Unemployment and Benefits

[Hugo]

I was reading an article in the Daily Mirror under the large worded heading " UNEMPLOYED?  WORK A 30- HOUR WEEK FOR FREE"
It said that the jobless will have to work for their benefits under a tough US- style programme announced by David Cameron yesterday.
Anyone unemployed for more than two years faces a 30 hour week for no extra cash under the PM's "workforce plan.
Those who refuse to do the compulsory work will lose their benefits.
It'll be interesting to see if it works and could give those people actively seeking work some encouragement to focus on and those layabouts who do not want to work a kick up the a***.

[Pendragon]

This will only encourage free labour I can't see any real long term jobs coming out of this.  It's a good that people have to work for their benefits don't get me wrong.  The people who desperately want a job can't get work because full time jobs are few and far between. 

[Hugo]

Free labour is what it is, but it should be aimed at the long term unemployed.  Those who don't want to work and are content on scrounging.
There should be plenty of manual work needed for Councils,Charities etc. For instance in Conwy alone there's glass that needs clearing from the lovely Morfa Beach, Cemeteries that need tidying up and general litter clearance from the area and this applies to all the other towns in the area.
I feel sorry for the genuine people who are actively looking for work because of the lack of jobs in the area. 

[Yorkie]

So instead of relying on "free" labour to clean the beaches and cemetaries why not get people into paid employment by giving them a job to fulfil these needs?    WWW

[Hugo]

I would imagine that part of this is to try and change the "benefit culture"  of the people who refuse to look for work.
 The general state of the economy has resulted in employers having to make cuts to the staffing levels so that any manual work like litter clearance may be neglected.

[DaveR]

So she thinks she's too good to work in a shop but not so proud that she minds claiming the dole? Funny old world, isn't it?


A university graduate was told she had to stop volunteering at a local museum for four weeks and do unpaid work in a Poundland store in order to continue receiving Jobseeker’s Allowance.

Cait Reilly, who graduated from Birmingham University in 2010, was regularly volunteering part-time at the Pen Museum & Learning Centre in Birmingham because she hoped to pursue a career in museums.

But last autumn she was told by her local Jobcentre Plus that she had been placed on a "sector-based work academy", a four-week programme made up of two weeks’ employability training and two weeks’ unpaid work at Poundland.

Reilly has this week launched proceedings to seek a judicial review of the Jobseeker’s Allowance (Employment, Skills and Enterprise Scheme) Regulations 2011, which include a power to compel JSA claimants to carry out work.

Her solicitor, Jim Duffy of Public Interest Lawyers, said Reilly had been volunteering at the museum since May. He said she was placed on the work academy programme by her local Jobcentre Plus and agreed to do it after being told about the scheme in "vague and inaccurate terms".

Duffy said when Reilly found out more about the programme, she told staff at the Jobcentre Plus that she did not want to take part, but was told that it was mandatory. She did the Poundland placement in November.

Brian Jones, another volunteer at the Pen Museum, a registered charity, said Reilly was not able to give much notice that she would have to stop her work for a month. "She is a valued volunteer here, so to lose her in that period was very difficult for us," he said.

A spokeswoman for the Department for Work and Pensions said: "Working in retail is perfectly good experience for a career in a museum. There are very similar transferable skills involved."

http://www.thirdsector.co.uk/Policy_and_Politics/article/1111722/museum-volunteer-told-work-unpaid-poundland/

[martin]

In Spain the unemployed are tasked to undertake work that will benefit the comunity, you will often see gangs of them digging some plot or other, painting road verges, lamp posts,etc, etc, they all appear happy to do it, mind you, there is still a sense of community in much of Spain.   I suppose it would be just about impossible to introduce such a scheme in the UK, as the case of that pathetic little girl illustrates, they really do make me sick, I am sure the majority of us on this forum have at some time or other had to do a job we did not really want to do, but you get on with it, it's all part of the journey through life.  Today, they all seem to want to start at the top.

[Hugo]

Spain seems to have the right attitude and it benefits everyone from the community to the people carrying out the work as it must give the unemployed a sense of purpose and achievement.
We've all done jobs that we've disliked but it has been a means to an end and no one should expect something for doing nothing.
If those people were self employed and didn't do or want to do any work then they wouldn't get any money coming in, so what's the difference?
It's wrong when someone expects to be kept in benefits throughout their life and expects others who work to provide those benefits for them.      :rage:

[born2run]

The girl is absolutely right to refuse to do that job for free. She has already given up 3 to 4 years of her life to study and get her self thousands of pounds in debt in the hope of pursuing a good well paid career (one that will see her pay far more back in taxes through her life time than she would ever take out in benefits) following her successful well earned degree like 99% of graduates she was unable to find employment right away, so she dutifully decided to volunteer for a job as it would help further her career and give something back for the meagre benefits she was receiving to survive.

However the job centre, (and you lot) not happy with a good deed, decide to pigeon her off working in a cheap shop, where she'd probably spend her day waiting on lazy unemployed people, who wouldn't even contemplate the idea of bettering themselves in education or ever getting of benefits.

I mean I know you angry Jeremy Clarkson types love berating anyone less fortunate than yourselves but there are far better targets than an innocent young girl who wants to make a better life for her self and whose only crime is she doesn't want to work in poundland for free. I wouldn't work in bloody poundland for free!

[martin]

DO NOT put liken me to that tit Jeremy Clarkson, I will take most things, but that is a bridge too far.

[martin]

Sorry, I was so angry, the third word of my post "put" was written in error.

[Fester]

Born to Run .... nicely put ... I like to see a firmly made contrary post that stimulates debate.
Nothing worse than a bland forum.

It just goes to show that we never really know the facts do we?  In this case I still don't.

We all want the best for our kids, and when trying to get a foothold on the evasive employment ladder these days, it is necessary to do something like volunteering to get something different on your CV.
However, it is upsetting to think that this can be taken too far and our kids can be taken the p##s out of, as unpaid labour.

The truth I suspect, is somewhere in between.

[Merddin Emrys]

Nothing wrong with Jeremy Clarkson!

[martin]

I bet Your new dove friend does not agree with you.  I can hear her/him now now, "down with Jeremy"

[DaveR]

Yes, Born2Run, it's a hard life, isn't it? Same for all of us though. Maybe we'll go and volunteer for 10 hours a week in a museum instead of working for a living. The downside, unfortunately, is that there would be no-one to pay all the benefits.