To take a job with the DWP even though I will lose friends

[Sunsnet]

I currently work a minimum wage job in retail. It's long hours, exhausting and for really shitty money. Sometimes I earn less than minimum wage as I'm salaried and not entitled to overtime.

I've just been offered a job with the DWP. I'll earn 50% more, have a WAY better pension plus more benefits. I'll even be able to work fewer hours so I can spend more time with my family and STILL be better off than now. BUT, I have friends who think the DWP is immoral and by working for them I will be implicit in that immorality.

I agree that the way the DWP works at the moment is immoral, but surely we need good people to work there to ensure that people who need the help and are entitled to it actually get it. Or am I just clutching at straws to justify my position?

I have one friend in particular who says they will never speak to me again if I take the job. This friend is independently wealthy and never needs to work again, I am not. I do not own property, have a family to support, I'm a single parent and I have no qualifications so have no hope of a better job.

Would I really be that awful a person to sell out and take this job?

Tell your friend that the people who work at DWP don't make the rules, they work for the government, Parliament and the MPs make the rules, if they hold such high moral standards they should think about how they use their vote in the next election.

DWP pays a nonsensical pension early and does not expect people to work much. Put yourself first and take the job.

DWP don’t make the rules - the government does . If your friend wants this to change then she needs to vote in another government.
Take the job , you can & will make a difference to many people.

Take the job and do it as well as you can. You and your family need the salary and the better conditions that go with it. As others have said, it's the government that sets the rules
People that work there are mostly trying the best they can to help people inside the policy framework. I have been helped many times by people working in the DWP, as individuals are often sympathetic and as helpful as.they can be. As to your friend - well, I'm sure they believed it while they said it but they aren't in your situation. Your life is more important.

Take the job and find new friends whilst you're at it.

Don't tell people

Just say you work in public sector or an office

Take the job, ditch the friends.

Specifically for PIP, I am left wondering how the back log of PIP claims will be cleared and PIP administered if no-one especially no-one decent is supposed to work there?

Are PP also saying they wouldn’t apply for PIP if they have a disability as on principle they don’t agree with it?

I could be missing something here, but currently left in La La land by OPs friend and PP who agree.

I may not like the DWP particularly (in fact, not all) but I wouldn't disown a friend who took a job there. That's just being a complete drama queen.

Good job some people work for DWP or no benefits would be paid. So that would save the country a bit of money.

And a crap friend.

Congratulations, enjoy your new job! Hope you make new, true friends there.

I'd say anyone saying that to you isn't really a friend.
I'd rather feed and clothe my kids than have friends any day!

Of course you take the job! There are many public sector organisations with lots of normal hardworking people carrying out the essentials of day to day services which we all rely on. The policies behind that are often government led and you may or may not agree with some of them - but it's a stupid and sweeping generalisation to say the DWP is immoral!

Without the DWP nobody would receive a pension, or job seekers allowance, or any of a myriad benefits. Now people may support the WASPI women, or feel that the way PIP is assessed is wrong, but those are only small parts of a very essential service. If all the DWP staff went on strike tomorrow I'm sure your 'friends' would be very upset if granny didn't get her pension on time!

It's a bit like saying everyone hates people who work for the tax office. None of us like paying tax per se but if we didn't there would be no schools or hospitals! Your 'friends' are idiots and are not friends.

And when it comes to looking after your family - you do what is best for them (and you). This is a no-brainer.

I hope you love your new job.

I've taken part in protests and signed petitions against the way the DWP does things (wrt disability benefits, sanctions, single parents' benefits, the way staff speak to people at jobcentres...etc.etc.). I'd hate to work for them and on the whole would be very wary of someone who did.

However, I have known one or two decent people who chose to work for them in good faith, with optimism, believing they were doing good in working to help deliver a welfare state (in theory an excellent thing).

You'd be working for them with awareness of the problems, but still hoping to do good.

I'd never "disown" a friend for doing that, because I'd understand a friend's reasons. Different if you were working for the DWP because you wanted to hound and harass poor people! Also, I'd understand that you do need a better income and time with your children! If your friend doesn't get that, how good a friend are they?
If I were you, though, I'd try to be aware of the potential impact of moral injury or stress that can come from seeing practices you find unethical and seeing the harm done. Perhaps try to keep note of the good things, too, and be on the lookout for jobs more suited to your outlook, as a long term goal, while gaining experience there.

All about priorities. If you prioritise negative threatening “friends” over your quality of life and that of your family or future family then do not work at DWP. Otherwise go for DWP and embrace those genuine friends who stick by you. Shedding negative Nellies either voluntarily or thru their bigoted mindset is a bonus on top of an improved work and personal life.

Hey, I used to work for the DWP, I worked on the pensions credits helpline mostly with a few weeks spent in the tax credits dept, claims for people working below minimum wage and needing a top up etc, after the initial 6 months probation period I was so broken by the phone calls from crying pensioners who just needed someone to talk them through how to claim and what they can claim etc, things you are not allowed to tell them, as in someone listening to your calls either live or after shift, will pull you into a disciplinary if you tell them any information bar the information they directly ask for, that I just freely gave that info until I was sacked. I don't regret it. I took calls from mums who worked 40+ hours in three jobs and still couldn't pay their childcare bill, parents who both worked and knew their children were quite literally just existing on the meagre amount of food they could afford. It was god awful to be honest.

Be prepared to see/hear the worst in everyone, or the worst of them, whilst also seeing/hearing people who are quite literally beat down by a system that is failing them and then the other side of the coin are the people who don't really want to work but will 'fill in their job diary' to get the payment and then will question everything, knowingly.
It takes a strong person to do any job like that it's not for the faint hearted.

Sorry probably not the right answer but, in all honesty it's a job and it pays well, if someone will stop speaking to you because you work for the DWP then they're an idiot.

I think you will be perfect in the job. Be kind and courteous and treat people with respect. It is possible to do this job with integrity. You get nowhere being unkind. I know, it kept a roof over my head as a lone parent for years. Be known as the nice one.

Take the job.

Your friend isn't a friend they're just opinionated and think they can tell you what to do through control. It's their loss if they unfriend you... wtf.

Take the job.. that person is not a freind and needs to experience the real world before their views have any credibility

Take the job. What an odd "friend". And you don't need to justify it to anyone, including yourself. Good luck!

It's not an immoral job, you're just like any other civil servant. You're friend is probably jealous

Jasmin ! This actually shows a lot about your character , how can you judge a FRIEND for where they work? yes there are limitations and restrictions to what they can do, but that’s not their fault , FRIENDS are there to SUPPORT their FRIENDS not tear them down because of where they work , if you were in that position I can bet my last penny you would take the job , single mum , good heart , just trying to do better for her family .. and the fact that she’s even thinking twice about it shows how genuine she is .

take the job babe , you’ll make new friends , the ones that have said they won’t speak to you are not your friends & it’s very clear they don’t want you to do well . Nasty behaviour from adults

Take the job! I'm a retired civil servant and people have all sorts of weird views about them and the work they do which are completely wrong. Take the job and enjoy it. Oh and tell your friends what they can do with themselves.

You're not selling out. You're a taking a job to support your family. A normal friend would support you and congratulate you on a new job. I would question this friendship honestly