[Angus]

Originally Posted by Vicky.

Nope, still on the dole :/

Thats really interesting actually, thought it might be something like that.

On the other hand, sometimes they send people on worthwhile courses...but at a price. My sister has just had a baby, her partner was out of work while she was pregnant but trying to get back into working. The jobcentre arranged for him to go on some 2 week course to learn the basics of plastering and that after he asked them to. They messed around, giving him the wrong start dates for about a month, then finally gave him the correct one, and my sister went into labour the next day...however, they would not give him a day off to see his child. He continued going on this course, and was due a payment half way through. His payment never came. After ringing about and getting passed from office to office, he was eventually told that his payments would start up again when the course ended, as since he had voluntarily gone on the course (instred of being forced to...) he would have to make a new claim. Perfect for when you have just had a baby eh? Luckily my dad could lend them what they needed to support the newborn, but it really does make you think...surely they should be WANTING people to help themselves back into work, not have to be forced into it. But they make it as hard as possible to do that it seems :S

That's a typical story of someone trying to help himself and his situation, and getting penalised for it. Unfortunately, the sort of people they often employ as "advisors" (and I use the term loosely), have no clue at all, and simply follow a format without taking into consideration a person's life skills, experience and qualifications. It must be galling, if you have good qualifications, and/or years of professional working experience, to be interviewed and assessed by some little oik with maybe only 5 GCSEs to their name. The whole system seems geared towards demotivating people, and genuine jobseekers are shown very little respect.

If, for example, a Jobseeker takes a temporary job for a couple of months, he has to sign off, and then, when the job finishes, go through the whole process of signing on again, with all the aggro and delays that involves. So 9 times out of 10 they won't bother and who can blame them?