Musing on the Work Programme

It's only a matter of time before I'm shuffled off to whichever lucky provider will have to put up with me. Following a link from a discussion on aspiejobblog.blogspot.com I read this post on the money saving expert website. Be warned, the forums over there are proliferated by right wing trolls of the most supercilious kind.
So the point of this brief post is to ask: if these providers are only getting paid, per client, after said client secures and sustains such a period of work (though I'm not 100% sure it's as long as two years), what is the point in putting people forward for casual crappy jobs? If these providers are committed to anything less than helping you find proper, sustained, suitable work - ie a career in the proper sense - as opposed to shuffling you off to the local cake factory for zero hours (hello A4E!) then they aren't acting smart. How many people are going to remain there for 2 years?
Of course then they end up making a fresh claim for JSA (if they aren't lucky enough to find a new employer - ie one the provider won't know about and can't chase up). I'm sure then you will find your claim will get refused because you didn't stick out the job the provider secured for you.
In other words: if we aren't getting paid...neither are you!
But there ain't no way I'm signing my privacy away!

Jobsearch 2

Let's go into two of the jobs mentioned in the last entry in more detail:
The first is an assistant manager running a charity shop. It's three days a week, which amounts to 21 hours a week at just over £6 an hour. That's not really a particularly great wage, nor does it amount to a sum of money that one can reasonably live on long term. It's also not a job I want. I don't feel capable of dealing with these responsibilities; nor do I aspire to them. I don't want a career in retail nor retail management. I might concede if it was my own business and thus something I was interested in. But while I've absolutely no problem with charity shops (even though there are a ton of them surrounding the shop in question) at all and fully support voluntary work, this is not what I want to do. How the hell can I do this? Yet the JC decided that 21 hours a week was within my coping capability, but I cannot apply for this job. I guess that means I'm a lazy scrounger: that's the only alternative way to explain the attitude of someone refusing this job according to the current narrative. Even if I were to apply (and I might for precisely this reason even though it's intellectually dishonest and a waste of everyone's time) I sincerely doubt I'd get very far.
The second vacancy is full time in a local library with the provision of being available to work in other local libraries, which technically I am not (due to crap transport provision). Most likely the library you'd be covering is nearer than the venue in question so that isn't an issue. However what is an issue is that I'd be dealing with the public in ways I really don't feel comfortable with, specifically kids. I don't deal with kids. I find it impossible to interact with them in this way (which is another symptom of the asperger issue I believe I have, though I'm sure I'll probably find out that's not true). These libraries will have you dealing with kids a lot through reading programmes (which are a good thing). Not just kids of course: this is a customer facing job where you need to interact with people of all kinds. Sorry, but right now I can't do this.
These jobs frighten me. They offer levels of responsibility or commitment I just can't handle right now. The Jobcentre have been given notice by my GP that I shouldn't be put forward for jobs I can't handle. Of course they will think that I can handle these jobs and I don't doubt most people will just think I should 'grow up' etc. But that's not how mental health works. Sadly there's no discussion of what I can or could do, only 'this is what we have available, get and apply for it'.
I have applied for the library job, even though my application looks like shit - it doesn't help that the standard application process is worded and constructed in such a way that people with little experience (ie less info to put down onto a form) or health issues (particularly mental health - even problems that seem much less serious than many others) just come across badly. I don't have references either.
However I don't think I'll apply for the manager job. It's completely beyond me and at any rate what chance have I? If they ended up picking me the first thing I'd want to know is just what was the standard of competition in the application process! It's a job at a level that I neither desire, nor can face doing. Unfortunately you can't be seen to be saying that in this era of 'Saints and Scroungers' (ooh look Marjory, aged 90, still runs marathons through minefields to support Age Concern; compared to her you're a miserable scrounger).
The paradigm is the problem. The framing of this whole issue is the problem. There are no alternatives offered, nor any support. I either sink or swim. Doubtless if the JC find out I haven't applied for these jobs they will stop my money: rules is rules and if you say you are going to apply then that's what you must do. If you can't do it - why didn't you say so?
My head is where it's at, folks, that's all I can say. My state of mind, my cognitive or perhaps more accurately psycho-emotional makeup is what it is. I believe I have aspergers, or at least some issues of a similar nature that do, to whatever level they do so, inhibit my options, in this case my availability for work. Why is that an issue? Why not offer help to mitigate this and help find something suitable. Why is it always 'here's what's on the computer take it or lose benefits?'. It's such a shortsighted transient approach.

