It's reported today that there has been a seventh arrest in the case of suspected fraud at the Slough A4e office. Quite why this case is dragging on isn't clear. Does the evidence point to the fact that at least 7 people must have known what was going on?
I came across an interesting thread on the Money Saving Expert forums, about clothes for interview. In the past it was the Jobcentre which would provide the money for new clothes. Now it appears to be the private contractor. One would hardly expect any private company (let alone A4e) to cough up large amounts of money. But in this case, £40 for a new outfit, even from Primark, seems insufficient. Has anyone got recent experience of asking for money for interview clothes?
That's all good and well saying you can get interview clothes at Primark for £40. But what if you're oversized. I definitely could not find anything to fit me at Primark. I'm going to ask my advisor about this the next time I see him, that is if my appointment isn't cancelled again.
ReplyDeleteWell of course Primark goods are made in China paying the workers so very little. A bit ironic!
DeletePerhaps Helen in your case, a4e might be able to up the limit on your allowance and give you vouchers for M and S. I hope so.
Incidentally if this is been covered before forgive me. I wonder if actually the DWP gives more for interview clothes, but a4e and the like cream off a percentage.
Simone, the DWP doesn't give the contractors anything. It's up to them to decide whether it's worth paying for interview clothes.
DeleteYes the Job centre once provided me with £200/£100 a few years ago. You bought the goods at M and S and gave them the receipts ..... I took them up on their kind offer A couple of years ago the same "opportunity" but instead £40 worth of Dorothy Perkins vouchers! Say no more
ReplyDeleteThe whole concept of the Work Programme is based on false assumptions - that there are tens of thousands of empty job vacancies, that it is possible to move the long term jobless into employment without providing facilities for intensive "drilling" for adults to meet basic standards of secondary education (five GCSE's at a minimum grade C), and practical good quality job training.
DeleteThe question is not, is the Work Programme succeeding; the real question is as it is obvious that the Work Programme cannot succeed in its present form, then what is the real purpose behind it? Why is the current
government so keen to see this policy put into effect - what's really going on here?
@Anonymous
ReplyDeleteWhat's reaaly going on here is the transfer of huge amounts of public cash into selected private hands.
At the same time the unemployed are demonised as "scroungers" and forced to work for nothing - thus destroying more paid jobs.
The failure of the WP (or its success in transferring wealth to some) is hidden by the distinct lack of data showing results.
And the farce goes on...and on..and on.
Gissajob
My cynical mind has me wondering,seven from one office? How many offices? How many countries? How much Fraud? How come somebody in the Government is not screaming bloody murder?This reminds me of "Good Fellas or The God Father" Is there a code of silence or have the creators of this programme lost control of it?
ReplyDeleteThe DWP Regs state that the Job Grant - of upto £140 - was paid automatically to qualifying claimants, ie those on JSA for over 6 months who go into full-time paid work. Some JCP offices mistakenly refer to this as discretionary fund/payment. It has now ended but only in name and should still be paid out of the new fund.
ReplyDeletewhen I was on a teaching assistant course run by A4e in Bootle- only the clients from Liverpool were allowed a clothing allowance for interviews, I and others were told that there was no clothing allowance provision for Southport.The entire A4e concept is chaotic and I can't see that it is at all successful.I am now on their work programme but don't feel confident in finding work if relying on their ''assistance''
ReplyDeletei have experianced the money allowence for interveiw clothes just last month from a4es birkenhead offices they were telling the 5 of us how much each item of clothing would cost and giving us the money they gave me 10pound to got to primark and find smart pants, shirt and tie i could only get the pants and tie which came to 10 pound when i said i needed more there was a look of disbelief across there face asif id mugged them off i ended up getting the shirt money from a friend there was other people who merely suggested that there size wasnt stocked at primark this led to a long discussion of why there size wasnt stocked and a4e clearly feeling it was when it wasnt so they had to settle differences and told them to go asda and get price amounts i found this disrespectful and totally uncalled for as they could of just told us to go price come back and then give recepts when done it doesnt stop there this so called "job interveiw for a paid job" ended up being one of there contracts that pulled out a week later because of worries of the companys damaging name.
ReplyDelete