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.

As well as the many thousands of points that training will cost (not just tuition but books, your own therapy, Supervision, travel costs etc), making any kind of a living from counselling is hard. It’s really difficult to get a job as an NHS counsellor, you’ll be up against a lot of experienced and accredited counsellors and would probably end up spending a year or two working voluntarily. Private work is also expensive to set up and run, most counsellors have multiple jobs or rely on an earning spouse. Please don’t be fooled by those “up you could make £60 an hour!” radio adverts.

She should have been able to ask your questions about sanctions but the rest, YABU.

They categorically will not give educational advice, including funding, it’s not in their remit. You’d be best off finding a course and then asking the student support at the relevant colleges or approaching the student finance org for your area.

They’re not there to help you find an ideal job or career coach. They’re there to check people are applying for work and appropriate work the might get too.

I think you’re sort of looking at it the wrong way, because your assuming that their primary purpose is to help you. It’s not really. Their primary purpose is to check up on people and get them back into work, any work as soon as possible to lower the government’s benefits bill.

*thousands of pounds!

OrangeB0ttle l've just had a look! Very interesting, thank you!

she was making herself a tea at her desk

That was a huge no no in the jobcentre I worked in! No hot drink at desks as customers may throw them at you and scald you. A colleague was actually attacked by a customer while I was there. No doubt behaviour like this, and the people who blatantly sign on in their overalls on their lunch break makes some staff over cynical. You get a mixed bag, some were extremely knowledgeable, had good contacts in local business/training schemes and genuinely liked helping customers. Others were racist, judgemental, lazy buggers who thought all customers were scum (I swear I met a few 'Paulines' from League of Gentlemen there!). Not sure anyone was trained on student loans/tax credits for students or anything like that though.

Historically they used to be able to offer advise on the labour market including further education and job training eg forklift driving qual,food hygiene etc.

They also used to take vacancies from local employment and have a good understanding of the local area.

However many years ago ( I started 1998 and it was being eroded back then) with work training and job clubs privatised they lost this skill set within the jobcentres.

Lone pair advisors used to be able to advise you on further education for some time after and acess funds for interviews etc.

Jobcentres were always crap at benefits advice but this was remedied by the access to the benefits agency who could advise you properly. Benefits agency and Jobcentres merged. BAs eventually closed. The face-to-face element of benefits moved to telephony.

It's not good enough at all.

Work coaches should be able to signpost you to careers advice and advise on impact training courses may have on benefits. They should have basic understanding of how student income affects benefits too.

They should have been able to advise on sanctions. Have a look online- the guidance is there and quite comprehensive.

Asda and care work is lazy suggestions of the work coach just trying to get your claimant condition completed.

I'd advise feeding back in writing lack of direction to jobcentre manager.

I hate JobCentre!

I was laid off work when I was 18 because they was moving to another company and had to let some of their staff go.

I paid my taxes, my NI, everything else. I went to JobCentre and 2 weeks later, I got a letter saying I was not entitled to it.

Thankfully I did manage to find a job a month later! I didn't like it (care assistant) but had no choice.

Someone I know hasn't worked a day in her life, and she's been claiming everything under the sun for the past 15 years. Makes me fucking sick.

What actual course are you looking at? You probably need to take out an advanced learners loan or student loan depending on level.

With student finance the maintenance loan element is taken into account on UC less disregards of about £110 per month. You are expected to apply for your full student entitlement and have it take into account against your UC payment- even though it's repayable.

people who dont like or arent suited to care work being told to do this job or be sanctioned increases the chances of abuse in care homes.

I'm currently signing on , but for NI contributions only as I haven't worked for a good few years so don't qualify. In my previous job I worked there for 15 years plus the not working so have not had an interview in 20+ years. Because I'm not getting any benefit apparently I don't qualify for any courses to assist in helping me get a job but I still have to show I'm actively seeking employment. There is a job fair at the job centre this week, 5 employers will be there including Amsterdam airport which obvs in another country and it's also over 500 miles from my home !

bringmethehorizonx

sounds like you only applied for contribution-based job seekers allowance when you needed to apply for income based as well. Assuming you are single at the time you would have received it. At 18 there is almost zero chance that your contributions in the last two relevant tax years what qualifies you for contribution based benefits.

they were nice to my dh, realised his limitations. did Not push him into finding unsuitable work.

That reminds me used to have a Disability employment advisor. She was so knowledgeable and helped so many people under "Job interview Guarantee". Really understand the limitations of some whilst helping them increase their skills in other areas though training programmes. Actual proper job seeking advice.

