to think this is akin to slave labour.

[northernsoul78]

A friend on JSA is expected to do 30 hours mandatory (voluntary) work in a charity shop for 30 hours per week and apply for at least 10 jobs per week. It wouldn't be so bad if the voluntary work wouldbe likely to lead to a job but ofcourse it won't.
Aibu

YNBU. I knew it woudnt take long for the benefit bashers to come out. Forgetting that they themselves could find them selves on benefits themselves one day.
Now whilst I believe that some form of work would be beneficial to keep the mind active and to give her something to get out for and a sense of contribution and self worth, and also to build up her CV. I'm sure everyone would agree on that but 30 hours is a bit of a piss take, not to put too finer point on it.
Now the NMW is £6.70. Now what's that times 30?. Well a lot more than what she receives on JSA.
So yes it is a type of slave labour. And sureley sge'd be able to apply for a lot more than 10 jobs per week. If she was not stuck doing voluntary work, well its not voluntary is it as she is being forced into it.

Why do you say of course it will not lead to a perm job. It will be great training in retail and get him back into the swing of working. Much better on his cv than just saying that he his looking for a job.

Charity shops have paid staff to, usually the manager, so their is potential to develop a career too.

Just looking at it from the other side, I manage a large volunteer service. Volunteering is wonderful for the charity, the volunteers and the community, and can be great for people who need to keep up their skills or develop new ones.

We don't and wouldn't use this scheme. Partly because of the ethical concerns, but also because a volunteer who is compelled to work isn't a volunteer. It changes the whole dynamic, and not for the better.

That said, we welcome jobseekers who volunteer because they want to keep their hand in.

YY Ghost

And there also seems to be the attitude on here that its ok for someone to be treated like this if there is no living proof that they have had sex without contraception.

In other words its ok if someone is childless.

I don't think it's about him "earning" his benefits but doing something constructive to help himself, therefore the hourly rate isn't relevant. It's far from perfect but neither is being long term unemployed

I think it should be paid at minimum wage. At 30 hours and depending on the timing of the shifts a person could be incurring wraparound childcare costs. Where I am children finish school at 2pm until they are in P3 and even then that is only mon-wednesday. Thursday is 2pm and friday 1.45pm. I would incurr childcare costs doing 30 hours per week.

Yes, because she's working for less than the minimum wage

But he has no choice unless he wants to lose his jsa. He is happy to volunteer on his own terms but vlearly wants a job and eould rather volunteer for less hours and have more time to job search.
yes single childless people on jsa are treated so badly. It is abpretty miserable exidtance live on just over 70.00 a week long term.

ghost you are right, any of us could suddenly become unemployed through redundancy. However, I know that if I couldn't find another.job in my profession, I would take whatever was going, be that cleaning, supermarket or basic office work long before I had been unemployed for 6 months. If I couldn't find a paid job I'd be happy to work in a charity shop in return for being supported by other tax payers.

As someone said upthread there are far too many people who think it is their right to sit on their backsides doing nothing while being financially supported.

Sorry a pretty miserable existance.

Add in council tax and housing benefit and any other benefits as well as jsa. How much does it equate to then?

Yanbu, they should have to volunteer for the amount of hours that jsa and being paid minimum wage would equate to. Which I believe is about 10 hours.

Not much if he's single and has no kids Miss

Oh, yeah, he's surely coining it on on JSA .

Which charity is this? Has it been mentioned? (So I know never to give them any money again.)

It's not "work" unless a wage is paid, and if it is work then the legal minimum wage should apply. And 30 hours a week restricts the time available to apply for actual jobs and to attend interviews.

"No, it's not slave labour because she is receiving payment - and this work is part of the conditions of receiving said payment. If she doesn't want the money, she didn't have to do the work."

70 pounds is not a fair wage for 30 hours work! Even slaves got their food paid!

northern unless your friend has child caring responsibilities, he still has masses of free time to job search. If he's working in a charity shop for 30 hours he has another 138 hours to fill every week - surely plenty of time to find another job?

The last time I was looking for a new job I was working about 50 hours a week, I still had time for job hunting.

A friend of mine had to do this. I always thought to myself that if I had to do it myself I would wear a thing around my neck saying I was forced into it to shame the charity. I suppose I would then just get sacked and sanctioned though, but it might draw make the charity or its customers think twice.

Not much at all miss. He's childless so his housing benefit will be calculated on the assumption that he can live in a house share. It will vary on average prices for the area but their version of average doesn't match actual private rents.

expat how much do you think an able bodied single person should be given every week to stay at home and do nothing? £100? £200? £500? The whole point is that it is just enough to get by on - if people can't be bothered to work, surely they cannot expect to receive the same amount of money they would if they had a job?

I think it's an appalling exploitation of vulnerable people. If someone is doing the job, they should be paid the NMW - end of. It is immoral to even think of defending these practices. It may not be slave labour, but it absolutely is exploitative.

Lets talk about bigger picture here. Working in frontline retail does not require much of a skill, extensive training or significant experience. Its not law firms or other high-end jobs we're talking about.

It's only temporary tho?

Op said he's been on jsa long term, so he's had plenty of time being looked after!

"The last time I was looking for a new job I was working about 50 hours a week, I still had time for job hunting."

The kind of job hunting you do when you have a job i.e. looking for a better job in a specific field is different to the kind of job hunting you're expected to do when you're unemployed.