35 Hour a Week Jobsearch: Prison for Jobseekers.
Model Jobsearch Facility: One ‘Job Coach’ can supervise 200 Cells.
The Supervised Jobsearch Pilot Scheme
(From Refuted Thanks J J Joop)
3. (1) The Supervised Jobsearch Pilot Scheme is prescribed for the purposes of section 17A(1) (schemes for assisting persons to obtain employment: “work for your benefit” schemes etc) of the Jobseekers Act 1995.
(2) The Supervised Jobsearch Pilot Scheme (“the Scheme”) is a scheme—
(a) that is designed to provide support and assistance to a claimant in their search to find employment, in a supervised environment, for up to 35 hours per week over a period of up to 13 weeks; and
(b) which involves an initial interview with the Scheme provider to discuss what the claimant is required to do by way of participation in the Scheme and may also involve training or other activity to help improve a claimant’s job search skills, help preparing for job interviews and assistance with job applications and preparing a curriculum vitae.http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukdsi/2014/9780111115367
Pilot to operate until 30th April 2015 within:
a) East Anglia; – (b) Black Country; – (c) Mercia;- (d) Surrey & Sussex; – (e) West Yorkshire.
New 35 hour per week Job Search commitments confirmed – Universal Credit http://consentarchive.wordpress.com/2013/02/15/thirtyfive/
JSA Claimant Commitment: DWP internal guidance disclosed, 45+ documentshttp://refuted.org.uk/2013/11/13/jsacommitment/
Ipswich Unemployed Action. 
People who did not do the WP will be eligible for this scheme. As will anyone who an adviser feels isn’t trying hard enough to find work, i.e. failing to secure enough job interviews. You can also be put on it at random as well, which means by some over-zealous adviser who doesn’t like the look of you.
As for not securing enough job interviews: what does that mean exactly? I manage to secure telephone interviews regularly. But actual face-to-face interviews, they’re as rare as hen’s teeth these days. I’ve applied for 200 hundred jobs this year and so far I’ve only been able to secure one interview. Like Andrew Coates, I live in East Anglia. I think I may be getting my call-up papers soon.
jj joop
June 8, 2014 at 10:25 am
The idea of being stuck in a Panopticon (pic above) with a Job ‘Coach’ watching you for 36 hours a week while you do “job search” – tied to a computer, or filling out physical application forms (not that you do this often these days), writing ‘spec’ letters that go into the junk-mail bin, or being forced to make nuisance calls – is not a pleasant one.
I predict that these prisons will see plenty of ‘incidents’.
They will need guards.
Andrew Coates
June 8, 2014 at 11:16 am
This is ridiculous. Obviuosly.
If they think this kind of nanny state big brother treatment is what’s required, why aren’t they mandating Work Programme providers to do this already?
This is absurd. How are they going to manage people 7 hours a day? It’s going to cost these providers way more in terms of expenses.
To say nothing of just how oppressive this shit is.
ghost whistler
June 8, 2014 at 11:43 am
Why doesn’t everyone just call their bluff, as I’ve done more than once (with different advisors).
Just ask “Can I come in all next week for 35 hour supervised jobsearch? They just sit there speechless and open mouthed. You have to say “Well the idea is to find paid work isn’t it, so if that helps me, I do it.”
It’s good fun watching them squirm, there’s only 2 computers for 6,000 signers and you’re ‘only allowed’ to use them for half an hour’, so I’d love to see it!
Another Fine Mess
June 8, 2014 at 4:45 pm
I agree,I have asked to print out CV’s or screen shots of UJM and they shit themselves “We don’t have the time” “Use the Library” The Library is on short hours and are fully booked,they suggested that I use Job Clubs,but refuse to issue a Bus ticket “You can be required to walk up to 6 Miles each way,under the 90 Minute travel rule” Will you provide the shoes? Will you conduct a risk assessment?????? Shuts them right the £uck up.
jray
June 10, 2014 at 4:24 pm
i done the same thing in 2000-2004 with a4e and others where 1 person had an office with 25 ppl in it 6 hrs a day just sat on a pc to look for work if 1 was free but they did not care if you looked or not or just sat there and done nothing or just cruising the net just that you sign the book and there paper work as so they can say you was there thus get there money from the dwp.
and after i left a4e i found some temp work and signed off and they kindly sold all my personnel info to a data mining company and caused so much shit i had to get new email addr as i was being bombarded with spam and fake adds and had to sort new bank accounts as they had my details to pay travel fair in to.
super ted
June 8, 2014 at 8:06 pm
I have done something similar.