Jobsearch Fun

Signing session...I've lost count; the days blur into one now. It was my second time with the advisor assigned at the 13 week period. Another waste of time. The JC+ approach, mechanism and system is just too flawed.
The interview proceeds after I turn up ten minutes late. Fortunately my JC isn't staffed with people that want to stop your benefits for a week because of such things, especially when they are caused by bus timetables.
The formality of signing done the inevitable search on the system begins. This is just ridiculous: it says right there on my search record that I use JC+ website every day. I do it every morning; it's pretty easy to do especially as half the time it comes up with nothing. What is the point of asking me to look again? Either accept that I have done this, or don't ask me to keep a record! One one hand they want you to develop self confidence to apply and procure work, but on the other they are quite happy to enforce a policy of complete mistrust.
However their in house system isn't the same as that used by the website (and the job points that 'customers' are advised to use). I quickly notice vacancies that weren't advertised on the website - not that my pointing out how flawed the website is gains me any credibility. They just don't believe what you say.
As the search proceeds I feel the pressure to accept the invitation to apply for three jobs. Two of which are completely unsuitable. One's a retail management job that will be impossible to get to to say nothing of the level of responsibility involved that I don't feel comfortable with nor do I desire professionally. I'm not interested in a career in retail, but the JC aren't interested in hearing that because a job's a job. No support for anything that might be suitable or that I might be interested in (how about working from home?).
The second vacancy is for the library which wouldn't be too bad but for the fact that you have to deal with a great deal of screaming kids, especially over the summer, as they have lots of reading schemes for kids. Now don't misunderstand me: I think these things are great and anything tha encourages reading in kids is worthwhile - I, on the other hand, have no interest in dealing with kids. I find it difficult, I don't have kids (nor any desire to) and have never ever felt comfortable, as an adult, in their company, for instance when I visit friends that have them. Besides the job requires you be available to cover in libraries throughout the district. Due to the rubbish transport provision this isn't possible.
The third vacancy was another of the usual agency adverts. Digging around I find that it was (and I've seen this before) copy and pasted directly from another jobsearch website; one of the meta sites that gathers jobs from various agencies in the local area. This practise is ridiculous: the website team have simply scoured the Internet for sites like this, copied the text and uploaded them to give the impression they were provided by the employer directly. This is creating the wrong impression about the actual number of vacancies currently on offer (if the government are counting jobs advertised by the DWP as their source for example). There's no guarantee it's even a real job anyway as so many of these silly agency jobs aren't. I don't want to work for an agency and I don't want to work as a 'customer service administrator' (which is about all the advert tells me). But what choice do I have. I sent an email to find out about the job at least.
So there we are; no support, no interest and as usual no help. Just another routine scanning of the local list of adverts on the system and that's it. How anyone can think this approach is worthwhile is beyond me. No discussion of anything at all. I mentioned that I wasn't terribly comfortable with the third vacancy when it popped up (and the advisor 'nudging' my interest of course, so you feel compelled to apply). All i got was 'well admin is on your list of jobs' (i have no experience of admin at all, nor any desire to do it, but you have to pick three different types of work and are then held to that no matter what).
Ridiculous; we are all individual. This isn't an exception nor a pithy Monty P quote. We ARE such and as such our needs in work are equally individual. Just beccause other potential colleagues in the workplace might be able to manage, doesn't mean I can - or you can. I would have been more interested in discussing working from home (which we briefly touched upon last session), but the only game in town is 'let's look on the computer'. That's it; it's a ridiculous approach, utterly reactive, utterly inept, and no hope at all. I have skills, I have interests, dare I say I even have talents, now why are they being ignored?

Stitchensed Up

You know what, I'm pretty bloody incensed by this. (And I also posted this in the comments section.)

I'm not a professional journalist. I'm just an ordinary person that doesn't get to exercise his prejudices in public. I don't get invited on to 5Live every other morning, I don't get to broadcast my two penneth in print and on tv shows such as Question Time, or the various incarnations of BBC's sunday morning sub-religious discussion show. This is about as big a platform as I'm ever going to get.

I am sick to the bloody back teeth of having the airwaves and the discussion fora hijacked by shrieking and frightened little men like you Mr Hitchens. You are in the minority, no matter how many other fantasists you can conjure up to agree with you, no matter how many of them may turn out to have some level of professional qualification. You are NOT a scientist. You are NOT an expert in drugs, addiction and certainly not in something as harmless as cannabis. Get some damned humility and get out of the debate. I am fed up with every discussion being dominated or hijacked by hysterical fearmongers perpetuating the same tired line.

