Jobcentres
Misleading title
The misleadingly-titled jobcentres are where unemployed people sign on for jobseeker's allowance. Job vacancies are advertised there, mainly of the low-grade variety. There are some better quality jobs including a few at a very senior level, but these type of jobs, like most of the others, are always advertised elsewhere. Of course I check what's in the jobcentre when I'm not on New Deal (when copies of those vacancies are available in the job search room) and I apply for some of those jobs that give contact details.
Contact details sometimes unavailable
The interesting thing is that most vacancies advertised in the jobcentre give no contact details whatsoever. People have to take the basic information provided to a counter, where somebody will check whether the candidate is suitable for the vacancy. They don't want to upset employers (and thereby lose their source of job vacancies) by allowing unsuitable candidates to apply for those jobs. Isn't that interesting? Yet the whole thrust of government policy is to force unemployed people to fulfil a quota of job applications.
Not wishing to get into arguments with jobcentre staff about my suitability for any particular job, I never apply for jobs that don't allow me to contact the employer or recruitment agency directly. (Of course, when I'm told to apply for a particular job, I'm given all the details anyway.) Still, the fact that jobcentres have this screening policy shows that the government at least partly recognises that people have different skills and abilities. Even though their rhetoric sometimes suggests otherwise, they recognise that you can't force people into jobs that they can't do, nor can they force employers to take on workers that don't appeal to them for whatever reason.
Threatening letter
Threats from job centres are nothing new, but they usually come as part of a letter containing an instruction of some kind. I got one in August 2012 that was merely sent as a reminder. It went like this :-
Dear PETER HARRIS
Work Programme
You are currently participating in the Work Programme. When we first referred you to the Work Programme, we gave / sent you a letter in which we told you about your requirement to participate, set out what you must do as part of that requirement and provided information about the consequences of any failure to take part. I am now writing to you and other participants in the Work Programme to provide more detail of those consequences. All other requirements remain as set out in your initial notification letter.
In your initial notification letter, we said that your Jobseeker's Allowance could stop for up to 26 weeks if you fail, without a good reason, to take part in the Work Programme. This would include failing to complete any activity that your Provider has required you to do.
If you fail to take part and we decide that your Jobseeker's Allowance should be sanctioned, your benefit will be stopped and you will lose National Insurance credits for:
- two weeks, for a first failure;
- four weeks, if we have previously decided that your JSA should be sanctioned because you failed without good reason to take part in the Work Programme or any other scheme set up under the Jobseeker's Allowance (Employment, Skills and Enterprise Scheme) Regulations 2011, and that sanction started within the las 12 months; or
- 26 weeks, if we decided on two or more previous occasions that your JSA should be sanctioned because you failed without good reason to take part in the Work Programme or any other scheme set up under those Regulations, and the most recent sction started within the last 12 months.
If your benefit is stopped for 26 weeks, you may have the sanction lifted (after a minimum of 4 weeks) if you:
- fully re-engage with the sanctioned requiement at any time; or
- fully engage with a different requirement notified to you.
This letter is for information only and you do not need to take any action. If you have any queries, please ask at your next appointment at the Jobcentre.
That letter inevitably angered me, but I didn't ask about it. It may be that somebody thought the consequences needed clarifying, because people might fear 26 weeks would be the punishment for a first offence. However, reminding people who haven't done anything wrong of possible punishments does not inspire confidence and may damage it.
Another threat
This one was given to me at the job centre. Whereas the one above was specifically about the Work Programme, this one was for all unemployed claimants. It wasn't issued in the form of a letter, but the distinction is irrelevant. You can also find the details online set up as a table; see
Jobseeker's allowance benefit sanctions. That page also shows the more lenient sanctions previously in force, but it doesn't quite match the contents of the paper page I was given at the job centre, not that it should make a difference if you stick to the rules,
Important changes to Jobseeker's Allowance Sanctions from Monday 22 October 2012
How will this affect me?
From 22 Oxtober 2012, the law is changing. The amount of benefit you will receive will not change. However, if at any time in the future you fail to meet the conditions attached to receiving Jobseeker's Allowance, the way your benefit is affected will change. The red numbers signify something that I comment on below the yellow box, and weren't part of the document.
To qualify for Jobseeker's Allowance, you must:
- be available for employment
- be actively seeking employment
- have a current jobseeker's agreement, and
- comply with any reasonable conditions that your adviser asks you to.
From 22 Oxtober 2012, if you do not meet the conditions you are asked to, without a good reason, your benefit could be affected.
- 1 You could lose your benefit for 13 weeks. 26 weeks or 156 weeks (three years), if you:
- leave a job voluntarily or lose a job due to misconduct on your part
- fail to take part in a mandatory work activity programme
- fail to take on a suitable employment opportunity or
- refuse or fail to apply for 2 a job which your adviser has notified to you.
The length of time will depend on whether it is your first, second or third time you have failed to meet any of these responsibilities in the last 52 weeks (one year) of the previous time.
- 3 You may lose your benefits for four weeks or 13 weeks if you:
- fail to attend an adviser interview
- if applicable, fail to take part in a particular employment programme (such as the work programme)
- do not take the opportunity of a place on an employment programme or training scheme
- refuse or fail to apply for or accept a place on such a programme notified to you by your adviser
- fail to attend or give up a place or through your own misconduct, lose your place on such a programme or scheme
- fail to comply with a Jobseeker's Direction
The length of time will depend on whether it is your first, second or third time you have failed to meet any of these responsibilities in the last 52 weeks (one year) of the previous time.
- 4 Your benefit will stop and you will no longer qualify for Jobseeker's Allowance if you:
- do not actively seek work,
- are not available for work.
If you reclaim following such a failure, your new award may not be paid for up to four weeks. If your benefit was stopped on more than one occasion in the last 52 weeks, any new award may not be paid for up tp 13 weeks.
The document continues with an explanation of what do in such circumstances, but it's not really much help. Suffice to say that you may be able to appeal and/or claim hardship benefits.
My comments on the above document, after comparing it with the online version:-
- 1 high level sanctions.
- 2 the online version also has the words or accept if offered at this point; this is presumably a document error. That said, employers are not stupid; they can tell which candidates really want the job. If an employer offers a job to somebody who doesn't really want it, that employer must be desperate.
- 3 low level sanctions.
- 4 intermediate level sanctions. The document is clearer than the online version.
Mote that other differences in the wording do not appear to matter.
2 comments:
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