Jobcentres 'tricking' people out of benefits to cut costs, while autistic/dyslexic and other special
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[quote]Rising numbers of vulnerable jobseekers are being tricked into losing benefits amid growing pressure to meet welfare targets, a Jobcentre Plus adviser has told the Guardian. [B]A whistleblower said staff at his jobcentre were given targets of three people a week to refer for sanctions, where benefits are removed for up to six months.[/B] He said it was part of a "culture change" since last summer that had led to competition between advisers, teams and regional offices.
[B][I]
"Suddenly you're not helping somebody into sustainable employment, which is what you're employed to do,"[/I] he said. [I]"You're looking for ways to trick your customers into 'not looking for work'. You come up with many ways. I've seen dyslexic customers given written job searches, and when they don't produce them – what a surprise – they're sanctioned.[/I] The only target that anyone seems to care about is stopping people's money.[/B]
[B][I]"'Saving the public purse' is the catchphrase that is used in our office … It is drummed home all the time – you're saving the public purse. Feel good about stopping someone's money, you've just saved your own pocket. Its a joke."[/I][/B]
The claims came as the big businesses handed contracts to get the long term jobless into worktoday said the government should privatise jobcentres so that their firms could work with people who have been jobless for less than a year. Statistics from the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) show the total number of cases where people have lost their benefits has soared since the beginning of 2010 to 75,000 in October, the latest month available. The figures also reveal the number of claimants with registered disabilities being cut off has more than doubled to almost 20,000 over the same period. This follows a change in the rules in April last year where sanctions were extended to claimants who were late for jobcentre interviews and other less serious offences. When a claimant is sanctioned their jobseeker's allowance is stopped. They then have to apply for hardship payments, which are usually about half the allowance, or just over £30 a week. John, in Wigan, has been sanctioned for six months and says he has to rely on food parcels and must sleep on his friend's couch. "It's left me in a state of depression. I've lost weight, I'm tired … I feel like I've been attacked for no reason." The whistleblower blamed the targets. "We were told suddenly that [finding someone to sanction] once a week wasn't good enough, we were far behind other offices, and we went to a meeting where they compared us with other offices, and said we now have to do three a week to catch up. Most staff go into work and they're thinking about it from moment one – who am I going to stop this week?"
The DWP denies there are specific targets, but the Guardian has seen email evidence of referral targets in one office, and the issue of targets has been raised by employees on online forums. The DWP said: "To say that we are targeting vulnerable people is ridiculous. We only sanction people if they do not adhere to their agreement. We are massively expanding the help and support that jobseekers will receive to ensure that they get the right help and support to get into work. If someone is incapable of work, they will continue to receive unconditional support." But the whistleblower said the policy hit the vulnerable instead of hardcore benefit cheats, who he said were a small group. "The young often fall into it, because they haven't been there long enough, they are generally a major target. The uneducated are another major target. I've seen people with … seriously low educational standards and it's easy to exploit them." He said staff had different ways to ensure they could stop benefits for a set amount of people. "So, for example, if you want someone to diversify – they're an electrician or a plumber, they may not want to go into call centres or something. What you do is keep promoting such and such a job, and you pressure them into taking it off you, the piece of paper. Then in two weeks you look at the system, you ask them if they applied for it … they say no – you stop their money for six months.
"You very rarely see the hardcore taken because they know the forms – they know it better than the staff, the system."
[B]Shirley Cramer of the charity Dyslexia Action warned that the true impact on people with learning difficulties was likely to be higher because in many cases it was a hidden disability.[/B] "Because we know there are large numbers of them, and that they are hidden, and that they are over-represented in disadvantaged groups, they are very much at risk. And we know that with a bit of help they can be terrific employees." Martin John, national officer for the Public and Commercial Services Union, said ministers had demanded a tougher approach since the general election. "We are against the use of targets for labour market sanctions, and are worried about the financial impact on people."