Now I simply do not want to sit in a room with somebody lowering over me.
It is totally counterproductive: everybody hates it, and only the parasites who manage and own the companies doing this kind of thing get any benefit out of it.
Andrew Coates
June 9, 2014 at 11:38 am
And this is what happens if a few people ever manage to get a job:
“THE period since the start of the recession in 2008 has seen a growing casualisation of the British workforce, with a reduction in permanent employee jobs and a big increase in temporary, agency, casual, bogus self-employed and zero-hours contract jobs”.
http://www.morningstaronline.co.uk/a-5208-Zero-tolerance-for-zero-hours
Tobanem
June 9, 2014 at 7:31 am
And this is what happens to homeless rough sleepers:
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2652432/Anger-spikes-stop-rough-sleepers-Installation-studs-deter-homeless-luxury-block-flats-condemned-brutal.html
Tobanem
June 9, 2014 at 7:36 am
Or this.
No one seems to have noticed that the girl the police are speaking to is an exact match to one in the first photo.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2652681/The-Carnage-pub-crawl-girls-attacked-homeless-man-telling-f-job-Shocking-footage-streets.htm
Another Fine Mess
June 9, 2014 at 1:30 pm
Holy crap, the sanction penalty for doing anything wrong under Universal Credit is losing £10.20 a DAY?!
AeonThePhoenix
June 9, 2014 at 12:40 pm
Which is £71.40 a week, so what’s the difference.
Another Fine Mess
June 9, 2014 at 1:47 pm
Under UC, will claimants be sanctioned on a daily basis or monthly?
jj joop
June 9, 2014 at 2:39 pm
The difference is that if your JSA is sanctioned now you can at least claim some of it back under emergency hardship. Watch the JCP tell you that you’re still getting in more than the “minimum you need to live on” under UC and conveniently ignore the fact you’ll be forced to spend it all on rent >.>;;
And it looks like claimants will be sanctioned for x number of days. Whether multiple sanctions will run concurrently or consecutively is another point for concern…
Aeon Phoenix
June 10, 2014 at 8:46 am
More than 3,000 food parcels were given out in Ipswich last year – a 500% rise compared to three years ago, it has emerged.
And across Suffolk as a whole, the number of adults and children receiving emergency supplies from food banks has more than doubled in the last 12 months.
http://www.ipswichstar.co.uk/news/video_perfect_storm_of_benefit_changes_and_stagnant_wages_blamed_for_500_rise_in_food_parcels_handed_out_to_families_in_ipswich_1_3634527
Andrew Coates
June 9, 2014 at 2:17 pm
Enough to give you the PIP
How many more deaths before the PIP omni-shambles is sorted out?:
http://www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/news/liverpool-news/tragedy-liverpool-mum-who-died-7232928#.U5ORST8VZrV.twitter
Tobanem
June 9, 2014 at 4:39 pm
Yes, I’ve changed colour – it must be the indignation at the above story!
I should be back to normal colour now.
Tobanem
June 9, 2014 at 4:41 pm
i just had a warning from facebook about the post i put on the arm of angles page guess they dont like the truth that they use mwa pmsl
looks like im no 1 to be sanctioned at my jcp and am getting a new adviser to have a go every time i sign on now problem is there all fkn stupid n not got a clue what they can and cant do.
last one told me to go get arrested as id prob be sent to prison with my previous record and cost the tax payer 30k a year so they dont care if i get a job or not and just want me off my jsa anyway they can.
and thats why ive got to do mwa not to get work ex but being used to punish me for being on jsa there hoping i wont turn up so to stop my jsa lol up at 6-7 am anyway 😉
since i left the wp last year all the places ive been sent to for help with this and that is adding up to 2800 quid 1200 of that is in the last 12 weeks inc fee for mwa for just 1 provider.
and all i had to do was show up fill in there paper work and told i could leave as they could not help me in the situation im in as i have had no real job thanks to the dwp endless crap provider courses over the years n now im fucked job wise n got no chance in hell at finding an employer that will take me on now.
my mwa is in a so called charity shop so will be sat around all day doing fuck all 4 4 weeks then back to the jcp n prob another job search course.
there spending more money than i get a year in benefits paying these ass holes for doing nothing at all yet i am the one to get sanctioned and yet they can get away with fraud over and over again!!
like if i start the mwa do 2 days then not bother the provider still gets all there fee wtf and i was also told i have to do 10hrs job search on top of the 30hrs so thats 40 hrs 10 over what’s on my jsa.
so with this 35hr job search and mwa do they think i can do both at 65hrs a week its impossible not even time to go for an interview.
and if i do get an interview while on mwa i have to tell the provider what day and time it is who its with ie the employer then the provider has to tell the jcp and then i have to give the jcp proof b4 i can have the day off to go, fkn nuts job will be gone by then anyway.
super ted
June 10, 2014 at 6:13 pm
A review of the benefits sanctions regime has been called for by a group of MSPs in another critical report of the welfare system.
