AIBU to think some job seekers should/could be earning their allowance?

[CiderLover]

I have been unemployed in the past so I'm not hating on people claiming benefits.

I just think that it's a shame there are so many able bodied people out there doing nothing*.

Even if it were one day a week, litter picking, cleaning up our beaches, removing graffiti etc.

This way they could add voluntary work to their CV and help maintain their local area.

Isn't this an obvious suggestion?

*This may not be correct

Referring to the comment in your second OP - you said you spent ages looking for voluntary positions without success - I am very involved in the voluntary sector and find that almost unbelievable - nearly every voluntary organisation is desperate for volunteers and it is very, very rare that anyone is turned away.

What sort of volunteer positions were you looking for ?

goblin Anybody would be better than her tbh, she was horrendous. I still cannot get over how patronising she was.

It was bad enough personally, she noticed that I had an interest/preference for childcare roles and really berated me for not wanting to apply to apprenticeships which would end up with me borrowing money from my parents to cover travel each week (again, in a town a 20/30 minute train ride away and then a bus journey too for a lot of the nurseries) and would end up with me living with them for a year or two to finish a level 2.

I felt so sorry for these guys who had just fallen onto bad times having her pick apart their career history and preferred roles the way she did.

Agree with Compo.

If there is a job pay a wage.

When did "wage" become such a dirty word.

Funny how if someone finds a voluntary position off their own bat while on JSA they are told they cant do it because it will lesson the amount of time they spend looking for work yet full time workfare doesn't.

i'll have a refund on my national insurance then thanks so I can get normal insurance instead

Pixie I had that shit in the past.

If it ever happens to me in the future I will be recording it and putting it up on Twitter.

YABU. Why not just create poor houses again?

Seriously if there is community work like litter picking that needs doing then unemployed people could do it.... for a wage... as part of a JOB also known as employment.

JSA is what, £75 week approx for over 25s.... hardly a fortune and not even enough to live off if you are made unemployed for a significant amount of time.

' really berated me for not wanting to apply to apprenticeships which would end up with me borrowing money from my parents to cover travel each week (again, in a town a 20/30 minute train ride away and then a bus journey too for a lot of the nurseries) and would end up with me living with them for a year or two to finish a level 2. '

On less than £3 an hour. Apprenticeships are not even minimum wage.

There are many women both young and older who feel that the sex industry is the only route available out of poverty.
In 2000 I was on Labours New Deal After completing 3 months workfare which was a combination of a placement at a charity shop and one at the local council those "lovely people" at Pelcombe (the full ND was overseen by Reed) they wanted me to do yet ANOTHER 3 months workfare at a soup factory. I found an advert for a job in a sex chatline office and took it. Not everyone can cope with it and I did spend the first 3 days in a state of high anxiety but after that I settled into it and made some great friends in the other young women who were working there.
That was a long time ago but I have had discussions on threads with someone who has exited the industry and she says the uptake has surged since 2010.
This is one of the reasons why I CANNOT get on board with this idea of stricter benefits rules for those aged between 18 and 21.
It will also be harsher on young children who are exiting the care system

Just after I started the chatline job my boss had a visit during the day (I worked nights there back then) from the bastards which must have been Reed or Pelcombe (I shouldn't imagine it was the JC as they had it all to gain by me signing off) The private companies overseeing THIS workfare back then got paid for everyone they sent on placement though. I was lucky at the time. My then new boss told them to piss off. But they could have easily lost me that job. I would have had to sign on again and be back in their clutches.

I saw a blog appear on my Twitter feed recently. Reed still have their fingers in this particular pie and are STILL treating ppl like shit!!!!

Wow # ephemeral # !
A 1000 word personal statement!
I hope you get the job.

I like # usual # 's idea. What do you think OP and some other posters, would you agree to that?

I can't see any reason why voluntary community work couldn't be an option open to people but facilitated by the job centre. If people weren't forced to do it, no one would have any valid reason to complain that about workfare and slavery and workhouses, because it would be truly voluntary.

It might actually benefit some people, oddly enough, some people enjoy doing community work, as evidenced by the fact that lots of people already do it for free.

YABU.

For some people litter picking/cleaning graffiti is a valid job, and one they would appreciate having for their entire working lives, and for which they should be paid a living wage.