Citizens Advice has reported a significant rise in clients who have had their benefits cut. Andy Robertson, a caseworker in South Tyneside, an area with 13% [URL="http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/unemployment"]unemployment[/URL], has a huge pile of paperwork for appeals, and says his casework has more than doubled in the last year. "What's happening at the moment is possibly the worst thing I've ever seen with regard to practice from the DWP. Clients seem to be getting sanctioned for next to nothing," he said. Robertson worked for eight years as an adviser and financial assessor at jobcentres. [B]He has also seen the changes affect many vulnerable clients, such as those with dyslexia or mental health problems.[/B] "Advisers were previously exercising their discretion … now the client-adviser balance doesn't seem to exist any more." Yvonne Fovargue, the Labour MP for Makerfield, raised the issue of sanctioning in parliament during a reading of the new Welfare Reform Act. She is worried that at a time when funding to support groups such as Citizens Advice is being cut, an even stricter regime is being introduced.
Fovargue said the situation would only get worse with the drive to bring people off incapacity benefit and on to the jobseeker's allowance, where they are suddenly exposed to these sanctions. The whistleblower also thinks there will be an impact. "A lot of them haven't been in work for a number of years. So I'm not expecting them to understand the system … which will make for easy sanctions. "This cannot be right that we are using a department that's supposed to help people into work to stop them getting benefit that a lot of them are entitled to." In Wigan, John said he first found out he had been sanctioned when the money did not appear in his account on the usual day. His jobcentre told him it was because he had missed the deadline for three jobs. He said his Jobcentre adviser said he would send application forms in the post, but they arrived too late. "It's outrageous … to leave someone with no money for six months. It's totally hindered my jobsearching, I spend all of my time dealing with these problems now."
The whistleblower says his office has been told there is no more money for back to work training from April. "From April, we offer no provision … nothing, no training course, nothing. The funding ends at the end of March. "[Now] your office can shine through one of two targets. You can either shine through getting people into work, but that's really difficult. Or you can stop their money, and that's really easy." "It never seems to go away. Every day you're thinking: 'I haven't got a letter today, so obviously there isn't a sanction going against me.' Another day there's a brown envelope from the DWP and you think: 'What's this for?' There's always that cloud hanging over you." Robson was made redundant from his job as a delivery driver 13 months ago. "I was 17 when I started work so I've been working for 35 years. I'm not Jack the lad who's never been in a job and is trying to con the government. I want to work, I just can't get a job.
"You try your best, and the minute you do something wrong, they're on you like a ton of bricks." Robson has been sanctioned three times. First he was ill and missed a jobcentre appointment. Next he was sanctioned for not applying for one job. "I was sure I had applied for it but I couldn't find evidence that I had. If you apply for job after job after job, and you get nowhere with it, you can lose track." Robson turned to Citizens Advice for help. He won the appeal, but his financial situation remains precarious. "It reached the point where I'd visit my mother and sit there for hours just to get warm, use her shower and cooker, because I couldn't afford the gas and electricity." Recently he was sanctioned for a week, again for not applying for a job. "Because of all the hassle with them I thought, 'What the hell,' and just gave up on it. I shouldn't have accepted it, but you get ground down so much. So many things go wrong when you're unemployed, and you just get so disheartened.
"It's actually quite frightening being out there. And nobody seems to care. It's like a lot of things of life – things are set in place by people who don't actually experience it themselves."[/quote]
Main source: [URL]http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2011/apr/01/jobcentres-tricking-people-benefit-sanctions[/URL]
Autistic jobseekers 'written off' source: [URL]http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/8303389.stm[/URL]
that's the government for you
Glad this hasn't happened to me. Been on JSA for about 3 months after loosing my job. Market's real tough right now, just gotta hold your chin up and get on with it.
I haven't been able to find solid work since I started college a few years back, I've been doing seasonal security work every summer and hoping the cash holds me over until next summer, if it wasn't for my family I'd be screwed.
This is rather depressing to say the least, but at least I get help from some social workers for this sort of thing.
My Brother and I have both been victims of this, thankfully we've both been fairly saavy about it, making sure we document as much as we possibly can. Still, i've had some temp jobs, Perma one has to come along at some time.
For those of you who aren't in the know, depending on your circumstance, the Job Centre are meant to give you a £100 grant when you come off of the work scheme as a buffer between recieving benefits and starting employment.
A friend of mine who recently came off of the scheme and was elegible for the money, was never paid it and until I told him about it, was completely unaware of it's existence. Even I only knew about it because I have a family member who works for the Job Centre. Suffice to say he went back and got his grant but given what I know, I wouldn't be surprised if a lot of people have missed out on this.
