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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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Original poster

To think being sanctioned for not applying for a job is not unfair ?

63 replies

Xmasfun · 18/12/2012 12:52

People on JSA are now complaining they are being left with £40 to live in for one week for being sanctioned for not applying for the job they agreed to with their advisor. I'm no Scrooge but when hubby and I work (I'm currently on smp) 3 kids , we only had about that to live on last week after bills, Xmas gifts, etc . I mean they are being sanctioned cause they aren't doing as they agreed which was too apply for a job which is what JSA is isn't it? Your seeking for a job? It sounds harsh but to complain you will now be short because you've been sanctioned , well boo hoo it's no better on the other side either :(

OP posts:

SchroSawMummyRidingSantaClaus · 18/12/2012 13:18

Oxford It wouldn't matter, they now expect even very disabled people to be able to work (for nothing) even if they have been found unfit for work by their own assesments

BelleoftheFall · 18/12/2012 13:22

Another example of Jobseeker's logic fail:

I recently did a course where about a third of the people on it had had it paid for by the job centre. They were told that they had to keep applying for jobs and if they found full time work at any point during the course they would have to leave at once, and would not be allowed to finish. So they could waste months of their time and effort studying towards this qualification (which they were doing to better themselves, would last a lifetime and is very much in demand) all for nothing, because their JSA would be stopped if they tried to carry on. Oh, and it would be a waste of the £1000 that Jobseekers had spent sending them on the course. Because all that matters to them is signing people off, not someone gaining a qualification that is far more likely to keep them employed in the long term.

shesariver · 18/12/2012 13:22

And what if you cant actually get to the job? My brother was threatened and would have his money cut if he didnt apply for a janitors job in a school that was impossible to get to by public transport for an early start. Hows that fair?

twofingerstoGideon · 18/12/2012 13:24

Glitterknickaz · 18/12/2012 13:27

Well considering all the above - forced workfare when inappropriate PLUS I have heard of people being told by their advisor to apply for work in sex shops and on sex chat lines (fine if you want to, not fine if you're being forced to) then OP YABVU.

KellyEllyChristmasBelly · 18/12/2012 13:31

If you're wanting free money the government is entitled to ask what you are doing to change that situation. Well for anyone who has worked in their lives and paid taxes and National Insurance it isn't free money is it?

Their £40 has to pay for food, gas, electric, tv licence, water rates etc..etc.. >> THIS!

Can we stop these wanky superior threads please. Oh and have a . I'm not going to give you a festive one as you certainly aren't in the festive spirit OP and all the other benefit bashers.

MakeItALarge · 18/12/2012 13:31

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

KellyEllyChristmasBelly · 18/12/2012 13:31

Try again If you're wanting free money the government is entitled to ask what you are doing to change that situation. Well for anyone who has worked in their lives and paid taxes and National Insurance it isn't free money is it?

EllieArroway · 18/12/2012 13:31

I understand its unfair to those who have been on JSA short-term and genuinely looking , but these ppl have been on And off JSA for years and years !

You know this how? It's bullshit, actually.

I've been unemployed for 2 months (starting a new job in Feb, thank fuck). I am currently on a sanction (right over Christmas, nice eh?) because I was offered a course on basic literacy & numeracy at college and said I'd rather not attend due to the fact that I have a degree, so hardly need help with literacy.

So, frankly OP, fuck off. Thank you.

SchroSawMummyRidingSantaClaus · 18/12/2012 13:32

Glitter I had an old adviser telling me I should apply for some "modelling" job that was advertised and a job in a strip club (as a pole dancer)! Apparently I would have been good at it because of my hypermobility WTAF?

OhSantaClaussOhOh · 18/12/2012 13:35

Ever wondered why some people don't seem to be able to get a job??

Because it looks the very easy solution to say it's because they lack motivation in a time when the level of unemployment is about 10% of the population.
Actually it looks like a a lazy solution to the problem. If these people don't have a job, it's their fault so we can happily forget about them and their problem....

I am really wondering what you are expecting these people are suppose to do? More 200 miles from where they live, even though their partner has a job where they live? Become self employed and create a new business even though they have no experience/qualification/support in running a business (and probably few skills to 'sell').
Or do you expect that the perfect job for them will magically appear once they have reached a certain number of applications?

cheekybaubles · 18/12/2012 13:35

Were they joking Schro? :O

SchroSawMummyRidingSantaClaus · 18/12/2012 13:36

No! In all fairness, she was lovely (in a weird way) and wouldn't have sanctioned me for not applying for the jobs she suggested.

She wasn't joking though, she was just a bit mad.

SantaJaxx · 18/12/2012 13:52

OP YABU, but you know that don't you.

I'm starting a retail course in January that my advisor has signed me up for. It's to teach people how to work in retail and they give you a basic maths and English qualification as well. I have years and years of retail experience, can use a bloody till with my eyes closed. And I've got maths and English G.C.S.E.'s. But if I refuse to go on the course (which lasts 3 months, and probably costs thousands) I'll be sanctioned. So I'll waste my time and theirs and go on the course to keep my advisor off my back, and just hope I get a bloody job soon.

Oh I apply for around 30-40 jobs a week, OP is that enough for you? Do you think I'm "earning" my JSA? Around 10 of those jobs I haven't got a hope in hell of getting as I'm not qualified or don't have the relevant experience, but again I apply to keep my advisor happy.

meddie · 18/12/2012 13:56

My daughter was sanctioned for failing to attend her sign on. Despite the fact that she was in A&E at the time, off her head on morphine getting her broken ankle plastered. We had tried to phone from the hospital but didn't get through in time to speak to anyone (hers was a 9:10 sign on) It was 9:30 by the time i got through. If she hadn't been living at home and had no support what was she supposed to live on...

millie30 · 18/12/2012 13:59

Are people really being advised to apply for sex work jobs? This would be my worst nightmare. I'm due to go onto JSA next summer when DS turns 5, I am currently half way through an OU degree to try to improve my long term employment prospects and search daily for any job that I would be qualified to do. But the idea of being sanctioned for refusing to work on sex lines makes me feel sick.

FrothyOM · 18/12/2012 14:03

Merry Fucking Christmas!

OxfordBags · 18/12/2012 14:10

I know, Schro - I'm one of them

Allergictoironing · 18/12/2012 14:20

OP has probably run away because they haven't had people saying "yes, disgusting all these scroungers", and therefore not seen some of our real life anecdotes.

Those people saying they can't afford the fares to interviews, your Job Centre should have told you about TIS (Travel to Interview Scheme) whereby they are supposed to pay you your travel costs for any interview you attend, preferably by giving you a travel warrant in advance for the journey by public transport. Of course this is surrounded by restrictions which can make it really had to get the money, but can be well worth it if you push for it. Examples of my local Job Centre screwing up TIS was the time when they tried to refuse to pay me as I hadn't applied in advance (was called for a 9am interview in central London at 4.45 the afternoon before), the time I had to leave the JC before getting my travel warrant because I would have missed the train & been late for the interview having waited over an hour at the JC for aforementioned warrant, or the time they said they would only pay me petrol cost for an interview in Central London because the mileage was cheaper than the train & tube fare despite there being no parking and in the congestion charge zone. But with a typical rush hour fare for me into London including the tube costing nearly £20, well worth the effort!

Those saying that benefit cuts are an incentive to get a job - in my field there are typically 2-300 applicants for every role, and at least half of them are well qualified for the job. I do apply for everything that I'm qualified for but the majority of adverts these days insist on things that aren't really relevant just because they can - there's sure to be a couple of these applicants that can do the extras they want, or have a degree (at over 50 so 30 years past University age that really shouldn't matter!), or have worked in an identical department in the identical industry sector (not really relevant to what I do).

Narked · 18/12/2012 14:22

Pretty TwoFingers

I love MN.

Anyone who thinks like the OP, please read the posts detailing how this 'works' in practice

Dawndonna · 18/12/2012 14:34

It's Christmas, OP, so feck off!

SoWhatIfImWorkingClass · 18/12/2012 14:36

YABU. Sounds like a very bleak position to be in.

And before you say anything, I too work (full time on NMW) and will also soon be on MA. Partner was made redundant when I was 5 months pregnant. We pay full rent and council tax, the meter eats our gas and electricity, we too are left with not very much weekly for the food shop, bus travel. But I don't sit here whining about it, it's life. I'm bettering myself in the job I'm doing.

Someone didn't apply for a job. Boo hoo. I don't see it as a feasible reason to take away their basic needs being covered. Just like those poor folk being taken advantage of by the businesses who don't want to pay a full wage for their staff. So they take a few freebies on. My OH quite blatantly refuses to sign on as he will not be lowered to that pittance of dignity given to jobseekers.

Hobbitation · 18/12/2012 14:37

Depends what the job is, whether they could get childcare, whether it would be worthwhile them taking it, whether they could afford the transport to get there. IMO lots of valid reasons for turning down specific jobs.

Hobbitation · 18/12/2012 14:43

Just did a quick search for any part time jobs on totaljobs.com within 10 miles of my address. Two positions for night time care workers, one for a registered nurse, two adverts for "self employed working from home be a stock trader" bollocks where you pay them for a course, an audio typist and a weekend receptionist.

Brilliant.

ConfusedPixieThinksSheIsAnElf · 18/12/2012 15:03

Actually I don't think yabu as long as the JSA advisors are decent. I had a couple of jobs that I couldn't apply for and had valid reasons for not applying to them so my JSA continued, but that was because I was lucky enough to see somebody who was sensible on the few occasions I couldn't agree to apply. However I know that there are many twats who are JSA advisors and they wouldn't listen to reason! I had many many issues with a few of them (one of whom took my money for attending an interview in Brighton that coincided with my sign on day, it was a lose-lose situation really! Luckily people upstairs sorted it relatively quickly!)

However considering the lack of decent advisors, I would say that YABU on the grand scheme of things.

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