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 ?

They can't / won't just leave people with no support though. basic UC is already low.

And? The job market is really tough right now, and OP is applying for the lower paid roles that everyone is going for anyway. There is huge competition right now.
She is hardly being paid loads... about £100pw assuming she is over 25.
She is also disabled and awaiting an operation. Look up the statistics regarding how many autistic people are in employment. It is not for lack of trying.

Sooner or later they will. We're going broke as a nation.

The Government's own Buckland Review of Autism Employment identified barriers throughout the employment journey — from recruitment practices and workplace environments to employer understanding and access to the support people need. In fact, most of the recommendations in the review are aimed at changing employer behaviour.

The National Autism Strategy 2021–2026, identified employment as a priority and committed to closing the autism employment gap. The aim was to enable more autistic people who are able and want to work to do so, and to reduce the likelihood of autistic people falling out of work.

In January 2025, the Government launched an Expert Panel on Neurodiversity and Employment, because this problem clearly hadn't disappeared. At the time, the Government cited an autism employment rate of just 31%, compared with 54.7% for disabled people overall. The panel was tasked with looking at what employers and Government could do to remove the barriers neurodivergent people face.

So if you think 1 autistic person struggling with finding employment is shocking - it's not. The government knows. Reviews, strategies and recommendations haven't changed anything - in fact the review of the autism act has shown that 15 years after it coming about nothing has changed.

Autistic people continue to have one of the lowest employment rates of any disability group, at around 3 in 10, alongside disadvantages in pay, job security and progression.

You have 1 autistic person saying out of the hundreds of categories of job roles I would prefer to choose this one over this one, and youre all so painfully unaware of how this is playing out across the whole autistic adult spectrum

Jobs in the past I’ve enjoyed were admin/receptionist work, hotel cleaning, at one point I also did cake making from home (but that totally dried up there’s no market for that otherwise I’d do it self employed).
I had to give up my last job nearly 2 years ago for health reasons (it was a retail job) and since then it’s been a disaster

She's says she's spending 35 hours a week applying for jobs and has for an entire year. She sounds reluctant to work in some of her posts. There's clearly more to this than 'just' ASD. Huge numbers of people with ASD (diagnosed and undiagnosed) work, it might not always be easy but they do it. The job market is tough but it's not impossible. It is impossible if you're not open minded and want to just stay on benefits.

How about self employed cleaning?

Where has OP said she wants to stay on benefits? She has not said or indicated toward nothing of the sort.
There are countless people in her situation... including many graduates with lots to offer. That is how bad it is right now, and OP has the disadvantage of being disabled, a big gap in employment, and not being to do every single job out there because she is waiting for an op.
As per usual on here, someone is seeking advice and the pitchforks come out.

Lots of people with sensory difficulties due to autism cannot deal with washing other people's dishes or cooking foods due to strong smells etc. The OP says she isn't suited to care work due to her disability and we need to believe her, just like we would believe someone who said they couldn't wait tables because they had no arms.

I was in full time employment in a professional capacity - for 20 years until I had a nervous breakdown from undiagnosed autism.

Yes some of us are in employment and some of us find the right job, or have a different spiky profile from others as to what they can and cant do. What youre saying is get her into a job which she may struggle with, and then become ill, end up losing the same job and then back to square one. Instead of saying yes we can definitely understand that you might not be best suited - what other jobs might you be interested in?

Yes, I am sure the OP should also consider becoming a bricklayer or a long distance lorry driver if we follow your daft logic.

People are being so disingenuous on this thread.

Why couldn't she consider lorry driving?

If my health was better I’d consider it but I’m currently having significant issues with repeated hernias, so I don’t think a self employed business would work currently. I don’t even know if the issue will be resolved as I’ve had repairs and then got more hernias in other areas (and also have had prolapse issues I seem to have some kind of weakness and my consultant has told me its unusual)

I was on a thread on here a while ago where someone had got a job in a warehouse but couldn't take it because it was night shifts and she was a widowed mum to a toddler. People were coming up with all sorts of absolutely batshit suggestions for how she could make it work and she was clearly workshy for refusing to leave her child with the local homeless man who would be grateful of a warm sofa to sleep on (not quite, but you get the idea).

Some people want to bring back the workhouses.

She might not have a driving license, let alone a HGV one.

It's hardly pitchforks to be realistic that the country can't afford to carry people for a year. Every pound spent on people being inflexible while job hunting is a pound that could have been spent on education, the NHS, emergency services, local council funding of pot holes etc.

I'm 100% for having a benefit system. I'm a left leaning voter. However, it should be there for short term emergencies in most cases and if it's longer term it needs to be for the most significant cases.

I'm 99% sure I have ASD myself. Currently not diagnosed. My job breaks me regularly. I also have physical challenges. But I get on with it because I have to pay my bills and don't expect others to cover me. I was on job seekers myself at one point but it was for around a month and I worked really hard to get a job (remaining 100% open minded). I've also been made redundant several times and again I worked my arse off to get a job to avoid a life on benefits.

Isn't "consider" a pretty key word in that sentence? PP doesn't know whether or not she drives, so why would she imply that OP couldn't consider it?

I remember one where a single mum was told to get her own mum to baby sit her kids. Her mum had dementia and was in a care home. Not a good enough reason apparently 🙄

I have contributed in Employment since I was 13 and as i said had undiagnosed autism so have had many times of becoming unemplyed due to burnout, struggles with being bullied at work etc - and until my nervous breakdown hardly dealt with the nhs except for a long term prescription I paid for, for anti-depressants.

Now I have utilised the NHS sometimes biweekly with crisis calls for mental health, i had crisis 4 week daily at home visits, I have had dbt sessions x 10 with 3 different providers, I have been to A&E I have seen a psychologist several times - aprox 3 times a year for 3 years, a psychiatrist 4 times in 3 years, I am exempt from paying for my prescription.

it's not either or - a professional full time role caused me to become very ill. I luckily havent had to go into inpatient but my autism, adhd caused ptsd, burnout and unfortunately now I take up/waste the nhs money

… you can apply with a CV different to the ones in workshops. In fact you should be personalising your CV for every job you apply for anyway. Not just sending a generic one.

Exactly.

Some people just love to look down on unemployed people.

Never understood that type of mentality.

Are you hypermobile by any chance?

I was told I was ‘double jointed’ a lot as a child and that was why I had ‘growing pains’ so I think I am but no formal diagnosis

@careassistantjobs

Are there any Civil Service jobs in your area which you could do, OP?

https://www.civilservicejobs.service.gov.uk/csr/index.cgi

Might be worth asking if you might have hEDS. EDS is more common in people with ASD and frequent hernias are a minor criterion in the diagnosis of hEDS.