It's difficult, HelenaDove, when in some places the only work available is in a care home. I think - being tough - that people are going to have to like or (within reason) be suitable for care work. In fil's care home they offer very good pay, flexible hours, full-time contracts... and still they are desperate for staff. I am of the belief that perhaps there should be some sort of National Service where young people have to work in a care home... perhaps as a way of paying off some of their university fees? Ah - must tell someone on high of my plan...

I always remember sitting on the no. 24 bus in London in about 1990 and hearing a woman ranting about Thatcherite Britain because there was no work for a... potter.

The point being we weren't in Stoke-on-Trent (or other pottery town) but whizzing through Camden...

I am of the belief that perhaps there should be some sort of National Service where young people have to work in a care home... perhaps as a way of paying off some of their university fees?

You really want people who hate wiping arses and getting urine slung at them and violently demented clients working with them? The fuck I'd allow my kids to be forced into that kind of shit, violent work. They pay off their uni fees with loans, not slave labour.

Irma ive done it i did it nearly 30 years ago but not everyone is suited to it.

its just too risky to put a completely unsuitable person in a care environment.

there would be a big public outcry if we started forcing people into childcare and nurseries.

Why should elderly people be collateral damage or guinea pigs for some National Service related experiment.

And do we really want to start teaching young people that work doesnt pay?

Ive put this on another thread but i will say it again here........you do this and you risk them becoming at best...........disillusioned with this country and at worst.............hating this country which may leave some open to more sinister outside influences.

What kind of counsellor do you want to be OP? If person centred , usually youd do levels 2,3 and 4 counselling, 4 being the accredited course which qualifies you and encompasses a placement. Not sure about anything else though. And yes as others have said, the job centre will be helpful for people who want/need any old job but they don't tailor to requirements. Careers advisors aren't any better ime

The fuck I'd allow my kids to be forced into that kind of shit, violent work

Hmmm. Don't know quite what to say to that. And, believe me, I have experience of care homes.

So who is suited to that kind of work, then? Obviously not naice middle-class kids . Reminds me of Vietnam. Ok for the plebs but not for college kids.

Irma there's a big difference between someone choosing that kind of work and forcing people to do it.

It's the system as opposed to the coaches. Why didn't she know? Probably because she was given inadequate training. Having worked in DWP though not UC, information around anything is extremely hard to get and you get told conflicting information. That's in an established benefit, not UC with its massive problems. UC is a huge project that has backfired. How can staff be expected to become experts in all of it? The training they gwt is pitiful.

I was on UC for a while. My first advisor was lovely. She was amazing, kind and helpful. Then she went on maternity and I hated her replacement. Rude, aggressive, treated me like a child and threatened to sanctikn me. I'd explained I had a bad knee - undergoing physio, it wasn't a disability but did limit what work I could do. First advisor fine with it. Second threatened to sanction me as I refused to apply for a warehouse job based on the fact that I physically wasn't up to it. Being out of work was awful and demoralising and the support they can give is very limited.

That said, they must put up with some abuse. Drinks being thrown at them, verbal and even physical attacks..reading this thread it's easy to see how. The issue is with the system. It is not staffs fault they aren't trained properly. It isn't staffs fault what guidelines they have to work within. It isn't staffs fault what pressure they are under. As if it's as simple as saying 'i don't know'. It isn't as cushy as that and anyone sensible must know that. They have to signpost and try and help people.Vulnerable people. People who can't work a computer, care leavers, victims of domestic abuse, people in crippling poverty, people who've recently left prison, people with additional needs, violent people, people who need high levels of support. I don't believe they're all unfeeling. Different business area, but In mine we try and find numbers for MH support, DV support, furniture schemes, drug and alcohol services. I don't doubt some work coaches do that,, try and do their best to help the vulnerable. Unfortunately the help they, and anyone, can give is limited. There's a point where you have to draw the line because getting over involved will not help anyone.

I'm sure there are bad advisors, god I had one. But there's also nice ones trying to do their best in a hard system that is hard and pressured for the staff in a similar way to customers. This blanket view of all work coaches are shit and evil, helps no one. It achieves nothing. Except perhaps creating an intolerable atmosphere where the ones who actually want to help, are driven out. Leaving only the unsympathetic, unhelpful ones, remaining

I'm sure you'd approve if your dc announced that they would like to work in a care home. There's no denying it is seen as the work of last resort. The care home workers I see are a) older women (ie 60+), b) low-skilled foreign workers and c) people who have been in prison. I don't think any of them aged 16 thought, "Ah, wiping bums is the life for me."

@PotatoesAndJelly the OP wants to work for the NHS delivering CBT.