Workfare scheme for loan parents of children as young as 3, as of next month.

[WaterLoadaCack]

kept that quiet didnt they

Can i ask something?
Is the workfare only for big companies?
If so, the small businesses- who already cant compete with the big chains-will be now even in a more disadvantage potition? It is very unfair on them too.

Lone parents work in just as wide a range of roles as everyone else. However in an tough economic climate mothers wanting to return after maternity leave or unable to stay at the office till 8pm every night are amongst the most vulnerable to being "let go". This is well documented.

The loss of a man doesn't suddenly reduce you to stupid or incapable too! My existing CV wasn't wiped clean just because I had to parent alone. It just restricts your choices in a way that until it happens to you personally is VERY hard to imagine. However many lone parents can and do work in responsible well paid fields. When the household income rests solely on one person's shoulders the incentive to work is always there.

Being able to self-select a volunteer role that will enhance your existing skills and experience is yet another example of the risk taking I referred to higher up the thread that is not permitted for single parents on welfare. There is no point in a midwife, management consultant or accountant doing workfare, but both could offer the charity sector real, much needed assistance, creating a win-win for organisations, charities, families and society as a whole.

There are so many Mums I've met who if only they could have the security to give it a go would together comprise that desperately engine of small business growth and innovation that historically has dragged this nation out of recession, time and time again. The current punative system means society instead of progressing, has begun to eat itself. That does none of us any favours.

EatShitDerek please don't take any of the shit that's been said on here personally. No one with an ounce of intelligence has anything but respect for people who are in your position.

Fideline's post at 11:05 sums up my feelings about this entirely. It makes me very sad.

I've been speaking to a woman this morning who has been a SAHM with bits of part time work and volunteering for 12 years whose husband left her just before Christmas. She feels terrified by the lack of control she has over her own life, literally terrified. When she was married, she chose when her DC went to childcare, where they went, what hours she worked etc. She will no longer have any say in this.

Her ex husband however gets to choose to do whatever the fuck he likes as he doesn't have 4 children to consider. As someone said up thread it's not just cruel it's mysoginistic.

I'm almost amused by how easily lone parents should apparently find a new job or keep their current one. In this economic climate, employers can ask for anything they want and the big one a lot ask for is flexibility and weekend working. I can't work evenings. I can't work weekends. I can't work nights. Why would someone choose me over someone who could work any time day or night? Yes, I've got qualifications and experience but that's no good if I can't do the shifts they want.

Okay, I'll retrain then. Oops, no funding available if you already have qualifications. You can have a loan though to cover course fees (if you do a level 3 or 4) but that won't help with living costs or childcare (and you might not get help for that with the bursary because DING DING DING you already have qualifications). Oh, and never mind the fact that you need a specific level 2 for most of these level 3 courses which cost hundreds or more which you don't have because you're a lone parent on benefits.

So you just rot in workfare instead.

Yep, it's definitely baffling how the general consensus seems to be that when my husband left he took my ability to read and count with him

workfare is appalling in itself.

for lone parents it is particularly awful. That parent may be the child's whole world if the other parent is absent.

Economically it is simply stupid. Forcing free labour for low paid jobs simply takes those jobs out of the market. It rarely gives the forced worker any useful experience either.

It is entirely politically motivated.

When's the next election so we can vote these vile clowns out?

In my local shop any vacancies would be advertised as specific shifts. During the day the shop assistants were mainly women in 30s and 40s, from chatting with them I know that they all had children. Early mornings and late nights it was usually younger people often students.

Now vacancies are advertised as 16 hours a week, must be available to work at all times. This is a shop which is open from 6am to 10pm, seven days a week. How the hell is a single parent meant to be able to get a job there? It is noticable that there is now only one woman in the age bracket mentioned above working there, the rest are either young people or people fifty plus.

13 and a bit months firstchoice

Workfare is simply punative.

It is a punishment for the crime of being unemployed.

Workfare in the past did have its uses. It involved training and/or day release. A company could only offer a placement if there was a strong possibility that full paid job would be available at the end. (OK many companies lied about this but at least the intent was there)

The jobseeker would also usually get a small amount on top of their JSA in addition to any travel expenses.

If this was really about getting people ready for work, used to work - then they would be paid. An important element of the "world of work" is actually getting paid for your efforts. How many of you would still do your job if it was unpaid?

sorry, was rhetorical, but cant come soon enough for me.
what worries me is, WILL they be voted out and / or will the 'next lot' reverse some of the appalling anti-women / anti-disabled / anti-poor laws they are making, or just carry on with them?

We have certainly successfully gone back to the Victorian notion of the deserving vs the undeserving poor if some threads on MN are anything to go by. Cameron, IDS et all will be rubbing their hands.
Divide and rule a tired, worried population.
It makes me want to weep.

I had a Danish fiancé long ago. I wish I had married him and moved there. Even if we had parted I would have ended up living in a civilised country which the UK no longer is.

Oops sorry . I thought maybe you'd lost track.

I disagree with this on several counts:

1. It has been clearly demonstrated already that workfare simply provides free labour for large companies. Rarely does it lead to individuals being offered permanent positions because why pay someone to do something when you have an endless supply of free labour? Meanwhile, the state is paying these companies to be involved in the scheme. These companies are being paid to get free labour!

