Do i have to sign on?
Discussion
sleep envy said:
have my 13 week 'hot spot' interview on Monday - that'll be interesting
also, I asked if I could go on a course when I scratched on this week - I was told that they don't fund courses whatsoever??
anyone believe differently?
Ohhh bring it up at the meeting and watch their blank faces fall a little further, I never did get a straight answer.also, I asked if I could go on a course when I scratched on this week - I was told that they don't fund courses whatsoever??
anyone believe differently?
I'm now hopefully back in gainful employment but it meant i had to miss signing on with a minimum of notice - now that was fun. Good God.
But I was under the impression that they should pay for courses.
Dan_1981 said:
sleep envy said:
have my 13 week 'hot spot' interview on Monday - that'll be interesting
also, I asked if I could go on a course when I scratched on this week - I was told that they don't fund courses whatsoever??
anyone believe differently?
Ohhh bring it up at the meeting and watch their blank faces fall a little further, I never did get a straight answer.also, I asked if I could go on a course when I scratched on this week - I was told that they don't fund courses whatsoever??
anyone believe differently?
I'm now hopefully back in gainful employment but it meant i had to miss signing on with a minimum of notice - now that was fun. Good God.
But I was under the impression that they should pay for courses.
I'd be interested to know about paying for courses, I have all the paperwork to do an OU module and would rather you lovely tax payers covered it rather than having to borrow of my parents, I'd pay myself but in a month or so I get assessed for income based and suspect that will result in no benefit.
Having taken an option at the end of July (been working in IT) and spending the month of August with the family and kids, i thought I'd share my experiences of claiming.
I called JobCentre+ last week, hour call going through questions. Then turned up for an initial interview on Tuesday this week. Nearest job centre is 16 miles away.... waited 15 mins and was seen by a middle aged lady who didn't smile, had no rapport whatsoever. Then was seen by a girl of early 20's who faffed about on the computer, had no rapport, seemed a bit timid.
She said "shall we do a search for some jobs?", sure I said, can you filter them to start at £50k basic's and see how we get on.... funnily enough there was no filter... she then asked how much per hour I was on...
I then had to turn up yesterday for the 'signing on' bit. Met by miserable woman on 'reception'... then seen by a nice chap who did look at me oddly when he saw previous earnings etc.. wondered why I was even bothering.
The queue was 1) Tattooed serial dole claimant 2) teenage mother with 2 little kids shoutuing and screaming 3) Some eastern european wearing leather jacket and tracksuit bottoms... 4) ME
Never have I felt so out of place.... 1 month ago I'm flitting around the offices of global bank's in Canary wharf and next in the dole queue in Somerset...
I suspect by the time they get to actually processing the claim I'll have a new job.... well I had better, as it's the biggest incentive I think I've ever had!!
grim does not do it justice...
I called JobCentre+ last week, hour call going through questions. Then turned up for an initial interview on Tuesday this week. Nearest job centre is 16 miles away.... waited 15 mins and was seen by a middle aged lady who didn't smile, had no rapport whatsoever. Then was seen by a girl of early 20's who faffed about on the computer, had no rapport, seemed a bit timid.
She said "shall we do a search for some jobs?", sure I said, can you filter them to start at £50k basic's and see how we get on.... funnily enough there was no filter... she then asked how much per hour I was on...
I then had to turn up yesterday for the 'signing on' bit. Met by miserable woman on 'reception'... then seen by a nice chap who did look at me oddly when he saw previous earnings etc.. wondered why I was even bothering.
The queue was 1) Tattooed serial dole claimant 2) teenage mother with 2 little kids shoutuing and screaming 3) Some eastern european wearing leather jacket and tracksuit bottoms... 4) ME
Never have I felt so out of place.... 1 month ago I'm flitting around the offices of global bank's in Canary wharf and next in the dole queue in Somerset...
I suspect by the time they get to actually processing the claim I'll have a new job.... well I had better, as it's the biggest incentive I think I've ever had!!
grim does not do it justice...
