To have thought the jobcentre was meant to help you find a job?

[Houseonahill]

Just had an appointment with my work coach as after a few really hard years and only working part-time since having DD I wanted some advice on my options.

I am currently unqualified (the last exams i did were GCSEs) but would like to go and train to be a counsellor I asked how training would work with UC and if I was allowed to do a full time course (I'm a single mum and can't get child care evenings and weekends so working while doing it would be hard). The answer was she didn't know.

I asked if they could help me find a college/uni or if there is any they recommend or just any advice on it really as I'm new to the area. She gave me a leaflet for a company that will help you write a CV?!

I asked if my current zero hour contract at the pub would result in me being sanctioned as when I went back to work after maternity I went back full time but wasn't coping with being a single mum to a 6 month old and working full time so dropped my hours to 20 a week and they tried to sanction me and it took months of arguing and letters from my GP and MP for them to agree not to sanction me so I was worried if I had lots of hours one month and not many the next that would count as voluntarily dropping hours and I would be sanctioned........She didn't know.

She then went on to suggest I apply for a job in asda or as a home carer for elderly or disabled people???? Where did that even come from? I have a job and a plan for my future?

So basically, they know nothing about UC and how it works and can't or won't help me get back into training so I can eventually earn enough money to not rely on benefits to top up my wages. What exactly is they are meant to be doing if it's none of the above?

Grrr sorry for the rant.

The £3000 course I would go back to the college or university and ask how other people fund themselves example do they take out a student loan, a private loan, are there bursary funds available, impact of universal credit.

The staff are there to ensure you are looking for work and process benefits - there's an element of job coaching (my friend is in charge of that department) but it's more for those with complex needs. They allowed me 3 months to find a job with no nagging then suggested that I was looking for something that didn't exist so needed to lower my expectations to jobs actually available.

There was a time when you could walk into the Jobcentre and see jobs advertised on boards.
This is, no longer, the case.
During a period of unemployment, I was at the Jobcentre for a lone parent meeting. I asked about what part time jobs were available, if I could use their computers to search or if they could print me out a list.
Nope, was told to look online at home (no internet at the time) or go to my local library with my toddler.
I found them really unhelpful.
I found a job in the end with no help from them. Although it annoys me that my lone parent 'coach' got credit for me coming off the books though she did fuck all.
Something is now seriously wrong with the whole Jobcentre concept if they really can't help a person find a job.

Working for the DWP in the current claye is not a "soft job" and anyone who thinks it is is pretty ignorant. As in any role some people are more competent than others.

Incidentally as a qualified careers adviser and a qualified counsellor I'm pretty certain that there won't be any DWP funding. The OP should be eligible for an adult learning loan. Colleges running courses should be able to advise and the National Careers Service may operate in her area.

current climate sorry.

I very much doubt you’d be able to get funding for a course from them. IME, the only courses you can do that they will pay for and allow you to attend are their own on CV writing/debt advice as pp have said. Around 20 years ago I was unemployed (around the ‘New Deal’ time if anyone remembers that) and was told I’d have to be OOW for 6 months before any training would be considered and even then, I couldn’t just decide I wanted to be a plumber or whatever, it would be a course they decided with their ‘approved provider’.

If that was aimed at me Sooty.
I wouldn't mind getting paid to sit there saying "I don't know".

If you are accepted for counselling training you will also have to find time to complete clinical hours and fund your own personal therapy and supervision as well as the actual course fees. What do you plan to do with the qualification after the course?

They aren't careers advisers - does your local careers service offer adult services? That might be worth a try?

It referenced your post, yes. I don't think you know what the role requires if you're trying to do it well. This woman obviously isn't very good but not all advisers are like that.

I would say that any of the coach's in a JC are unfit for purpose, all the time. As A N Other Poster has said, they simply don't get the training or any information on am/any of the new schemes as they are introduced.

Much as the 'customer' thinks they are all bloody useless and feels entitled to tell them so, the staff must be the most demoralised people I have ever met. I met a couple of utter horrors when I signed on and wanted to be sent to the New Enetrpise Allowance, total chocolate teapots. But, much as it was a 'head vs wall' experience it wasn' their fault, they had no idea what I was talking about!

One coach me for talking her through the NEA - she was supposed to be their specialist advisor and had had 2 hours training and was given a ticklist (which was incorrect!!). She had no idea and I was her first NEA applicant. In my first 20 minute session we fleshed out her ticklist and every appointment after that we talked through what had happened and what I was expecting from her. Just as well for her I am an ex teacher!

It's a bloody shambles., much like education and the NHS, etc. And if you are unfortunate enough to meet a Jobsworth, as DH did when he was laid off and couldn't go back to his usual work (you really can't climb towers when waiting for carpal tunnel surgery!). He wanted JSA for the pension credits, so when he was patronised beyond bearing (take a manual labouring job Mr Engineer, knacker your hand even more - or I will sanction you!) he told his coach to stick it. I expect that was counted as a success for the coach!

Sorry... that was something of a rant!

Bloody hell! That's an appallingly written post.

My apologies to anyone trying to unscramble it!

CuriousaboutSamphire

I don't think the Job Centre's coaches are necessarily useless, it's just they're given the basic training and possess other skills and they themselves don't appear to be highly trained themselves, so basically my perception of them was they were working from a database of jobs with key skills and had limited customer service skills also.

