Weekly JSA grillings are a waste of time

[feellikeahugefailure]

My jobcenter is asking people to come in every week, my advisor rolls her eyes at it and apologises for dragging me in (pretty much 3 hour round trip with rubbish local buses and waiting times) and it really cuts into my time.

Its almost like they are trying to make it difficult to put people off.

RegularShow thats awful and could be bloody dangerous. What if it causes an incidence of stalking when a woman has had to give her name out over the air. Im not signing on but if i was and i had to do this i have a very unusual surname. What about identity theft?

It's a safe guarding issue. What about a mum who has had to flee from an abusive partner, and next second her details are all over the radio. Or does safe guarding not apply to lone parents and their children, IDS or anyone unemployed for that matter.
Is it only the rich and privileged born with diamante spoons in their mouths that are protected.

Exactly Ghost Appalling

It's shocking that there isn't more awareness of this. I was unemployed for about 4 months 3 years ago and had to sign on. It was one of the most stressful and humiliating periods of my life. I was sanctioned for attending a job interview, the same as many others on here.

I think it's Lanark who makes the excellent point about the Universal Jobmatch website. I cannot get my head around how that can be classed as a job centre website. It is nothing more than page upon page of recruitment agencies advertising already filled or wholly fabricated jobs. It's absolutely immoral.

I've signed the petition.

At the risk of sounding dense, what pertition is that?

BadDoGooder
For example a friend of mine who is very intelligent and has a good degree, was sent on a basic literacy and numeracy course (at taxpayer expense) just so they could tick some boxes.

My oldest has a degree and was sent on the same course. They're a shower of prats.

I was asked about my IT skills - I have worked in desktop publishing, taught IT Functional Skills but I wouldn't mind ideas on accounts packages, I said.

I was sent to their mandatory IT session where a PC out of the ark took 15 minutes of my life to run a Google search and send an email. The lecturer was someone I had worked with, she was totally embarrassed and had to bite her tongue to stop saying what she thought about it!

It was linked on page 2 I think Geek

Here's the petition again

I'm reporting this thread in the hope that Mumsnet HQ decides to campaign against sanctions and increase awareness of how the system is destroying people who are desperate for work

Sorry for shouting but maybe if everyone on this thread did the same they might take more notice

Ridiculous benefit sanctions Not a Daily Fail link, unsurprisingly!

Signed. I'm disgusted by some of the stories, re the person that set themselves alight in the Jobcentre - why in gods name was this not reported / a top news story? Or dare I ask..., yet another reason I am losing the will with this country...

Why would they sanction you for attending a job interview!?

I have signed the petition. Shocking stories on here.

In my case, I had to go to the job centre to show that I'd been "actively seeking work". There's a little booklet you have to fill in and give to your super helpful adviser to prove it. I rang to say that I had a job interview on the same day I had to go in to the JC, for a job I found myself I hasten to add, and could I rearrange the appointment. They said no, if I didn't attend then I'd be disengaging from the service and sanctioned. I couldn't rearrange the job interview and my benefit was stopped for two weeks.

Toooldforglitter I am flabbergasted. How can those who run this system lack so much common sense? It is absolutely disgusting.

I have signed it. I hope this is a good signal boost since the petition has been around for some time. However, this petition has seen a lot of recent interest.

The experiences here are horrific and what's more frightening is that these are just a few of the things we are hearing about. This goes on every day up and down the UK. Those that need help are demonised in the press and by some who believe the drivel they print about all claimants living a life of luxury. It's disgusting. People are dying as a direct result of these sanctions and those in power are sitting doing nothing or making the situation worse by adding more obstacles to conquer for already vulnerable people. I've signed the petition and hope this really takes off.

Should this post have a title to reflect the information and petition within?

does anyone know about the benefit cap? it used to be £500 per week for a family this year they are reducing it to £385 per week this includes housing benefit which if you're in private rental makes up a massive part of your benefit (its more than a third more than housing association in my area) so the more rent you pay the less food you can eat and they are cutting it all at once no gradual decrease my landlord is panicking (social landlord) and contacting all tenants offering them budgeting advice and help getting back into work they are even sponsoring training and volunteer sessions which im sorry to say is more than my local jobcentre plus is doing

Why would they sanction you for attending a job interview!?
Because they can.

They are also harassing people with disabilities. There is a group (Support group) that do have to attend, but regular letters arrive requesting that you attend. It's not until you ring up and say 'Is it mandatory' that they back off for a while.

I can't help but seriously wonder what the fuck we are blindly allowing to happen.

I agree with this thread.

However, what should we actually do with the unemployable?

When my DP was signing on last year he was threatened with a sanction unless he signed up to the army recruiters who were in the office.