Dear Labour, DWP and PIP, How about "talking" to your clients and customers!

[NotAHappyBunnyAtAll]

Dear Labour, DWP and PIP,

How about "TALKING" to your clients and customers!

Why not find out how you can actually HELP!

I was made redundant.

I used what little savings I had and once they were depleted and only then did I apply for UC as I had no choice.

It has nearly broken me.

No, correction ... it has broken me!

I am writing this and I am in tears.

My background is in the arts and has been for 30 years.

I would be happy to retrain in a field that I know I would do well in but UC do not want to offer any courses in anything creative at all.

I am ND and I know what I can and cannot do and where I would thrive.

The only positions EVER sent to me are the 3 C's :

CARE
CLEANING
CONSTRUCTION

There is absolutely NO career development at all.

It breaks my heart.

I want to WORK!

I am 50+
I have a disability
I am ND
I am over-qualified
I am over-experienced
I am too old ... or am I!
I am a woman

I do know that I cannot go on like this!

I have two business ideas, well I have a few actually, I could pursue but no grants are being offered.

I am at breaking point and I really cannot see how I am going to get out of this vicious circle and no one wants to help.

I feel for anyone who is on UC, LCW, LCWRA and PIP and Labour should be ashamed at these new proposals.

I really did not expect this from Labour and I have been a Labour supporter and voter since I was 18.

Please. Just. Stop.

Yours with much sadness,

NotAHappyBunnyAtAll

The only positions EVER sent to me are the 3 C's :
CARE
CLEANING
CONSTRUCTION
There is absolutely NO career development at all
Unfortunately when on the bones of our arse, there's a lot of us having to do jobs that aren't our dream! But we need to do them to have a roof over our head and eat.
Do you see it as a 'creative' you're above hard graft and labour?
What's your ideas?

Are you regularly applying for jobs? Are you applying for specific roles/pay, or just anything?

With respect, you’re not owed career development or a job you find exciting. You need to take a job, any job, to pay your bills. Like many of us do.

I have been told I’m ‘unemployable’

Severely autistic, no qualifications, can’t drive, have dyscalculia and a criminal record.

Cant apply for so many jobs or even volunteer roles due to the criminal records. Can’t get funding for any tutoring or courses to get any qualifications as I never seem to fit the criteria. Dont get PIP (get LCWRA).

I want to work but every time I’ve made a CV and been honest nobody wants to employ me . What help will there be for people like me ?

@TheUnemployableMe if you're trying to get back into the workforce with a criminal record, several organizations, including Unlock, Nacro, and Jobcentre Plus, offer assistance and guidance to help you find employment.

Thankyou I will look at those. I can’t really manage public facing roles but retail seems to be the most likely option I could get so I even tried that but when I go for those Jobs I either fail at the initial stage with the stupid scenario questions or I don’t even get those jobs.

Definitely contact them https://www.nacro.org.uk/nacro-services/criminal-record-support/

PIP has nothing to do with employment.

Labour have not yet made any proposals (not that I am on their side!).

It's a good rant, but what do you actually expect? Nobody is going to hand anything to you. That's not real life.

And before you complain that I don't understand - disabled, 60's, PhD and have been out of work, over-experienced and over-qualified. I just got over myself and got on with it. Nobody sends you jobs - you have to get out there and find them.

The arts are notoriously challenging to earn a living in. No government can guarantee us a job in a certain sector. I do have sympathy for you I'm going to lose my professional career in the next year or two because I'm no longer physically capable of managing it. We have to be resourceful but the state could definitely do more to help.

Most the people in work are in jobs they need rather than ‘thrive’ in. That’s life!

I want to WORK

You've said yourself they're suggesting jobs for you so I don't really see the problem? It's actually quite uncommon to work in your dream job, but that's life. They don't owe you career progression either, just because those sectors aren't good enough for you doesn't mean they need to retrain you in something that you want.

I work in a construction related industry which wasn't my career choice, but it turned out pretty well.

Give it a go OP. You might find some fulfilment in one of those jobs. Being unemployed long term is much more soul destroying than doing a job that's not your dream job. Of course working any job doesn't mean you can't continue to look at how you can get back into your business.

There is quite a range of care work and some of it could involve a bit of creativity. For instances a lot residential care have activities with thier clients, or PA work with a disabled person can involve taking them places to do crafts.

I think the big issue with the 3 Cs you mention is they are all very physical and by 50 we aren't all able to do 40 hours physical work a week.

I also know the mention if ND will get people's backs up too

But I actually think in principle, it would make more sense to help people into jobs that fit thier capabilities where possible and to offer training, if it would help.

