The sooner this system changes, the better.
What can I say? I am drifting along with no help whatsoever from the Work Programme. Billions have been wasted on this farce and what have I - or even they to show for it? At the very least a bus pass would be of immense help to me; every journey I make costs me 10% of my total weekly benefit. It's simply unsustainable. Consequently I make one journey a week and that's to do my shopping.
I've been told by the Salvation Army that they don't get any funding; this is apparently why their provision locally is in a musty old church hall. I have no idea if this is true; it may well be the case as they are working for the prime, JHP, and not the prime provider themselves. I suppose it is therefore possible JHP (who happily will provide your business with free staff) that the Sally has been used as bid candy. If that's true then it's unacceptable to treat charities in that way. However I've not got much sympathy for these greedy enterprises; they were quite happily salivating at the prospect of making coin off the backs of the poor when it sounded like they'd make big bucks. Now they are reaping the whirlwind.
Someone's making money off of me. All of us on this scheme are commodities; we are no longer 'scroungers', we have become stocks and shares on the human commodities exchange that this scheme has become. As a result, I don't think it's unreasonable for us to see some of the profit we are making for providers, if only the big boys. Are we not working for these people? I think you could make a very strong case for that in the same way that banks and financial product pimps sell their services by way of 'making your money work for you'. That way I could afford a bus pass.
For more on the Salvation Army's attitude toward the poor, read The Void.
For a good laugh...
and prepare to sing Hymn number 10; "Iain Duncan Smith, Your God, Hath Made You Poorer"
Nothing in that video is true. There is not one thing said that has any bearing on my experience whatsoever. This woman is the director of Salvation Army Employment Plus (Employment + Profit = Salvation Army. How she can say this straight faced I do not know.
"The best possible support"...bullying claimants and demanding personal data while offering no training, having no facilities and lying about what they can offer.
"We're aware that some people have more difficulties than others and we feel very well equipped and placed as an organisation...to support their employment needs" by ignoring those difficulties and lying about provision apparently on offer to such people.
"We don't differentiate whether they are job ready or how far they are from the labour market"...by telling people they are to follow very specific rules that are not explained regarding conditionality that must be followed on pain of sanction regardless of their distance from job readiness.
"We work with everybody on an individual basis to make sure they reach their full potential"...to get us our slice of the cake.
Hilarious, though tragic. Just another day in UK PLC. Could've done without the cheesy piano chords though.
I can only concur with your sentiments - the work programme is a complete waste of time. I, for example, am on my third advisor since I started. This is indicative of the phenomenal staff turnover that is typical of these WP providers. Sadly many of the staff who left recently were of a slightly better sort, several of whom had been recently unemployed themselves, but they didn't seem to have the ruthless (or even vindictive) streak that is a required trait to work in this industry so they have gone. As for the "specialist support" that is supposedly on offer there is none, just mindless Interview Technique courses and the like, which may be of use to some, but are uselss to many others (such as me, who is booked to attend his third such course next week).
ReplyDeleteThis collossal waste of money should be the focus of a major political scandal, not least because of the shocking way many claimants are treated, but it seems just because it's the unemployed being treated in this manner the politicians and the media are willing to look the other way, such is the level of antipathy that exists towards claimants.
If nothing else we should feel less guilty as feckless scroungers, being on the WP, as we are making these people money. That's a full time job IMO. Perhaps that's why we aren't counted on the statistics anymore!
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