Last Days of Summer 1: What I Forgot To Post Yesterday!

 I have decided to shack up with the Fedcap people. I may regret this decision - they  may regret this decision!

I'm still unconvinced and I'm still apprehensive as to the consequences in terms of being obligated once signed up. Fortunately I haven't yet signed anything.

That said, I had asked what support they provide for mental health. This was the reply

"Thanks for you email … we have a community Provision Coordinator who will sign post anyone that requests specialist help"

Unfortunate, that is not what the information pamphlet they sent earlier says:

"We have a team of employability and health experts who will work with you every step of your journey to make sure that you are getting the right level of support to help you overcome your personal and work-related barriers."

and:

"one to one support from qualified health professionals"

At best they will not be providing that one to one support. The people they sign post you to (if they exist) would have to do that. This is a problem because it could end up like my experience with the Work Programme wherein the ill informed and unhelpful adviser was under the impression - somehow - that people with mental health issues would be accompanied by support workers. Moreover, in liue of the presence of such it would be assumed there were no health issues, which is of course questionable logic. This is the kind of pernicious thinking that I'm concerned about. However I see little alternative. I will just have to be mindful and refuse to sign anything without satisfying my own insecurities first.

If that isn't satisfactory for them, too bad.

But I can't help feeling the way these organisations are set up, with this 'customer led' approach, is ultimately about avoiding responsibility and victim blaming. Sure they might, hopefully, be helpful. But since it's impossible to pin them down on what they actually can do, specifically, it leaves them free to avoid responsibility for not providing a service. Instead they can just point to the 'customer' being difficult. It isn't 'being difficult' when you are constrained by the system. The service itself is already limited by the needs and means of capitalism and the dictates of the ruling class (ie the DWP). It isn't free to operate independently. It doesn't list a menu of services. It's beholden to whomever funds it. All of these elements are problematic.