Otherwise we end up with people trapped in low paid work still needing universal credit to top up thier wage, instead of pushing the capable into higher paid work.

Hear hear. I'm disabled too and if I ever lost my job I would be in big trouble, as I can't work physical jobs.

I think there are lots of those jobs and they are quick to hire. I’ve done them really struggled to get a better paid role after my divorce and I’d been a sahm. Worked my way up to a better job now. I do think it’s often better to be employed.I’ve been really honest with employers, I took on x to pay bills but y is my passion and they’ve taken me on.

I think the vast majority of people are capable of higher paid work though. There isn’t the jobs for them all. There is huge numbers of jobs earning at or not far above min wage. If you go through the job sites where I am everything is 25k -30k with the odd outlier for head teacher or something on 80-90k

I find it interesting that you think of yourself as a customer in this situation.

That is very true.

I was just remembering when dh was made redundant they supported him to do specific short course and it increased his earnings. It was much better than making him take the first care job that came up.

Yes, why are you the client? Isn't it possible you should considering what you can do for thaie supporting you?

I'm broadly left leaning and I'm surprised by the current stance, although haven't seen details yet, but the bottom line is we can't carry on with such high % not working. I'd much prefer people who are able, are taking the cleaning and care work so we can properly support those who really can't work.

If you want to retrain, student loans?

They do offer lots of training subsidies and free courses to those not working though. A friend has just had his HGV licence paid for. It makes perfect sense that this funding goes to areas where we need the skills/jobs are available, rather than "creative" areas where there are generally already more qualified than there are jobs.

That's good. I misunderstood and thought they'd stopped offering training. Yes it makes sense for training to be in things there are jobs in.

I’m sure we would all love to be able to be in jobs with excellent progression and where we can be creative. This isn’t practical/ possible for most.
you come across quite entitled op, especially referring to yourself as a client.
Im sure the system isn’t perfect, but equally it not there to provide you with prefect job satisfaction.
please get a job (like most do) and take part time classes/ qualifications to improve your life (like most do) without the entitlement.

In case useful -
ArtsAdmin Anchor is a free newsletter which includes paid and volunteering roles in the arts https://www.artsadmin.co.uk/for-artists/anchor/

Freelance writing roles from Sian Meades-Williams' weekly newsletter (covers all possible topics including arts) https://www.sianmeadeswilliams.com/freelance-writing-jobs

Museum jobs (some art, some science, covers literally everything) https://le.ac.uk/museum-studies/jobs

Gov.UK's job listing doesn't specifically have an arts category but does have jobs that are badged as Disability Confident which can also be filtered by location and salary and whether hybrid or fully remote working is available https://findajob.dwp.gov.uk/search

Google Alerts might be useful too - if a new page is published with your keywords on it and it's indexed by Google then you'll get an email (you'll need a Gmail account). Create an alert: https://www.google.co.uk/alerts (advice on creating alerts https://support.google.com/websearch/answer/4815696?hl=en).

For free courses in retraining in different sectors try The Skills Toolkit, also from Gov.UK https://nationalcareers.service.gov.uk/find-a-course/the-skills-toolkit

More time-consuming is to zoom in and out of your local area on Google Maps and make a note of nearby shops, organisations etc then either check their jobs page or make yourself known to them, e.g. for where I am in Blackheath you can see plenty of organisations listed and zooming in/out and moving around will display more https://www.google.com/maps/place/Blackheath,+London, also add 'organisations' to the keywords in your search, e.g. https://www.google.com/maps/search/Blackheath+organisations

Jo

Unfortunately OP, you're the kind of person who's giving these benefits a bad name. Many of us have had to take jobs at some point in our lives that aren't creative or where we don't thrive - but we have to pay the bills. Creative industries are notoriously fickle, so I suggest you take the work that's on offer and be creative in your spare time.

@NotAHappyBunnyAtAll why can't you do one of the jobs being offered? Does your disability make you ineligible? Or do you think you're above that sort of work?

If you want to work, then be prepared to do a job that isn't your "dream" job. Most of us work in jobs to pay the bills and aren't necessarily loving it.

I'm honestly struggling to think of what courses could be offered to help someone into an arts role, perhaps other posters with more knowledge of the sector can advise on this, I know its rare but you might be able to get back into the sector in some form.
Do you have any ideas on what sectors you think might allow you to be creative? Again, if you suggest alternatives maybe posters can help.
It would also help if you give us an idea of your work history, as the arts are quite broad. Experience working in events management within the arts, or working with children - that sort of thing. What was your most recent work?
Sorry for all the questions, just thinking it might help for crowdsourcing help.