BUT.... you need to do it for your NI contributions to continue otherwise you are then going to get done by the IR...
Even better when I was told I couldnt go on holiday (even the weekend) by the JC in case I had an interview they had lined up... I ended up telling them if they had a definite interview that was more than the £50k basic I was on, I would happily fly back early, but if it was anything like a ruse to ruin my holiday and there was nothing there, I would bill the JC £Xk for wasting my time.
When they complained, I asked them how many SWAPS/CFD trading system designer jobs they had... And did they know what it was?? That shut them up sharpish.
You are allowed 13 weeks JSA before they subcontract you out to someone who will waste your time even more and then several weeks later they will ask you to drop your basic wage and think more outside the box.
Even better when I was told I couldnt go on holiday (even the weekend) by the JC in case I had an interview they had lined up... I ended up telling them if they had a definite interview that was more than the £50k basic I was on, I would happily fly back early, but if it was anything like a ruse to ruin my holiday and there was nothing there, I would bill the JC £Xk for wasting my time.
When they complained, I asked them how many SWAPS/CFD trading system designer jobs they had... And did they know what it was?? That shut them up sharpish.
You are allowed 13 weeks JSA before they subcontract you out to someone who will waste your time even more and then several weeks later they will ask you to drop your basic wage and think more outside the box.
Engineer1 said:
I'd be interested to know about paying for courses, I have all the paperwork to do an OU module and would rather you lovely tax payers covered it rather than having to borrow of my parents, I'd pay myself but in a month or so I get assessed for income based and suspect that will result in no benefit.
Have you looked at the OU's Financial Support stuff? http://css2.open.ac.uk/fafcalculator/eligibility.a...They may pay a substantial amount of your fees for you.
From teh experience of someone who has just been through the s
t that is JSA and Job Centre+ here are my hot tips.
1) Register On line or by phone AS SOON AS YOU DON'T HAVE A JOB. You cannot backdate claims and you need every day you can, it pays your stamp which will ensure your state pension (pmsl) is safe....
2) You will then have to go in for interview and here you need to state what job and pay you aer after. Don't put yourself sown for rubbish, you want a job equal to what you were doing before so state the salary job type that you were on before. You have up to 3 months looking for this type of job before they will review.
3) They will then give you dates of when you need to sign-on. For this you walk up to the Customer Service desk, say you're signing on and give them the book. You'll need to have filled the relevant "looking for work activities" in, if you don't they'll stop your claim.
4) Do not I repeat DO NOT, miss a sign-on. If you have no choice, phone the centre directly and tell them. Then go in AS SOON AS YOU CAN. No-show will mean they will stop your claim.
5) Once you have found a job fill in the form stating you no longer need JSA. Put down teh date that you will start the job. Failure to do this will result in you JSA being stopped on your last sign-on date.
There is NO give with the system. fk up and they will stop the pitiful payments you get there and then.
It's taken me over 6 months to get £400 out of them after the IRS "lost" my P60 info for one of my employment years.
t that is JSA and Job Centre+ here are my hot tips.1) Register On line or by phone AS SOON AS YOU DON'T HAVE A JOB. You cannot backdate claims and you need every day you can, it pays your stamp which will ensure your state pension (pmsl) is safe....
2) You will then have to go in for interview and here you need to state what job and pay you aer after. Don't put yourself sown for rubbish, you want a job equal to what you were doing before so state the salary job type that you were on before. You have up to 3 months looking for this type of job before they will review.
3) They will then give you dates of when you need to sign-on. For this you walk up to the Customer Service desk, say you're signing on and give them the book. You'll need to have filled the relevant "looking for work activities" in, if you don't they'll stop your claim.
4) Do not I repeat DO NOT, miss a sign-on. If you have no choice, phone the centre directly and tell them. Then go in AS SOON AS YOU CAN. No-show will mean they will stop your claim.
