to think most part-time workers don't know what's about to hit them?! (Universal Credit)

[aufaniae]

Do you work part-time and get Working Tax Credit or Housing Benefit?

Did you know that once you're on Universal Credit, you'll be expected to attend the Job Centre to prove that you're looking for better paid work / more hours, in much the same way as unemployed people must prove they're looking for work.

If the Job Centre find an interview for you, you will have to attend (with 48 hours notice) even if it clashes with your paid work.

If you are offered a job with more hours, or better pay than your current one, you will be obliged to take it, even if you have good reason for not wanting to e.g. it's only a temporary post (whereas your current one is permanent) / has no training & worse prospects than your current job / makes picking your children up from school impossible / requires you to travel much further / has nothing to do with the career you're following.

If you don't attend the interview and/or take the job, your UC will be sanctioned, you will lose the UC for months or even years (depending on if it's your first infraction).

You will be forced to continue "upgrading" your job until you earn the equivalent of minimum wage for 35 hours a week.

I suspect there are lots of people (e.g. parents who work part time so they can pick their kids up from school) who will be affected by this, but don't realise it yet.

More info here

Oh well maybe don't start pretending you have a nursing degree that will end badly.

"The only reason people arent working is because they are not prepared to take a low paid job (hotel work, packing veg etc) as they are better off on benefits."

this isn't true. no-one is better off on benefits than being in work, especially people with children due to working/child tax credits. apologies for cut and paste:

A person under 25 working for the minimum wage for 37 hours a week receives a net salary of £204.36. Jobseekers Allowance for those under 25 is £56.25. The maximum available Housing Benefit for someone under 25 in Birmingham (for example) is £55.

This means that a young person in work, in almost all areas of the UK, is almost twice as well off as someone on unemployment benefits. Even in expensive Kensington & Chelsea the maximum Housing Benefit payment to those under 25 without children is £123.50. This is an exception due to the staggering cost of properties in a London borough which also has it?s share of children growing up in poverty. However a young person working in this borough (on minimum wage) is entitled to £30.49 a week in Housing Benefit. Or at least they were. George Osborne plans to change this.

The situation for working families with children is equally clear. Sadly even some workers at the lower end of the pay scale have bought into the relentless bullshit and bemoaned how they would be better off on benefits. They wouldn?t. No-one is. This is another lie and it?s time to nail it once and for all.

A single parent with two children living in Birmingham and renting in the private sector would receive maximum possible benefits of £348.14 (over a third of this would be in Housing Benefit payments which go to landlords). A single parent working on minimum wage for 37 hours a week, in otherwise the exact same circumstances, would receive a total of £445.86 in net wages and in work benefits.*

It?s important to note both these calculations are based on the minimum wage. As wages rise Housing Benefit is reduced at a tapered rate, meaning the difference between a better off earner and someone on benefits becomes even greater.

O Ffs Eliza don't you start on me too.

Can people please please please stop saying I'm not trying. I am. I BLOODY WELL AM.

No nursing it is what I am going to have if I pass

lazybastard I think that you are trying. I think that shit happens to lots of people when they least expect it.

'said child is now a medical student, so, I didn't do such a bad job.'

eh I'm not saying you didn't do a good job as a parent.But how is being a medical student evidence of this?

Thankyou line it makes it harder to believe you wil succeed eventually when people slag you off. I worry that's how employers view me.

Soch, what's wrong with being a medical student then????

It's not a case of not trying it's a case of directing your efforts effectively. I offered to run a course on this at the local job centre and was told to shove it up my arse so I do know what your up against.
The old methods of just sending out CV after CV they do not work anymore that is not how I got my last 3 jobs. It's all about networking, who you know, talking to the right people.

Eliza ive just asked my almost 63 yr old DH (hes a baby boomer too but without the baby boomer attitude)
He says it was better in the 70s that is now and that it was easier then because he was doing 3 12 hr days so that was 36 hrs in 3 days and then the other 2 days they used a generator which was shared between 3 small factories (note the lack of "im alright jack" here.) this was shared between 360 employees between the three sites. Food and drink was laid on for the employees FREE. In the circumstances ive described here from DH he says it was easier then BECAUSE THERE WAS WORK and you could finish in one factory one day and start in another the next day even with this 3 day week.
While this was all going on they were given fuel ration cards but you only had to mention where you worked to the garage and they guaranteed you would have the fuel.
All these companies ive mentioned were looking out for each other. DH says it was easier back then that it is now. (fuel ration cards they were given didnt even have to be used. Can you imagine that kind of selflessness happening now? Ha. Not by some of the attitudes ive seen on here!
Within this ten mile radius there were 7 contract firms which did the work for the bigger companies.
Now they would be fighting each other for contracts but back then they simply helped each other out with steel,materials etc which never got delivered because of the shortage of fuel.
Eliza DH has just said it was a completely different world back then so it cant be compared.
And they got paid OVERTIME RATE even on the 3 day week.

Mosman I barely know anyone, at least not anyone with influence over hiring. I obviously do know people. What else can I do other than send prospective letters and complete application forms. To which you rarely get a reply btw. I have presented myself at shops, restaurants and bars (not a pleasant experience). All said either not hiring or worse they were letting staff go.

Oh and another thing Eliza... in times of difficulty they ALL pulled together even the factories that were in competition with each other because they
couldnt afford to lose that amount of jobs.

You would not see this amount of pulling together now because of the "im alright jack" atttitude. And some of the posts here prove this point beautifully.

Applauds dark

Mosman have you not noticed we are in a triple-dip recession?

Your advice is not simply going to work for everyone, there are many more people than jobs. Do the maths!

We have to applaud my DH for that lazy. He was bloody furious when i read out Elizas posts.

aufaniae - it is bad, of course many people need to retrain, start thinking outside the box, networking.
What I am 99% sure will not work is firing off 10 CV's or applications a week, that's too random, I know it's what the job centre want they are playing the numbers game but a more targeted approach will work.

I dont see how uc will help anyone tbh.

I want free childcare for under 5 year olds so I could work.

Currently I would earn nmw just to pay a cm nmw to look after my child. Whats the point?

More info from DH. 65% of the work these factories in our area were doing back then was EXPORTED. Just saying.

Auf, that's OK if there aren't the jobs then people cannot work. Strange though in my part of the UK we need to import workers to fill jobs.

LB- If you are going into Nursing then the obvious choice is home care, do you have a car ? If so I'd almost guarantee you'll be offered some shifts with your background.
Have you spoken to the course facilitators about HCA roles that might fit around your studies.

I haven't mosman because I have been planning to continue in my current job while studying. My boss said she could offer some flexibility in my shifts to fit around shifts on placement.

Unless a member of your family is looking after your child and not receiving any money for it, there is no such thing as free child care. If you mean state funded child care, somebody will have to pay for that. I think there are pros and cons for state funded child care. Would it be means tested or not.

Yes to means tested. The poor will always exsite and breed and there will always be low paid jobs that need doing.

What a load of fucking shit.
I hope the rich bastard Tories (Cameron and his sidekick) read this.

Well done!!! (Claps hands)
Your doing a wonderful job!!!!!!

Sigh - cant even manage to be surprised or angry by this. We have Tory government. Torys don't believe in helping those less fortunate than themselves. Being socially divisive Is in their parties DNA. Looks down 5mo ds ( who is refusing to sleep in his cot after last feed) and hopes he is never poor or disabled under a Tory govt and that I can indtill in him enough compassion never to vote for them.