Changing Nappies in Job Centre Plus/When there are no facilities

[Earlybirdtea]

I went to register for job seekers allowance last week for the first time after just being made redundant. I arrived on time with my seven month old son, my 2 year old is in nursery).

Anyway during my meeting my son's nappy needed changing and there are no changing facilities or even toilets so I popped him on my shawl and quickly changed his wet nappy(Not Poo). If a baby is crying and there are no facilities then as a mother I believe that to be exceptable to change their nappy in the best available place which was on the floor,not the table and I was thinking of the point of view of others around me as if he got uncomfortable then he would have started crying which would have disturbed the other interviewees.

In short, I was told, You can't do that here, I responded saying there are no facilities and was told that this is an office environment, you would have thought that you would have arranged childcare!!!

I have written a letter of complaint and been informed that the lady who approached me was in fact doing her job as a health and safety professional, fair enough and, "there are Public Facilities within 100 yards of our building and in the future we will endeavour to highlight this when appropriate." It was also communicated to me that they encourage customers not to bring children to their interviews.

Am I being unreasonable to think that they should offer changing facilities, even special access/lockable? I really don't like the idea of going down the road to some public toilet block, there may be facilities in there I will have to check.

I also feel that they have no place to tell you that children are not really welcome in this environment, it is certainly not ideal I know. I do not plan to take my son to job interviews and have only just been made redundant.

Should I just back off and except their response, I have other important things to think about I don't plan on having to go there very long or on the other hand should I escalate this within their internal complaints procedure
as this is a bit mother and young baby unfriendly.

I would really appreciate your comments

YANBU OP. I've seen parents change nappies on the bench seats of restaurants - well the likes of McD's and Pizza Hut, which were the only places we went when the kids were small.

So I can't see a problem with changing them at the JobCentre. I'm appalled that JCs don't have loos. Virtually every other public building has them. And how on earth is someone who is on benefits going to afford childcare every time they have a JC interview?

yabu.
You are changing a baby on the floor of someone elses workspace.This is a danger to them and your baby.What would your reaction have been if a JC worker had tripped over or dropped something onto your baby?

YANBU, and they are being completely idiotic to suggest you are 'supposed' to find childcare for an appointment with them when they give you £67 a week- what are you supposed to do, employ a nanny for that time (no childminder is going to do a one off for it ffs) and spend your entire food/electricity money on it? They ought to have facilities as it is expected at least that lone parents with children under 3 will attend with children and if they are going to force us in for meetings then they are obliged to provide appropriate facilities. Actually I was once told by a woman there to take daughter into a conference room to change her nappy (as again, they had no appropriate facilities)...

Also a job centre is not a fucking office environment, you morons- are you all so privileged you've never had to go in one? They are basically like a drop-in centre for scary druggies (often with dogs) and miserable single mothers, they are hardly bastions of hygeine to start with!

Hunty, that is outrageous! I think some types of job attract little hitlers.

And yes, Job Centres are vile. And the whole environment is designed to make the clients/victims feel like shit.

There are people on ESA going for work focused interviews who have conditions like advanced IBS, Crohns disease and are coeliac. What are they supposed to do if they want the loo?
In my local JC about five years ago there was a woman who looked really ill who came in and she was in the midst of an angina attack. She asked to use thier phone and they refused and told her that if she was that ill she would have to leave the premises and then told her to go up the road and use the phone box. All the while they have phones sitting on their desks.

My mistake.
I was assuming it was an office environment because it has desks and computers and people working there.

carernotasaint nasty pieces of work No humanity

What about the time I went into the jobcentre to make a claim and they told me I would have to go the public phone box across the road to phone them to make an appointment.

Don't get me started on those disgusting places and the nasty people who work there.

I AM one of those 'nasty people' who work there and I can tell you it's not very pretty looking from my side of the glass either! Endless streams of distasteful malingerers who clearly only want more benefits.If it wasn't for the sickness pay and the holidays and the index linked pension I'd pack it in tomorrow!
(well not tomorrow I'm not going to be feeling very well)

Our jobcentre is fine, there is a toilet and they are always fine when I have taken the children. There are quite often children around the place.

I am sorry that your is not more like that, it's a real shame.

They don't have glass screens in our jobcentre either.

Probably like many things it differs between areas.

I think you've just proved everybody who has had a bad experience from the Job Centre and it's staff, lollygag.
You sound charming.

*proved everybody right.

I am fcvkng chaming,actually.It's the people who come in who spoil my day that make me less charming.I'd stop all benefits if it was up to me - it would make my job easier!

lollygag.

like people like this

www.metro.co.uk/news/881136-married-couple-driven-to-commit-suicide-by-utter-poverty

Lolly I think you have hit the nail on the head ragarding why people hate the job centre. The staff have a tendency to treat every client as a milingerer, assume they are stupid talk down to them while looking at them as if they are something that has just been trod on. Is it any wonder it gets people's back up.

Whilst I agree there are malingers out there many of those visiting the job centre desperately want to work, they don't want to claim benefits but it is preferable to starvation. With the current economic climate I strongly suspect the number who want to work but can't find anything is rising weekly. Fruitless job searching is soul destroying enough without adding being treated like a piece of trash at the same time.

Then you're in the wrong job lollygog.
With any luck, with the cuts, you'll be made redundant and have to claim yourself.
If your telling the truth that is

Listen,I've had Diversity Training to teach me how to pretend that the malingerers are really looking for work so don't say that I treat every client like a malingerer! I'm trained to pick them out and be extra nice.

Lolly gag you dont happen to frequent MSE do you. Your comments here are exactly what i would expect to see on there!

I don't go on any S&M sites!

Its moneysavingexpert you silly troll.

Hello andy

It's still an office environment!!!!!