Harmless you say?

You're damned right I say. There are plenty of people that smoke cannabis across the world. Plenty of people that still function. Cannabis has been in existence for centuries as a herb that has considerable medicinal use. Society has had a relationship with it forever and yet we are still here; armageddon hasn't crept up on our obviously THC addled minds. Society isn't about to sink into the abyss because of it either.

I say 'our', but I don't smoke it. I tried it a couple of times when i was younger and threw up. I don't care for it. But then I don't care for alcohol either, nor do I smoke tobacco (which is how the cannabis i tried was prepared - with regular cigarettes). I don't endorse it, nor do I condemn those that use it. It's their choice. That's what society is about and it seems that we have managed to muddle our way through this far.

The only issue I have is with the crossbred super strong stuff bred by the criminal element to increase profit. That and the culture that abuses cannabis - but then abuse is the problem with most things, even chocolate cake (that's regular cake, not the Brasseye stuff, kids). All of this can be solved by relaxing the laws on drugs, not pursuing a fools errand of prohibition or increasingly punitive measures, all of which are informed by fear of ignorance.

Something you, Peter Hitchens, are tacitly and constantly given carte blance to do. You are the worst kind of journalist and that you are happy to air your ignorance in debates with actual real human scientists attests to that, and to your agenda of ignorance. We need less of you not more.

Now feel free to whine to someone else about how you're so hard done by in being given every opportunity under the sun to speak.

Daily Fail

I'm not referring to everyone's favourite fish and chip wrapper (the Daily Mail), but this that I have just found on Youtube. I post because the article comes from the BBC (Points West, the local news programme I get as I live near Bristol) and is, as far as I can tell, genuine. I'm going to come back to this entry when I've had time to digest this, but daily signing is the most fucking ridiculous bollocks to have come from the DWP in a while now (and coming from the DWP it's in good company). I can only assume that claimants get their money refunded for non signing days, as they do (or at least used to) for weekly signing. On £65 a week daily signing can be one hell of an expense - and for what? How on earth, how on earth, can this ever benefit people? Again the assumption that without this daily kick up the arse people will languish in their hashish pits till teatime; their lives lit by the glow of Jeremy Cathode Ray Tube Kyle. It won't make more jobs appear and will certainly heap even more on the desks of frontline staff that already are understaffed and overworked (and that's assuming they do their jobs properly).

Words fail me folks.

Had my 13 week review today; a month later, delayed due to bus timetable related ignorance. To be fair the appointment went as well as it could have, I suppose. I give the JC their due in that regard. They are more understanding of the problems due to anxiety i feel than even my GP whose letter, written to tell them about all this, was a complete joke and totally misread everything I had quite clearly told him. Even so, it can't be healthy to feel as stressed as I did anticipating this interview; en route my legs felt so unsteady they almost didn't exist. I'm not sure how I manged to walk there. I imagine this is how an air hockey puck must feel.
This is the sort of problem I tried to tell the GP upon my last appointment; how stressful dealing with JSA is and how fraught the system is when you aren't even guaranteed to get your money from one fortnight to the next. He didn't understand, or even listen as his letter, received by the JC (they showed me today though I managed to procure a copy yesterday), demonstrated: a random collection of sentences that reads 'I'm not really interested'. Nice attitude, doc, writing the letter was YOUR idea.
Anyway, the appointment went by in a fairly benign way. My JSA was changed somewhat to allow reduced hours and greater understanding of the fact I have problems. Fair play. It's somewhat sad that the JC are more sympathetic to the issues surrounding health, ESA and of course ATOS, than my own GP! This is perhaps because they have to deal with the fallout of those failed sick claims, something the GP hasn't a clue about.
However there are clouds on the horizon: the spectre of the Work Programme looms. It's just unfolding locally. Fortunately I was not immediately referred (again it was felt that dumping me straight in at the deep end was a step too far, thankfully), but it's only a matter of time. There are two local providers, uin the small town where I sign, JHP and Jobfit. Are they any good? Who knows; their websites are the usual hyperbole and I've certainly never heard of them before. Where they formed just to capitalise on the WP? Interestingly neither the client nor the JC have any say in who sees whom, the referral is made to the organisation with the least clients at the time.
I'm not really looking forward to that, but on the plus side I have amanged to avoid weekly signing, another perk. Someone told me that was no longer the policy, but evidently not.
Lucky me for now.