I always thought that the Jobcentre / Jobseekers allowance was there to help unemployed people get back into work? I’ve certainly had to prove in every way possible that I have been looking for a job.
I have hated every minute of being a ‘doley’ and finally I have been given the opportunity to get back into work, no thanks to the Jobcentre’s job listings (usually consisting of “earn upto £80,000 p/a” then at the bottom “Please note this is a self-employed vacancy. Advertised salary based on commission. No basic wage.”).
I can’t sign off the day before I start work, and they have no spare time before. So I have to sign off 5 days before I actually start, meaning I will be short for my car repayments. The job I have got then pays a month in arrears which leaves me with nothing to live on for 28 days. I spoke with someone on the phone at the DWP who said they’d be delighted to sort a budgeting loan out for me. But oh no, I can’t as I haven’t been receiving JSA for long enough? But they might be able to offer me £80 grant, which would help enormously. Just been to a meeting for that and been turned down because “we can’t pay for travel to work”.
Apparently this is all my fault as they need two weeks notice that I have been offered a job & I can’t take a job offered to me until they have reviewed it. Not helpful when I’m offered a job there and then, is it?
So thank you, DWP & Jobcentre+, for the late payments which forced me into debt, for the patronising tone with which your employees talk to me in, for the long enquiries into whether I’m working cash in hand (which I was NOT!) and withholding several months contributions from me again forcing me into debt, for the lack of support in finding a job & for the lack of support with accepting a job.
