Job Centre Plus (Aggravation)
on Blog From Beyond (Rwanda), 16/Dec/2009 16:28, 34 days ago
Just back from Gloucester, went to see dad as it was his birthday yesterday. Lots of celebrations in December as it was also my nephew's birthday on the 2nd. Winter babies.Went for a lovely meal at our favourite place:Taste of Indiaon Worcester Street. Love it there, the staff are really friendly and the food is very yummy. They also have these little blue lights embedded in the pavement outside - kind of sparkly :)It was a great way to unwind after the fortnightly trip to Hades, uh, sorry - the Job Centre.Absolutely friggin' hate that place. I'm very proud we live in a country that has a welfare support system; where people don't starve because they haven't got a job. But if you're going to go to all that effort of creating a system, you might as well go that extra mile and try not to make it suck.Seems you're better off not having a job than having a part-time job. What a load of hassle.First off, whether you're entitled to benefits or not is based on the hours you work rather than the money you earn (seems the wrong way round to me, but there you go).You can work up to 16 hours per week but not a minute over.Only, whereas the working world counts a week as being Monday-Friday, the nonces that developed our welfare system (and probably got paid a small fortune for doing so) count a week from the day after you sign on.How this works in principle:Say that I work three days a week: Monday, Wednesday and Friday, and I do five hours on each day and six on Friday. That's 16 hours in a working week. I get my benefit.Say that my boss has an urgent mail shot going out and needs everything done by next Wednesday.I work normal hours this week: Monday, Wednesday, Friday but next week she moves Friday's hours to Tuesday so that I get all the letters ready in time.I sign on Tuesdays so my 'benefit week' runs from Wednesday-Tuesday, not Monday to Friday. If it were Monday-Friday I'd still be within my hours, but according to my benefit week I'm doing:Wednesday: 5Thursday: 0Friday: 5Monday: 5Tuesday: 6= 21I don't get my benefit even though I'm working 16 hours per working week.So, every week that I work more than 16 hours I have to fill in my slip and sign off.Every week that I work under 16 hours I can make a 'rapid phone claim' (not that rapid, obviously, because you still have to go for an interview).There's potentially some Communication Support Work (CSW) coming my way at a local college, and as I'm already doing 15 hours a week, that will likely push it over the limit but it'll be sporadic. So I can see a life of alternating between singing off and phoning in.Earnings v. benefit, there's really not a lot of point signing on, but the reason I do is for my National Insurance contributions, which do add up over time (£2.40 per week).To add insult to injury, they had a letter waiting for me - theinfamous letterfor the workshop that doesn't exist. A 'Back to Work' workshop (which seems a little pointless as I alreadyamworking) on 30th December!!I was planning to meet Cathryn in London for New Year. Luckily the nice lady behind the counter explained that you can take a 'holiday' so long as you don't leave the country. So I've done that and they will invite me to another in the New Year.Finally, they huff and puff and make a huge fuss over which day you sign on, apparently it's set in stone because it's 'linked to your national insurance number.' That's nice to know, but as an explination of why you can't change your signing on date, it falls a little short.Not being able to change your signing on day is completely counter-productive for part-time workers whose contracts, like mine, stipulate 'flexible hours'. I may well be asked to work the same day I sign on - so if the Job Centre can't be flexible then they're certainly breaking their motto (which, as far as I can tell is worth mud anyway) of THE WORK YOU WANT, THE HELP YOU NEED. The people who work there seem nice enough, but the system itself is the most unhelpful, deliberately prat-arsed concept anyone should have to endure.*Deep breath*And on another rant, along the lines ofMedair'shorrifically prejudice policy on Christian-only recruitment, I'd like to boo hissTearfundfor the same discriminatory crap in a time of global recession (or any other time really).All applicantsmustbe committed to Tearfund's evangelical Christian beliefs and in agreement with Tearfund's Basis of Faith document which you must read before applying.It wouldn't irritate me quite as much if some of the jobs weren't as good. Again I beggar the question: what bout the people they help? Does someone laying on a battlefield in the DRC have to sign the Basis of Faith document before anyone takes him to the hospital?Anyway. Back to work tomorrow, busy packing as they're moving office on Friday.If anything, suffering the Job Centre has renewed my efforts to find full-time employment. I spent most of Monday re-writing my CV and it actually looks quite good now, so fingers crossed :)