Wednesday 7 March 2012

The sound of whistles blowing

The Guardian has a number of stories about A4e today.  But first, a story in the Financial Times.  David Cameron has admitted that there have been a total of 125 investigations into welfare-to-work companies in the last 6 years (that is, since privatisation of the contracts).  Eleven of these concerned A4e.  So there has been a lot of dodgy practice going on throughout the industry.
The first of the 3 Guardian stories comes from "several former managers" and concerns what the headine calls the "champagne culture" at A4e.  It's about junketing by Emma Harrison and A4e managers, with expensive foreign travel.  But the article goes on to revelations by an unemployed man who, ironically, had been a Jobcentre employee.  As a client of A4e he was given a 4-week work placement in A4e's own finance department.  There he processed expenses claims, some of them lavish and not backed up by receipts, something he was told not to bother about.  A4e's reaction is what you would expect from any company in this situation.
The second piece is a description by a client, Stuart Webb, of his experience of the Work Programme in Lincoln.  This will chime with many clients, and not just of A4e.  He was simply told to sit in front of a computer, find vacancies and apply for them.  For this, A4e got the £400 attachment fee.  There was, he said, no personalised assistance, and twice appointments were cancelled when he got there, wasting his time and money.  The good news is that he found himself a job, but it galls him that A4e get money for this.  Webb runs into the same difficulty as other discontented clients; it's his word against the company's.  "A4e said that some of his comments about Job Search sessions were 'entirely subjective', and that advisers are always available to 'support individuals' as well as helping them 'structure their job search'.  They said their 'staff are always 'bothered',  and that Webb's view of his adviser was 'disingenuous'. They also refuted the claim that A4e gave him no help. One of its staff had informed Webb of the vacancy that led to his new job, the firm claimed."  Let's be clear, this isn't a new situation.  Many, many clients through the years have felt that it was unjust that the contractor should get paid for a job outcome that was none of their doing.
The third piece concerns fraud by a single employee.  A4e was working with vulnerable youngsters on Teesside on a local council project funded by European money in 2009.  But one A4e employee crudely forged signatures to make the figures look better.  A4e had to withdraw from that part of the project.
No doubt this drip of revelations will go on.  Not all of them will be valid.  And unemployed clients will face the problem that their perceptions are easily deniable. 

PS.  Some readers helpfully send me lots of links to stories.  Thanks, but there's no need.  Google alerts are very useful.  

17 comments:

  1. As my mate used to say "they have sown the wind and will reap the whirlwind".

    We are witnessing history in the making.

    ReplyDelete
  2. To James who says he's an ex-A4e manager: I'm not going to publish your comment, but if you give me your email address in a comment (not for publicatio, obviously) I can put you in touch with someone who would be interested.

    ReplyDelete
  3. I've just looked at A4E's website (by mistake, admittedly. I clicked on the wrong link.) I don't like the A4E website. It is too messy for my taste, with too many fonts and too many sections plus I have the impression that A4E are trying to talk down to me, which I will not tolerate. So I hope they are reading this comment and will tidy up their website. If they want to be seen as a respectable company then they need to get rid of the "Emma Style" as well as the woman, imho.

    Anyhow, "Emma's Blog" seems to have disappeared and some of the other bits that I clicked on are now so out-of-date that they need to be replaced and/or scrapped. What is the point of gloating over an office party that took place six months ago? Apart from the fact that bragging about the office party is not interesting, hasn't anything else happened since then?

    Such a fussy, nauseating website gains nothing from being allowed to become out of date, im my view.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I actually don't feel patronised by the website. It's lively, well it was when Emma was posting!

      They have used the same format for all their web sites and to change them will cost the tax payers yet oodles of money!

      Anyway what's the point of a revamped web site? The company, in my opinion, is sure to go under in the not too distant future

      Delete
  4. Some A4e titbits in today's Private Eye. Not much more than regular visitors to this blog will be aware of. As PE says "Emma H is about as removed fro A4e as Rupert Murdoch is from News Int'l". True dat!

    PE has also highlighted that Ms Harrisons lawyers have "been busy firing off firing off threatening missives to publications who dare to criticise Harrison or her husband".

    On a lighter note, someone in PE has cheekily / accurately made a comparison between Ms Harrison and Carol Vorderman!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. That's enough publicity for Private Eye, thank you. As you say, they have nothing new, and I have my reasons for not wanting to give them oxygen at the moment!

      Delete
  5. I have fallen victim to the lies of A4e after making a number of complaints. For example, after being offered a "course" on Microsoft Office only to find it was the most basic of point and click introductory exercises, I pointed out that it fell well short of being considered "training". The response was "there is nothing in your work history or education showing experience of computers" - Yet on the DWP purchase order, it quite clearly stated 'Software Developer' as a previous occupation. Perhaps they also missed the fact that I would bring my one laptop in when they wanted to see my CV and covering letters for various job applications...

    If you're going to lie in writing, make sure there is no documentary evidence to the contrary. Better yet, don't send copies to the DWP or my MP as the A4e shmuck did.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I've also seen these privately-provided, "computer courses," whilst I was doing the New Deal with CDG. A lady had been given the disk for the ECDL course and had been told to get on with it by herself. Which was impossible without proper tuition and without even a copy of the official textbook for the ECDL. Also, it transpired that CDG had no plans to arrange for the lady to do any tests in order to get an ECDL certificate.

      I did the ECDL course myself in 2004. I literally didn't know how to work a modern computer so the Job Centre sent me to Eastleigh College for 3 months full-time to do the ECDL. There were about 30 of us in the class and we had properly trained tutors, so that a tutor would come and sit beside you and talk you through how do so something. If you do it yourself, you remember what to do.

      "Amateur tutors" don't do this. They just grab the mouse or the keyboard themselves, rattle through making the machine work and imagine that the "student" can remember whatever the "tutor" has done. It does not work.

      Delete
  6. James ex A4e Manager

    Hi Historian

    Sorry to seem like a luddite but how do I send you my email address incognito. Ps, most of the stuff has gone public through Guardian.

    Thanks

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. James, just send a comment with your email address. I then reject the comment but keep your message.

      Delete
  7. Hey Historian can we get in contact please....I got a few things to tell.....I used to be in the same position as James...

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Then do as I said to James. I have no way of contacting you or knowing who you are unless you send a comment with your email address. I do not publish such comments.

      Delete
  8. Someone has sent me a message with an email address. it was a googlemail address and it began with a p. Unfortunately it failed when I tried to email it - doesn't exist. If it was a typing error, please try again.

    ReplyDelete
  9. Breaking News

    On the BBC news website there is a flashing headline saying a4e is to be investigated by the Government! Yeh!

    ReplyDelete
  10. James Ex A4e manager

    http://socialenterpriselive.com/your-blogs/item/binary-thinking-and-a4e

    Hi Historian

    I think this must have been an ex-banker who developed a conscience but didn't want to give up the caviar and champagne so he/she thought of setting up a social enterprise and that way continue to live their lifestyle whilst pretending to do good

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Fascinating. I wonder why nobody proof-read it to put the spaces back in! And don't you love it when people tell you they're not political?

      Delete

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