to think the job centre making you apply for every job is pointless and a waste of time

[wheresthelight]

I appreciate that they want to make sure people are actually applying for jobs but when I was using the service over christmas they were making me apply for jobs massively below my previous career position which meant I was getting loads of rejections for being over qualified etc (not a stealth boast) and I felt awful knowing i was wasting the time of the employer having to go through cvs that were never going to be suitable.

the job I now have (and love) involves some recruitment and I have spent much of the last week ringing people up to invite them for trial/interview and when you speak to them the basic requirements of the job spec are not met ie one of the essential requirements is to hold a full UK driving licence. at least 70% haven't had one and when I say sorry but it's an essential criteria (job is field based) they are pretty dismissive and basically say yeah they know but job centre told them to apply. it is really bloody annoying and a complete waste of time!

Battery would have done well as a member of a Victorian Board of Guardians of the poor.
That system led to all kinds of injustice and sheer human misery. That is why by degrees the Welfare state was built. Of course it was never perfect and signing on or claiming disability benefits was never pleasant.
But now there seems to be a determination to dismantle all that has been achieved and go back to truly 'Victorian values'.

Do you know what though? If the government got rid of JSA and DLA and Income Support and whatever other benefits you can think of, they're not going to tax me any less, my NI contributions aren't going to stop, I'm not going to suddenly have a brand new school opening at the end of the street or a rebate cheque in my letter box. They'll still take the same amount from me and it'll go off into the vast unknown to be spent on goodness knows what.

I don't actually have an issue with 'my' money going to support people who need it and I don't think it's down to me to say who is or isn't worthy of that support. I don't feel hard done by or angry about it. The whole point of a society is that you help each other, you look after the people who need looking after because one day that could be you or it could be someone you love.

Livid when her parents get older and/or infirm and start needing care your friend will see things differently

Late to the party I am currently reading Chavs The Demonization of the Working Classes by Owen Jones. This book explains how well propaganda works and how people on a low income have become hated and despised because of it.

battery the point of this thread was not about the amount of jsa it was about the fact the job centre who are meant to be helping people back into work are absolutely useless and actually put people off using them and even considering the applicants that come through as we know they are only doing it because they have to jot because they want the job.

and the blanket ban on non drivers has no baring on the disability act because it is an essential requirement. the job is field based and exceptionally physical. I would happily consider someone with a disability as long as they could still drove a car although unfortunately I suspect the nature of the job would rule out many physical disabilities simply due to the nature of the role as it cannot be adapted.

although I did get a good laugh today when one of the jobmatch cvs was entitled "awsom worker" not sure what made me smile more, the arrogance or the fact the spelling was so bad

When I got my nursing qualification last year I had a job but obviously had to wait for dbs usual employment checks So I was basically unemployed for 3 months waiting for it all. I went for my initial interview at job centre and was told I'd have to apply for any job I could do, when I explained I already had a job they just said I have to keep applying for jobs despite the fact I already had one. I showed them evidence that I had for the past 6 months applies for every single rmn post in my area (and further afield despite not driving and them being too far on public transport) but was still told I'd have to keep applyING for jobs. I asked how that works with jobs like I have that require lengthy employment checks but they just said You have to keep applying for jobs. In the end I just told them to stick it and just got into debt for 3 months... im not wasting my own time and employers time applying for jobs when I already had one.

I don't know if this Welfare Benefits and Tax Credits Handbook might help anybody, it is very pricey but I think it's worth getting.

I have used this book or something similar about 20 odd years ago, when advising/helping unemployed teens to claim their rightful benefits. I think it was on sale in Waterstones at the time

I wonder if "batty" batteryoperatedwag* will read this post & clutch pearls, hoick "judgey pants up to her neck and go running and wailing to her husband crying "Oh no, the peasents have been being given info about a book, that will help them claim even more benefits"(1).
Her husband jumps up, pulls on a pair of baggy grey y-fronts (over his trousers) and rushes out of the door to correct things and thinks better of the idea, removes y-fronts and fucks off down the pub for a few hours R&R?

*ok it is nasty. but in my defence M'lud, she started it with her stupid, vapid tory way of thinking comments.
(1) That was sarcasm, in case "batty" doesn't realise. Or is she going to set her local coppers on to me, just because she can't afford a sense of humour?

btw batty, you can get a sense of humour from your local dole office as a free benefit!.

People wonder why I don't apply for benefits! I am house sharing with my ex and he's keeping me (long and complicated, not willing to go into it). He's my best friend we just don't work as a couple. I'm scared if I do I'll have to go through this. I have fibromyalgia, DSD, PGP and a few other similarly annoying things. I can go months where I barely leave my bed for winter flare, my PGP is flaring at the moment, one night of insomnia and I'm useless for days. One day of overdoing it and I'm useless for days. I can't sit/ stand/ lie for too long, some days the only relief I can get is to walk, others it's lying down and if I'm sitting it's supported with my feet up.

I couldn't do 35 hours of applying for a job and what's my chance of finding an employer who will want such an unpredictable employee? The way things are these days I don't expect to be allowed benefits either.

I hate to see people trapped in poverty by the overexpansion of the state, handouts are neither compassionate nor helpful IMO.
Erm, I take it you don't know what the word "contributions" means? Contributions based jsa, maternity allowance, and pension are no more handouts than paying into a private insurance company. You just can reasonably expect the NI contribution to pay out if you're down on your luck, rather than entering the paperwork hell of insurance companiesdetermined to win their bet that people would pay in but not need it.