Sanctions brought in by the UK government mean benefits can be withdrawn for reasons such as leaving a job or not attending an interview.
The Welfare Reform Committee at Holyrood has recommended a number of changes to how the regime operates.
Convenor Michael McMahon described the current welfare system as “broken”.
He said: “When Neil Couling from the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) came to committee and said people welcomed the jolt of being sanctioned, the committee was shocked.
“Our evidence says quite the opposite; being sanctioned leaves people with not enough money to make ends meet, certainly not enough to go out job hunting.
“The system is so broken that many people do not know why they have been sanctioned, which totally undermines the DWP assertion that sanctions ‘teach’ people a lesson.”
He added: “How many of us could manage if we did not get paid one week, without any notice or, often, explanation? This demonstrates once again the enormous gulf between reality and DWP thinking.”
The committee said sanctions should only be used as a last resort for those who have consistently and deliberately refused to engage with job seeking requirements without good reason.
It suggested people should receive a written warning at the first breach before it is escalated to a sanction, to act as a deterrent and not a punishment.
People should also have at least 10 working days’ notice prior to a sanction being applied and be told of the reason for the sanction, while sanctions should be applied appropriately and consistently and with greater levels of discretion and support, the committee recommended.
Conservative committee member Alex Johnstone dissented from the report’s findings.
‘Safety net’
A spokeswoman for the DWP said: “Sanctions are only used as a last resort, but it’s only right that people claiming benefits should do everything they can to find work, if they are able.
“We make it clear to people at the start of their claim what the rules are and that they risk losing their benefits if they don’t play by them.
She added: “People who are in genuine need can apply for hardship payments. If someone disagrees with a decision made on their claim, they can appeal.”
Scotland’s Welfare Minister Margaret Burgess said: “Our analysis, published last December, also found that the regime is hitting the most disadvantaged groups in society, such as disabled people and lone parents, the hardest.
“This report clearly shows that the current sanctions regime isn’t working. We need to start again with a more positive and proportionate approach designed to support people, not cut off their incomes.”
Welfare sanctions system ‘broken’ says MSP report
BBC
June 11, 2014 at 6:58 am
“The committee said sanctions should only be used as a last resort for those who have consistently and deliberately refused to engage with job seeking requirements without good reason.” – this is not too dissimilar to the Citizens’ Advice (Scotland) Bureau’s position. Perhaps the Committee should try and “engage” with the ever-changing, increasingly impossible to meet Dystopian “job-seeking requirements” that jobseekers face. We must also remember that when sanctions were first introduced by the Blair government they were to be used only as a “last resort”; look where we are now!
Benefit Sanctions are State Terrorism and Must be Stopped WITHOUT EXCEPTION
Benefit Sanctions are State Terrorism
June 11, 2014 at 7:16 am
The elephants in the room and the tories are finding it harder to ignore.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-27783331
Oxfam takes a tougher stance to highlight increasing poverty while a tory minister desperately scratches the barrel to prevent it.
So tories, its alright to print lies on vans to scare immigrants but not alright to state the truth about the true picture of UK poverty and its firm cause ?
gaia
June 11, 2014 at 8:42 am
The ONS is 95% confident that the figure of a 161,000 fall in unemployment is correct to plus or minus 85,000 people.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-27791749
SO the ONS are saying that they are 95% sure that the figure of 161’000 in employment is within 52% of being correct so it could be as high as 244’720 or as low as 77’280.
According to the ONS, The figures for unemployment in the three months to April are based on the Labour Force Survey, in which the ONS speaks to 60,000 households once a quarter, making it the country’s biggest household survey, that’s 0.09 % of the entire UK population. Now im sure its random selection or at least that’s what we will be no doubt told so what if by chance the 60’000 all poled happened to be unemployed, what would the figures show then?
If I said tomorrow that theirs a 52% chance that the sky will be green, are you going to trust I know what im talking about or wait for tomorrow ?
gaia
June 11, 2014 at 10:04 am
What’s up to all, the contents present at this website are actually
amazing for people knowledge, well, keep up the nice work fellows.
