More on the Travel Discount Card Which Most Unemployed Cannot Get.
Crossposted from stevenplrose.
Have you seen this card before? I’d be very surprised if you had because the DWP have made almost no effort to tell you it exists. You are able to claim if you have been unemployed for six months or more without referral to the catastrophic work programme (9 months for 18-24 year olds and 12 months for over 25s). It also extends to those claiming incapacity benefit, ESA or income support (provided you are found fit for work). In November last year, the New Deal railcard was quietly re-named the Jobcentre Plus Travel Discount Card.
This lovely piece of green plastic entitles you to 50% Off Anytime Day and Off-Peak Day tickets (including Off-Peak Day Travelcards for travel starting outside London Zones 1-9). Including weekly, monthly and longer period Season Tickets and Travelcards (up to 3 months in length)
You can link it to your Oyster Card and get the same amount off (PAYG) fares in zones 1-6. Brilliant! Where do I sign up? You simply visit your local Job Centre Plus, assuming of course that staff will know of this scheme. My personal adviser certainly did not.
One of the many stipulations for claiming JSA involves you searching for work with ninety minutes of your home. Within this three-month gap, I had interviews that proved rather expensive in places like Poole and London. Whilst I had a 16-25 railcard, I could have saved more had I been made aware I was eligible for it.
I challenge you to visit your local job centre, ask a member of staff, and find a leaflet inside that explains this scheme. There was never anything in my local centre. Maybe I looked in the wrong direction or asked the wrong question. Should we be expected to know this? I fear many like me now on the work programme (or yet to be referred) do not know about this card.
It was recently announced that some of the biggest bus companies (Arriva, First, Go-Ahead, National Express and Stagecoach) and some local operators will offer free bus fare to the unemployed. This scheme will cover 70% of the country. However, according to this Stagecoach press release, you need to fall within the remit of the discount card to apply. Therefore, those, like me, on the work programme, once again miss discounted travel.
Comment: There are signs that the Community Action Programme is in difficulty.
But it’s still officially going ahead.
We wonder if there is any scheme for those forced to work for nothing to get travel expenses back.
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They told me that it doesn’t exist in mine, and hasn’t for years (since the New Deal) and the only thing I could find online was for those who live in London.
Pretty worthless scheme if it only supports Londoners in that brief time frame. My work programme provider likes to claim that they aren’t responsible for any interview costs now contrary to this: http://www.dwp.gov.uk/docs/work-programme-faqs.pdf
I was told I wouldn’t be disadvantaged by being on the work programme versus the youth contract. What a joke.
The Work Programme Provider have to cover your travel costs to any appointment with them, this is usually a bus ticket known in my neck of the woods as a First Day ticket or Day Rider ticket and costs £3.60p for which you can ride all day on any bus service within the boundary of my city.
Sure but if you’ve already paid for your bus ticket to sign on, why should the WP pay an additional fare?
I remember back in the 80′s they used to have something similar called a Jobseekers bus travel card – it was red and allowed you to travel half price of a regular fare anywhere within your reigon not just within the city limits.
Yea I Remember It Too:- In London we had 6 Bus Zones. In The Outer Area Zone 6 You Could Travel For 10p Into Zone 5 etc and another 10 was added
Back in the 80s or whenever Blunkett was leader of Sheffield City Council (how things change) South Yorkshire Transport operated FREE buses i.e you could travel within Sheffield for FREE, on say the famous “City Clipper”. If you wanted to travel further afield the maximum return fare was 2p. You could travel from Sheffield to Barnsley for 2p
Those were the days 
I remember this.
Visiting Sheffield was a joy because you could get on and off a bus as easy as walking.
And there was lots and lots of buses too, there were so many buses you would almost have the bus to yourself at times
, think there was a bus from me front door every minute all day 
Excellent, reliable service and all for FREE!!
lol. I used to send clients down to the jobcentre to ask for one with a printout of the DirectGov page about it because none of the staff knew a thing. Unfortunately they changed the rules at some point so that clients who had been referred to providers were ineligible – just another sly money saver I guess. Of course if it doesn’t cover peak travel it’s worthless once you actually get a job when it would be the most help. Perverse bastards.
Work Programme – frequently ask questions
http://www.dwp.gov.uk/docs/work-programme-faqs.pdf
Q. Can I get help with travel costs?
A. Individuals attending Work Programme should not be worse off by virtue of attending the provision.
When the customer attends either an interview with the Provider, a job interview arranged by the provider or undertakes other work related activities, the provider is responsible for funding the customers travel costs.
The customer is responsible for meeting their travel costs for attending Fortnightly Job reviews with Jobcentre Plus.
Can anyone explain the logic of excluding those on the Work Programme?
The Work Programme – as I see it – is a form of punishment for the long-term unemployed, so giving those people taking part free travel cards probably seems to be one incentive too many. We are only entitled to the cost of travelling to and from our WP provision, and doleing out travel passes that can be used at any time would make our lives easier away from the strictures of the WP, and would probably be seen by some as an “incentive” to remain unemployed…
@Obi Wan
Do the WP Guidlines you quoted constitute any form of legal liability for travel expenses by a provider?
I’m over £200 out of pocket thanks to Ingeus who refused to cover costs to enable me to complete an 8 week placement that led to me signing-off.
I’m still stuck in their complaints process after 7 months of banging my head against their wall. I’ve got original ticket reciepts, proof of attendance, email communications between myself and Ingeus, and host company, yet Ingeus refuse flat-out that they have any obligation whatsoever.
http://www.dwp.gov.uk/docs/work-programme-faqs.pdf
“When the customer …undertakes other
work related activities, the provider is responsible for funding the customers
travel costs. ”
Seems pretty unequivocal to me. Make sure you have gone through the provider’s complaints process and then complain direct to the DWP.