Other people, such as my SIL would be rubbish at anything physical, but are highly educated, and could something academic, should they ever be forced to given the opportunity or chose to look for a job

another one who thinks if there is work to be done then pay someone the going rate and employ them. Yes there are plenty of voluntary opportunities out there for those who want them, many do, but some people actually want / need paid work. I also get hacked off royally at the stereotype that everyone on benefits is an illiterate scrounger, there are people on benefits who may fit that stereotype but the vast majority are people with varying skills that are out of work / redundant etc. I had a 6 month spell on JSA and felt so patronised, I was earning £35,00 in my job prior to redundancy in a specialist field... they wanted to lecture me about how to dress appropriately for an interview and send me to a course aimed at using a computer, there was no recognition that I could already do all that, and really, did they honestly expect me to apply for a minimum wage job in a care home with no desire to care and certainly no skills in that field? I took great delight in handing them my final sheet saying I had got a new job. there is a need for the additional skills stuff for people who do not have them but honestly what a waste of precious resources making people with degrees do basic training stuff.

OMG I just found this. They've copied and pasted some old posts from when I used to use MSE before I discovered MN.

intensiveactivity.wordpress.com/2009/11/18/reed-in-partnership-what-kind-of-partners-for-the-unemployed/

minimum wage job in a care home with no desire to care and certainly no skills in that field

And then they wonder how situations like Winterbourne View occurred.

When I was unemployed way back the job centre told me National insurance was insurance for when I had no job.
My husband earned but I could still claim.
Used to drive to sign on and offered to take neighbours daughter.
Some jobsworth deliberately changed her day so she spent her benefit on bus fare.
Nasty people (some) in benefit offices.

*minimum wage job in a care home with no desire to care and certainly no skills in that field

And then they wonder how situations like Winterbourne View occurred.* exactly my thoughts

Voluntary community work is an option open to people. Or used to be.

It doesn't need the JobCentre adding bureaucracy. Unfortunately, as pointed out above, they're slightly more likely to get in the way of genuine voluntary work.

Darkest I think I'll be making a fuss if it happened to me again in future too tbh. At the time I was horribly depressed (I don't cope well living in my hometown/with parents) and young/naive. I do remember distinctly thinking that the way she was speaking to us was horrid, but I thought nobody would care. This one guy in particular looked heart broken. We had a cigarette break where he mentioned having children to support and his wife was working all hours under the sun because he lost his job.

Goblin I must admit, I wasn't against apprenticeships in general, I had done one before and was willing to do a childcare apprenticeship if it meant getting into a childcare career, but none came up locally, it just didn't happen often and volunteers for the nurseries got those placements first. The issue was that the train travel to and from work would exceed my earnings each week, which made it null and void. I couldn't live at a loss for a year or so whilst my parents paid everything.
I do think that apprenticeships can be a good thing, but unfortunately, many companies take their apprentices for granted and really take the piss.

I did get a job in a care home on JSA. Managed the training and then left after my first day shadowing. It was horrendous. I'd had fag breaks with the staff who had no enthusiasm for the role, happily admitted that they did it because they had no other options, bitched and moaned about the residents, etc. In front of the residents they were nice and friendly, never a problem with the care of them, but they didn't have any desire to be in that job and there was a high turnover of staff. This was a care home for those with dementia.

I feel very lucky to be out of the area and working now.

Amen - I lovecoreyhaim - I certainly agree with you. I am signing on at the moment after looking after my terminally ill mum for almost a year.
I am looking for jobs in Hampshire and London. I am based in London but still down in Hampshire sorting out mum's stuff and going over legal stuff with my brother and awaiting the funeral.

The lady at the job centre told me they would expect me to look for full time jobs (during my time down her I was looking for part time jobs but never got anywhere). I guess they are hoping not to pay any extrs to someone doing part time work? Most jobs are and most are carer jobs. Pointless as you need a car down here.

It takes soooooo long to fill in one application form (praying your computer does not freeze). I got in a rage when one asked if I was disabled. Sorry, considered my self disabled. I put no. Instead of then being able to skip to the next question, it asked if I had this and that disability and I had to put n/a about four times! Ok I guess it is so that people not considering themselves disabled but they have a or b would then have to admit to being disabled. I don't know.

I know application forms, interviews etc are a necessary evil and I do want a job -not only to pay the rent but also mentally it mst be better than being at home, seeing no one, talking to no one. I feel my art of conversation is dead and my brain gone to mush.

I have to rejig my CV now apparently so that will keep me quiet for a whlle before I start the next round of job seeking.