Houses For Sale In Colchester
July 20, 2014 at 8:22 pm
I simply couldn’t leave your website before suggesting that I
extremely enjoyed the standard info a person supply on your guests?
Is going to be again regularly to check out new posts
document management software
August 17, 2014 at 4:43 am
I find this stupid, there’s not many jobs out there you can apply for, and some are not worth you applying for.
The amount of jobs per day is ridiculous, 1-2 hour per day search is plenty enough.
Some people may cheat the system, but it’s not fair for those who are genuine.
There’s very little computers, so everyone being there is not going to work.
They should keep it to only those who they feel are cheating the system and should only be 1-2 months max.
I would say, if we have to do 35 hours per week of jobsearch, I want MORE MONEY.
I would not do 35 hours on my £110 per fortnight because that’s a waste of time.
Alongside jobsearching, while not working, we are doing things that might be limited when working, even if it’s just spending a few hours with friends (things that don’t cost).
My mum got told 2 hours a day on Universal Jobmatch, 2 hours on another website a day, makes 20 hours.
Are they forgetting it takes minutes to sign in and look up jobs. We won’t always go on EVERY job as not all of them are relevant.
I would tell the councils, 35 hours per week searching 9-5 is ridiculous, what about FOOD, FAMILY time, people with children.
I would only do this if there’s plenty of jobs in my area without traveling (i mean 100s, not 1-5 max a day) and my money must be what I’d get for a job.
35 hours is job amount you can get, so they can give us that amount on minimum wage for work if they want us searching for that amount. If they can’t afford it, remove the ridiculous rule as there’s not enough jobs to go round or computers. 1-2 hours does it for me per day for any website.
Clare Perkins
November 17, 2014 at 2:30 pm
Local jc has already got jobseekers sat out in the open near the front door in a very public area doing their ‘jobsearch’.
Fuck da jc
November 17, 2014 at 11:13 pm
Jesus fuck, Clare I would rather be picking fucking oakem than sat out on public display in the jc; it is like a modern-day stocks.
Fuck da jc
November 17, 2014 at 11:15 pm
Jobseekers on daily signing have got it easy compared to that 35 hour a week sat in fucking jc.
Fuck da jc
November 17, 2014 at 11:17 pm
its the same at mine all the pcs 6 that is are right at the front of the jcp front doors for ppl to use.
not sure what os is on them or if there running of the now installed wireless but there is no privacy at all and every one can see the screens that walks in, id point blank refuse to use them as my private data will be for all to see.
there are plenty of jobs that want you to phone them to apply for them o i forgot all the phones have been ripped out pmsl can i have some change to use to phone box fkn no chance.
remember if its not ur signing day they have to pay bus fair or the cheapest means of travel but dont think you will get cash as it will be paid 3 days after you give them the bus ticket in ur bank account.
you cost them 30-50 a week n bus fair ect they soon back off 😉
super ted
November 17, 2014 at 11:43 pm
I think I might be on this pilot scheme, but am not really certain. I’ve been moved to signing upstairs on second floor, given a new signing booklet, and told I can do my jobsearch in there using their computers, but that’s all I can remember.
Landless Peasant
January 5, 2015 at 9:27 pm
if its in Ipswich, its unlikely as they couldn’t get a provider on board for the region so wont be going ahead here. They however clearly state (Work Coaches…) that job searching must be a fulltime activity, because the Government says so.
Universal Jobmatch
January 5, 2015 at 9:35 pm
I am a lone parent working under 16 hours a week as a lunch time supervisor in a school and attending the supervised jobsearch pilot scheme from 9 till 5 but my hours are not even restricted because my son turns 14 in January as a result I feel very discriminated. There are people who dont have any commitments people who have been in prison, drug addicts and alcoholics those are the people who should have been referred to the supervised jobsearch pilot from 9 to 5. Just because people who are on jsa benefit should not be looked down on there are people who are trying very hard to look for work and
yet we are still getting bullied by
jobcentre and the supervised jobsearch pilot scheme so I say now stop the supervised jobsearch pilot scheme its
not working I only serve what the
employers want employers want people
with qualifications and experience very
confident and willing to learn. Some
either have the qualifications and some only experience.
Rafika
January 11, 2015 at 3:56 pm
Rafika
http://refuted.org.uk/2013/10/12/withhold/
http://refuted.org.uk/rights/
http://jobseekersanctionadvice.com/
enigma
January 11, 2015 at 4:32 pm
No difference to supervised job search.
Click to access work-programme-memo-070.pdf
enigma
January 11, 2015 at 7:19 pm