actual harm to someone in your day job?

The employment situation is absolutely dire, but pushing unsuitable people into working in care is absolutely not the right way to go.

I’ll take a look Thankyou

I think that the ones shown in the jobs sections on the large retailers' websites are genuine, OP.

Why would a company such as Tesco advertise a job which didn't exist?

I have been looking at seasonal jobs and applied for some already. One thing I’ve noticed is there are quite a lot (especially cafes) where they have online multiple choice scenarios as part of the application and then I never get an interview I’m clearly giving incorrect answers ?

Not ideal but you need a job. What do you imagine people have to do if benefits aren't there to catch them. It seems odd that in a year you haven't even got an interview for cleaning.