Gil:
Give them 10 seconds with me and your advisor would be out on their respetive ass in Bradford, we take no prisoners here! Our local MP would crucify them for that, our WP Providers have been told to tow the legal line or else!
I’m only just ‘over the hill’ from Bradford..
Help me Obi Wan, you’re my only hope
(sorry couldn’t resist..)
@ Obi Wan
Are you on the Unemployed Movement or CAG blogsites? I’d greatly appreciate the chance to discuss what you just mentioned about your Bradford campaign – I’m only over the way in Kirklees.
TIA
Gil:
I’m not with any unemployed movement, I’m just your average resistance fighter that looks into any and all government documents that are released in connection with the unemployed.
If you look hard enough you’ll find everything you need on this website and Johnny Void’s website to which I and alot of other people make invaluable contributions on.
my experience of this card is that they knew about it but wouldn’t provide one through the excuse it was only for travel to interviews in london,there was no problems with the earlier new deal card.their trying to cost save putting up barriers’.
on another note regarding universal jobsearch from the c4 website.
“The PCS union has claimed that managers are putting pressure on staff to “misrepresent the mandatory nature of signing up to the new service”.
http://www.channel4.com/news/universal-jobmatch-the-key-questions
My WP sub(also known as the Council) capped travel costs at £3.30,the actual cost is £4.40 I brought in the DWP guidelines stating that the”Client shall not be worse off” for travel expenses and they paid me the difference,I have now asked for a refund of all travel costs(the difference) for myself and all the Clients….Pissed off,you betcha ya..Cost £71000.00 and rising!
Meanwhile, here is more exploitation – this time the culprit is Working Links:
http://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/politics/job-creation-agency-uses-unpaid-1492476
You couldn’t make it up!
If ESA but ‘support group’, most disabled people can’t GET Disabled Persons Railcard.
I’m on JSA and still trying to get railcard and coachcard. If somebody says ‘you are not disabled’, being kicked off benefits could be an excuse to take your railcard etc. I have a disability pass for buses.
Last month our WPP was too broke to pay the ablebodied other ‘clients’ any travel refunds!
Reblogged this on A Riverside View and commented:
If you’ve been unemployed for six months or more go and ask about this at your local Job Centre plus and report back to us what the response was.
Another stupid thing is that you have to be unemployed for six months before you get any help. Six months is usually around the time apathy kicks in.
ITS A CON
AM ON ESA SHOWED THEM THE HANSARD ANSWER RE AVAILABILITY OF THIS CARD AND ASKED WHY WASNT TOLD ABOUT CARD MUCH TROUBLE INCLUDING LETTER TO MP WHO MADE THEM ANSWER AT DISTRICT MANAGER LEVEL BUT THEIR GET OUT IS EFFECTIVELY WAIT FOR IT ITS A GOOD ONE
YOU NEED TO BE ACTUALLY SEEKING WORK ON ESA NOT JUST TRYING TO GET WELL TO SEEK WORK IT GETS TRICKY NOW
SO INFACT IF YOU ACTIVELY ENGAGED WITH AN ADVISOR THAT REALLY MAKES YOU INELIGIBLE TO CLAIM ESA WHICH PUTS YOU ON JSA WHCH ONLY GIVES YOU SHORT WINDOWOF ENTITLEMENT BEFORE WORK PROGRAMME REFRRAL WHICH DOESNT COUNT AS ACTIVE ENGAGEMENT WITH A JOBCENTRE ADVISOR DESPITE THE FACT THAT THEIE OWN LETTER OF REFERRAL INDICATES IT IS A JOINT EFFORT TO GET YOU TOWARD WORK
THEY DONT WANT TO ISSUE THE CARD
DENIS NEWCASTLE
The girl in the picture doesn’t look all that happy, it just occurred to me. Probably because they are halfway through zombifying her and they’ve got her doing workfare shelf stacking on 12 hour shifts at Poundless (in other words she can’t afford to shop there herself). The only toilet break she gets is being dragged into a broom cupboard by a League of Gentlemen style boss who demands she fill a jamjar in front of him… as he’s thirsty. She then has to walk home four miles, grab her regulation 29 minutes’ sleep, then get up and walk 4 miles and start her next shift. Occasionally being quizzed on how well workfare is working, with no option to state that she hates it. All while test driving a consignment of live scorpions in her bum… an extra feature added to the workfare scheme when a tory was snorting a mixture of Harpic and peyote.
Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas will look like a teddy bears’ tea party soon, if the maniacs in charge of workfare have their way.
After about 6 days awake, and without any drugs being in your system, you start to see stuff crawling out of the walls and out of people. Maybe one of us in sleep-deprived states might hallucinate enough of these clearly random/fictional bugs, to be standing in proximity to a tory when the hallucinations encourage us to act, and to permanently reverse said tory’s vital status. (In the case of the many top tories for whom breathing is not required, then they can be staked with supplies from a garden or hardware store.)
“(In the case of the many top tories for whom breathing is not required, then they can be staked with supplies from a garden or hardware store.)”
Where can I get one? I have discovered a use for one – I need a scarecrow for t’allotment.
just got a Jobcentreplus travelcard. you have to be unemployed for over 3 months to get one, and im not sure what happens after 6-12 months (depending on age), but they dont state they will give you one after this.just take some passport photos down jobcentre and they should be able to give you one if in this category.