I will say this though, the one or two coaches or consultants I saw a few years back, I can't recall one of them but the other seemed genuine and listened and did seem to 'care' slightly about getting me back in work.

but they're certainly not careers advisors.

No one will fund your training if you want it. You'll have to research courses yourself and how to finance it (loans are the most likely option). Any financial aid you receive, even loans, will count as income and effect your UC award.

You need to show some initiative here and start looking into the nuts and bolts of training yourself and how to obtain it.

So basically, they know nothing about UC and how it works and can't or won't help me get back into training so I can eventually earn enough money to not rely on benefits to top up my wages. What exactly is they are meant to be doing if it's none of the above?

I agree they should know about UC and how it works, but the rest of it you need to do for yourself, no one is responsible for improving your life but yourself.

You say you have a job, well, then you have a job. You want another one you need to go for that off your own back like every one else.

They should know some basics about who to refer you to to see if you can get any help. Sounds like you got a trainee!

The problem lis that there certainly won't be dwp help for anything more advanced than basic literacy and numeracy courses. They never have been able to deal with people wanting advanced education or looking for something professional.

MadameDD that was sort of what I meant... they simp;y aren't trained enough to be fit for the purpose they are employed for.

It has to be soul destroying and someone in successive governments should be sought out and pummelled mercilessly... until they come up with a better system and an apology for having let so many people down!

It’s about numbers and stats rather than people, they want to get people into work – any work – to show they are combating unemployment. If they get 3 people a ‘job’ one week their figures improve, even if it’s casual/temp/zero hour contract/not really appropriate for that individual and unlikely to stay in role – they can still count it as success. Then the government release figures on how unemployment has fallen under their policies…
It’s all a tick box exercise, most people I know who signed on found much better jobs/opportunities themselves.

The problem lis that there certainly won't be dwp help for anything more advanced than basic literacy and numeracy courses Made worse by the fact that they get points for the number of people they send on the basic English, maths and IT courses.

Like jollylittlehippos friend I was sent on an IT course that was totally unsuitable. They ask you to complete a list of your training needs. I said I would eventually need some training on an accountancy package. That then made it essential that I went on their IT course (or be sanctioned). I got there: computers out of the ark, took 10 minutes to warm up and I then had to send myself an email to show that I could!

Ta fucking da!

That was a return bus fare and 3 hours of my life I will never get back!

As I said, the whole system is failing its client base and its employees. It is quite shocking!

DH was unemployed for a short time a few years back
Basically his work coach said she was there to provide a pencil and paper for him to write on and to make sure he turned up at his appointment. That's all.
They're utter shit.
Oh and they lie. DH had an appointment from the hospital for a mole removal. It clashed with his jobcentre appointment. He went in, showed them the letter, they said he was excused and could come in the following day. He went in the following day and was told he was sanctioned! They completely denied he had shown them a letter or anything and told us we would have no money for a month.
I went straight to my MP. He sorted it same day.
Hate the jobcentre with a vengeance

Oh yes! DH was sanctioned as he didn't get to his appointment.

It was the year Tewkesbury flooded... apparently that made no difference as other people had made their appointments that day... not from rural Glos around Tewkesbury they didn't!

Again, local MP got that sorted!

If you only have GCSEs and want to go to train as a counsellor, research which are your local FE colleges (or the only one, if a smaller town). Look up the list of courses they offer and find both ACCESS to university courses and counselling courses.

Access to university courses will enable you to attend university afterwards and act in place of A levels. They can tell you the details. Or you can find a level 2 or 3 counselling course, if they offer one, and go from there.

I think you should make an appointment to go in and speak to the access tutor and the counselling tutor and see what they say. By then you should be in a better position to find out your funding routes and what student loan money you can borrow.

Haha. I had to go to the job centre every week for about 5 months after I graduated and couldn't get a job. I didn't get JSA because I'm foreign but they said that I'd get some kind of tax credits and that it would "look good" if I went anyway. I got zero help finding a job and like others have said, the staff were utterly clueless about everything. I too had my CV checked by a staff member, and she was making herself a tea at her desk and fished the teabag out of her cup with a pen, and then dropped it on my CV.

I was told to remove my degrees from my CV as apparently they would deter employers, and when I said I was getting really worried about zero money coming in, I was told that I should be able to find a job because I "look good and sound good". FFS.

Recruitment agencies worked for me. The second I found an agent that I liked I started getting somewhere. I know people don't always like temping but I was willing to do pretty much anything and ended up doing lots of office work in hospitals, children's centres and a college before I updated my CV with my newly gained experience and got myself a permanent job. Take that, job centre!

Totally not fit for purpose, as an out of work Sales Manager I was made to apply for a vacancy for Warehouse Manager, as "You're a Manager" Tried to explain but got told that I was making excuses not to apply.

Hope and pray I never have to go back there.

OP you are better off approaching the college who runs the course. Especially if they offer part time courses, they'll be used to students with financial queries and can often give you much better advice. They might have some kind of financial help that you didn't know about. When I was at uni I was surprised by how much help there was.

@AdaColeman I have to ask, if the Job Centre treated you that badly then how come you approached them to provide staff for you? Surely you wanted nothing more to do with them and could've found staff elsewhere?