[url=http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/MoneyTaxAndBenefits/BenefitsTaxCreditsAndOtherSupport/Employedorlookingforwork/DG_10018789]Here's a link[/url] to the Directov page containing all the info on the grant.
I had this shit too.
Three months unemployed and even with my search criteria open they couldn't even find me a palce at Burger King? Fuck you. At least I got my WHIMIS training for free.
Unsurprising. In the US unemployment benefits are something you and your employer pay into over time, you're not just leeching off the government. But, that's how the government wants to paint everyone who is on unemployment, and you can't be in the system without feeling like they're constantly gunning for you. You're forced to apply for shitty low-paid jobs outside your field of expertise because they require x number of applications to continue receiving benefits, and if you actually get hired for some of these places you're applying, it'll ruin your life. You'll work too much to job hunt and still be unable to pay rent, but if you focus too much on the good jobs you'll lose your benefits for not producing a high enough volume of applications. One mistake on the weekly benefits application and you get flagged for further scrutiny, which means losing your benefits or even being forced to pay them all back. While you're out of work and making no income. Wonderful.
I owe a lot to unemployment insurance, last year it kept me from defaulting on my student loans and going completely bankrupt while I was out of work for 8 months. I got basic training to brush up on interview skills and as a result got a much better job early this year. Without that help I would have been totally and completely fucked, and could see myself jumping off a bridge somewhere. This is an absolutely vital program that helps millions of people avoid total destitute poverty from circumstances that are totally beyond their control. The government should not be gunning to screw people over who lost their jobs of 30 years because some rich asshole CEO figured out the company could save a few pennies per unit by going overseas, or because the small business they worked for went under because the bank lost a ton of money on shitty bets on mortgages and won't lend anymore money.
[QUOTE=Used Car Salesman;36280476]Unsurprising. In the US unemployment benefits are something you and your employer pay into over time, you're not just leeching off the government. But, that's how the government wants to paint everyone who is on unemployment, and you can't be in the system without feeling like they're constantly gunning for you. You're forced to apply for shitty low-paid jobs outside your field of expertise because they require x number of applications to continue receiving benefits, and if you actually get hired for some of these places you're applying, it'll ruin your life. You'll work too much to job hunt and still be unable to pay rent, but if you focus too much on the good jobs you'll lose your benefits for not producing a high enough volume of applications. One mistake on the weekly benefits application and you get flagged for further scrutiny, which means losing your benefits or even being forced to pay them all back. While you're out of work and making no income. Wonderful.
I owe a lot to unemployment insurance, last year it kept me from defaulting on my student loans and going completely bankrupt while I was out of work for 8 months. I got basic training to brush up on interview skills and as a result got a much better job early this year. Without that help I would have been totally and completely fucked, and could see myself jumping off a bridge somewhere. This is an absolutely vital program that helps millions of people avoid total destitute poverty from circumstances that are totally beyond their control. The government should not be gunning to screw people over who lost their jobs of 30 years because some rich asshole CEO figured out the company could save a few pennies per unit by going overseas, or because the small business they worked for went under because the bank lost a ton of money on shitty bets on mortgages and won't lend anymore money.[/QUOTE]
This is a perfect example of why the government is not for you. The government, much like a bank, is for itself. It will give you something so long as you produce something for it in return -- otherwise, it will leave you to fade away (and will also try to gain more without needing you (e.g. by outsourcing/automating)). This is also perhaps the likelihood for 'occupy' and similar movements appearing.
[QUOTE=livelonger12;36280925]This is a perfect example of why the government is not for you. The government, much like a bank, is for itself. It will give you something so long as you produce something for it in return -- otherwise, it will leave you to fade away (and will also try to gain more without needing you (e.g. by outsourcing/automating)). This is also perhaps the likelihood for 'occupy' and similar movements appearing.[/QUOTE]
The government should be for you. We pay it taxes, we should receive benefits and services in return. The fundamental flaw in our system is the loss of that belief. The government now exists to enrich itself and the wealthy backers of it's members. The help it gives regular people is given reluctantly and in the smallest possible quantities, with the greatest possible stigma placed on the people that need it.
In the US, the social safety net is in the military.
Check the dates on the articles.
[QUOTE=RayvenQ;36282023]Check the dates on the articles.[/QUOTE]
The situation most likely didn't change anyway...
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