1. It is often self-defeating. What is the point of forcing someone qualified in a specific field to do an unpaid job in another, when working that job means they are unable to attend job interviews or gain experience somewhere else that is actually more likely to result in them getting a paid job more appropriate to their skills and with benefit to society at large when they become a tax payer?

1. The Children's Society report on the welfare of children in this country concluded that the children of divorced or separated parents adapted much better to that split when the primary carer (i.e. the single parent) was around much more to support the child in the first year or so following the split. Many, many benefit-dependent lone parents are dependent on benefits precisely because they have just gone through the breakup of their relationship and it takes time to re-establish a sustainable life. Workfare will simply add to stress, upheaval and emotional instability for the child.

1. Even if childcare is fully funded for the workfare duration, there is no guarantee that it can be found. Unless you live in an urban area, it is nigh-on impossible to find childcare that operates before 8am or after 6pm. Many workfare roles are NMW-type roles, and as such quite often work on shift patterns. If a lone parent can't get childcare to suit, will she be found to be non compliant?

I'm really surprised that anyone agrees with this . Most people who agree really haven't thought it through. People who are unemployed are not all cider drinking imbeciles who cannot read or write . Many are qualified professional people. My friend who is a accountant has recently been made redundant through no fault of her own. She says a doctor was trying to sign on when she went to the jobcentre.

There are many unemployed engineers , hairdressers , Managers., it engineers ,.care staff , secretary's , builders , teachers ect . Whatever your job , it is highly likely that you can be replaced for free by a equally qualified experienced person on workfare.

I challenge anyone who says they support it to suggest it as a cost cutting measure to your boss. Point out there's really no need to be paying you x amount of money each month. They can replace you for free , again and again , and again.

Has anyone actually considered what it would mean for them if their company started using workfare? Do you not value your jobs ?

I've only just discovered another little yet molehill, in my quest to escape the benefits trap, following an appointment with my lone parents advisor today.

It seems that if you do risk all to take a role on a zero hours contract then you are not eligible for working tax credits, though of course your entitlement for IS or jobseekers is no longer valid either! Once again IF you have a partner with a steady income, this is a risk worth taking to get that all important write up for your CV, but for a single parents they'd have to be doolally to lose their entitlement to HB, IS, JSA etc with no guarantee of an income.

It certainly brought home to me, one cause of the growing queues at the foodbanks that's for sure.

Mysogynistic doesn't begin to cover it, when looked at as part of a wider picture, and I'm suprised that more people aren't deeply concerned for the future of their daughters and grandkids.

I think people are under the false belief that it will never happen to them or their families bochead. After all, workfare never happens to people who want to work hard and have qualifications. And relationship breakdowns don't happen to fine upstanding people who work hard in life. It could NEVER happen to someone like them!

It's not always relationship breakdown - widows/widowers are a significant minority of lone parents. It's also amazing how many seemingly rock solid insurance policies turn out to be hardly worth the paper they are written on when it comes time to claim. Accident or serious illness can remove the finest of marriage partners from people's lives in a tragic instant.

It's a key reason why I'd hit the roof if any of the youngsters in my family ever announced they wanted to marry a man in the military too. A man in the forces is at increased risk of death or permanent disability and this nation does NOT look after them or their families properly after they've made the ultimate sacrifice for us. There are other jobs such as firefighters, and the police to whom this could also probably be applied.

Example - Lee Rigby left behind a two year old. The mother in that case is probably high profile enough to get school yard sympathy, but what of the parent whose partner is murdered yet doesn't make the national press? In cases like this older children probably cling more to the surviving parents than the tinies do (not sure as not a shrink but I can see a 15 year old in this situation needing a LOT of parental support!)

0-hour contracts are a disgrace and responsible for huge amounts of anxiety and poverty, especially in conjunction for the fact that they make those on them ineligible for any kind of state support even if there is no work.

More taxpayer subsidies for big business!

Sick of this fucking government.

badbalding

I posted about this on another thread yesterday.
My ds works at Asda, workfare employees started work in his dept, warehouse yesterday. The present warehouse staff have been moved on to checkout.
Guess what - announcement that 30 staff are to be made redundant from checkout over next couple of months. Workfare total was 25.
All the people who are supporting this clearly haven't thought it through.
In addition not all workfare jobs will be min wage and also those who are well qualified with previous experience will only need up to date training and then they'll be the ones going for the middle jobs. So those hoping to work their way up from junior may well be shafted.

Meant to ask you about this yesterday potato; how close together were the announcements?

That's awful potatoes , I hope you've boycotted them.

That's awful, morethanpotatoprints. That will be happening in all these companies. Just further proof that anyone supporting workfare is an idiot.

I take it that this is only if the taxpayer is funding the lone parent's lifestyle. Otherwise it would indeed be terrible.

This really scares me. I have no help around me. Completely alone. I was hoping to be able to wait till my child starts reception in September before going back to work. Even now it's only 9-11 in the school nursery. What am I going to do if I get called up for work experience? I've worked since I was 16, all while going a-levels and two degrees. I don't need a recap! Just how am I going to juggle school drop off, work for free and pick up in two hours? Pay for extra child care from my income support and tax credits? What about in the school holidays? Yet another thing to worry about.