5) Once you have found a job fill in the form stating you no longer need JSA. Put down teh date that you will start the job. Failure to do this will result in you JSA being stopped on your last sign-on date.
There is NO give with the system. f
k up and they will stop the pitiful payments you get there and then.It's taken me over 6 months to get £400 out of them after the IRS "lost" my P60 info for one of my employment years.
Dan_1981 said:
Ohhh bring it up at the meeting and watch their blank faces fall a little further, I never did get a straight answer.
I'm booked on a course to learn AutoCad 
trying to explain that I'm not qualified to project manage or be a valuation surveyor was worse than pulling teeth
fk it. Pay the NI back later.
My local office is in the nearest town. In 2004, I came back from abroad and was properly skint, really looking for a job and needed to get some cash until I got going. Dealing with the dole office was a thoroughly demeaning, self esteem killing exercise. To boot they fked around so much in order not to pay me. I ended up temp-labouring just to keep busy and get paid.
I have had periods between jobs with bloody teaching/supply teaching/holidays and there is always some reason not to pay, or to bugger you about.
I class myself as being above that kind of treatment, hence I opt to either go without or "make money".
Never ever in a million years. It is a scum portal for scum and normal people have no place in the queue. You find that when they fk you around. Got 6 weeks to be without money? Thought not.
k it. Pay the NI back later. My local office is in the nearest town. In 2004, I came back from abroad and was properly skint, really looking for a job and needed to get some cash until I got going. Dealing with the dole office was a thoroughly demeaning, self esteem killing exercise. To boot they f
ked around so much in order not to pay me. I ended up temp-labouring just to keep busy and get paid.I have had periods between jobs with bloody teaching/supply teaching/holidays and there is always some reason not to pay, or to bugger you about.
I class myself as being above that kind of treatment, hence I opt to either go without or "make money".
Never ever in a million years. It is a scum portal for scum and normal people have no place in the queue. You find that when they f
k you around. Got 6 weeks to be without money? Thought not. Hi all - thought I would finally join you and post something.
Like most of you I am unemployed - just had my 13 week interview and been booked onto a Executive Job Search - I was joined by 3 other gents. One 13 months ago had worked behind a trade counter at a builders merchants, the other an IT contractor that for the last 15 months had been a paid gardener and the third admitted his last proper job was in 1982 WTF !!! He did admit that he played on line poker and that when he first started he had made £8,000 but 3 years later his total prize pot was £13,000 (13/3 = FA in my opinion). So the executive bit in the title is very woolly.
I was in housebuilding on the management side but now looking at sales etc. The novelty of being at home is wearing rather thin unlike me who is wearing rather fat !!
Just to confirm that if you miss a sign on session you have 5 days to sign on or you lose benefits. Tell them you have an interview and take proof - if you have it. And I have just come back from a family holiday - fitted it in nicely between my fortnightly sign ons. I also plan a couple of city breaks so you can get away with it.
Good luck to all you job seekers and thanks for all the posts - I will be looking into courses in the morning
Like most of you I am unemployed - just had my 13 week interview and been booked onto a Executive Job Search - I was joined by 3 other gents. One 13 months ago had worked behind a trade counter at a builders merchants, the other an IT contractor that for the last 15 months had been a paid gardener and the third admitted his last proper job was in 1982 WTF !!! He did admit that he played on line poker and that when he first started he had made £8,000 but 3 years later his total prize pot was £13,000 (13/3 = FA in my opinion). So the executive bit in the title is very woolly.
I was in housebuilding on the management side but now looking at sales etc. The novelty of being at home is wearing rather thin unlike me who is wearing rather fat !!
Just to confirm that if you miss a sign on session you have 5 days to sign on or you lose benefits. Tell them you have an interview and take proof - if you have it. And I have just come back from a family holiday - fitted it in nicely between my fortnightly sign ons. I also plan a couple of city breaks so you can get away with it.
Good luck to all you job seekers and thanks for all the posts - I will be looking into courses in the morning
Gassing Station | Jobs & Employment Matters | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff