Ah yes WRT to volunteering but be careful; too much Big Society and your benefits are taken as you are not available for work.
Am desperately trying to find some volunteering prior to applying for Social Work MA or Teacher Training but can't get any as the Job Centre is sending all the unemployed people there as it will help their chances of re-employment; may well but it's not helping me but then I don;t appear on any governmental stats as a carer so why would they care?
DH was amde redundant last year and we have yet to get properly back on our feet (working and studying but income gone down by over half); BIL was amde redundant last week. If nobody has a job soon, how will the state cope then? Surely you can claw back all you like in VAT etc but if nobody ahs the money they won;t pay extra, they'll just downgrade, whsilt being forced to take more by dint of lack of employment?
I remain to be convinced that it is cost effective to lose so many public sector employees (I know some were superfluous- jeck I temped in the sector for some time!) given there are so few jobs for them to go to and the Government will end up paying £'s out in benefits, lose £'s in taxes paid in, and quite likely end up picking up a huge mess from a lack of decent private sector buying in......... the day centres are closing not being replaced, and even if they were being replaced the cost for attendance would fall back onto the head of Social Services through Direct payments albeit at a higher rate that emans the post would empty quicker and less people could use essential services, emaning less carers in work or able to cope, meaning
Argh.