The Cost of Parking

So it seems I have been parked: that is abandoned by the WP. I have heard nothing back from them at all. I still have the forms given to me to fill in, some of which remain unanswered because the questions are stupid and I frankly can't be arsed. Is this a good example of Christian charity? But then, it seems, the Salvation Army has form in this area: they subscribe to a strict biblical morality with all the divisiveness that entails.

Thing with being parked is that you are left in limbo: the claimant still has to search for jobs to fulfil the condition for receiving JSA and show his efforts, but he gets no support from the people that the public purse is paying for that. I'm not entirely sure this is a better situation. But then I don't really want to rock the boat when I go and sign on in case I get shipped off on workfare. This is an unacceptable state of affairs, and one that goonface Grayling will doubtless deny happens. The more these experiences trickle out the harder for him it will be to keep sticking his finger in to close the cracks in the dam.

What do I do? The cold hard truth is that, at least locally, there is no help at all. I don't know if I can swithc providers - in fact I suspect that's not an option at all. Once you're with a provider, any complaints about their service have to go through them. I've heard this from JC+ staff many times while waiting to be seen. It's a convenient arrangement: see no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil. Even then the other provider (JHP - via whomever they have delivering on the ground) is also operating from a religious establishment: they are hosted at the newer and more plush (but no less Christian) baptist church down the road. Perhaps god has cornered the market on the WP: after all IDS is himself a full on believer. I'd call him a zealot.

These schemes just cannot address the reality of the problems that are out there. For people like myself in rural communities, travel is a huge problem. I simply cannot afford to be travelling around because the cost of a bus ticket is £7! That's ten percent of my weekly income. There's no concessionary rate either. Why can't the government help with matters like this? They are after all quite happy for WP providers to have to find the means to refund travel expenses to appointments, but they can't recognise that the pittance amount of JSA just cannot cope with the huge and ever increasing bus fares charged by the private sector.

I don't really see any of this changing any time soon. Parking is a sign of the times: it's easier to just dismiss problems, take resources away from people (such as help and support) and focus on things that are easier to address: superficial problems that a photo op can cure. Meanwhile the rest of us are abandoned.

Programmed - And We're Already Having Problems

I have just had my 'courtesy call' from Employment Plus (that is to say Salvation Army Employment Plus, only they left out the first two words, curiously). Ok, I knew this was coming. So I'm aware that I have my appointment tomorrow morning, in fact I can't stop thinking about it. Such is the joy the WP instills in me.

I ask if they refund bus fares. I'm assured they do, on presentation of a proper bus ticket. Ok, that's fair enough.

I ask about how trained they are in mental health. Well....they don't know I have any such issues. So that's something they get to discover during the assessment process, so I don't get an actual answer as to whether this person, a youngish sounding gentleman that doesn't proffer a name, has any experience in dealing with such issues/people/problems I might have.

But it gets better, it turns out that I've been double booked. So not only did Jobfit not pass on my the issues that I told the JC to let them know about when they referred me, but that when I asked Jobfit if the appointments were one to one they meant, no instead of yes. I asked this specifically. But instead they've booked me at the same time as someone else. So that would be two people having to discuss personal issues of whatever depth seriousness or nature with the adviser in stereo with no regard for privacy or discretion. How on earth did Jobfit, or even Salvation Army Employment Plus, think that was going to work?

I specifically asked Jobfit to clarify this: I rang them straight back to confirm this after the appointment was booked.

Of course this adviser isn't much help. Either I have to turn up tomorrow and unless this can be mitigated (I'm hanging on the telephone - he's decided to contact Jobfit to clear this up as we speak) be seen with a complete stranger simultaneously while discussing such personal issues as mental health (it's a little different than here as well, since this is anonymous and thus discreet - and I don't have to give out my address, NiNo, and phone number, etc), or I have to rebook the appointment. I can't cope with that. I agreed an appointment and that's what I have to work with. It might be different if it was somewhere more local, but it's not. Never mind pissing around with bus times.

They just assume you're ok with this. Which implies that whatever issues you might have (that of course they aren't told about prior, so as to perhaps prepare for whatever needs a customer might have) mean nothing. That's the problem. It's a complete mess before we've even started, and I don't even know when this guy will phone back or what he will do - assuming he doesn't presume a course of action all on his own (again implying that my issues mean nothing). I'm on tenterhooks as it is. I don't need this, but why am I surprised if the prime doesn't even communicate properly with it's subcontractor!