News has emerged that a sub-contractor of A4e has gone out of business, unable to keep going under the Work Programme. The Guardian has the story of the demise of Eco Actif, a social enterprise in the chain of providers under A4e. The boss of the company, Amanda Palmer-Roye, was a political supporter of the government, but found that the payment system for the WP was impossible to live with; the firm couldn't get finance from the banks, which regard the WP as too "high-risk" and, she said, "its association with A4e had been a matter of great concern to potential investors". Eco Actif had other contracts; a specialist programme subcontracting to A4e, G4S and CDG for support to ex-offenders, which had not come up with a single referral; and one of those European Social Fund contracts for workless families. But now they've gone into liquidation. All this is of interest in the light of the Merlin assessment for A4e. This is the DWP's arrangement for monitoring how the primes are treating their sub-contractors, and A4e had their inspection recently. They scored an overall 70%.
All the optimism from Grayling about the Work Programme seems curious in light of new estimates for the number of people being put on it. As the This is Money website puts it, "More than half a million potential recruits seem to have disappeared" from the scheme. For Labour, this is an opportunity to shout about "chaos", and warn that jobs would be lost in the W2W industry. It's very hard to give any credibility to Liam Byrne on this, when the WP is just an extension of Labour's own programmes. But the ERSA, the trade body for the industry, is also very annoyed about the staffing difficulties that the wrong estimates create.
I read this article also,the company had a turnover of £700.000 and a staff of 14 serving 500 clients,my math may not be brilliant, but that comes out at £1400.00 per person,job outcome results were not mentioned,also as a subbie I am sure the Prime took a cut before passing it on.There seems to be a common thread that High Risk = High Reward,but if a subbie is in trouble the Prime (after receiving there cut) is unwilling to take a risk on them.
ReplyDeleteI have heard from a client at interserve origionaly known as best, that a client was told he must give his email password to his advisor. Does anyone know any more regarding this?
ReplyDeleteWe've talked about this before. My initial reaction is, "Absolutely not." But if the point is so that they can check whether someone is applying for jobs, then the answer is to create a special email account for the task. Data Protection legislation would prevent the provider being able to demand any more than this.
DeleteHistorian -
DeleteI humbly beg to differ! Data Protection does not differentiate between a"normal" e-mail account and "a special email account for the task".
No "ifs" no "buts" no compromises. Advisors have no right to access e-mail accounts. Advisors have no right to have any of your e-mail addresses. Advisors have no right even to know if you have an e-mail address.
Don't pick an unnecessary argument, G. Of course the DPA doesn't distinguish. All I'm saying is that if the provider wants to make an issue of it and you don't want to argue (not everybody is like us!) then a separate email account will serve. But I agree with you, of course. Perhaps we can get a ruling from the Information Commissioner.
DeleteYou don't need to create a special account for jobs, just create a special folder, this is what I and several people I know have done.
DeleteHowever, it may well be that the adviser wants the password because the client is so computer iliterate that they need a way of keeping the account open, and giving the client more opportunities to apply for jobs than just over the phone or by post. Several times when I have been at A4E I've heard people saying they can't remember their passwords, they can't open their accounts etc and a member of staff has been got to come and sort the problem out. And, yes, these people have done BBC webwise or whatever A4E call the course they are making people do to learn about using computers and the internet.
The guy i spoke told me he had to give his email password, to his advisor, and he did, he said his advisor was a polish woman at interserve in leeds, surely this is deception on the part of the advisor if true? again if anyone knows more please say so.
ReplyDeleteI'm doing the Work Programme with A4E. My adviser simply asked me to send him copies of job-application e-mails. I thought that was a reasonable request, so it is what he & I do.
DeleteAre you sure that there hasn't been a communications mix-up between your friend and the Polish lady from Interserve?
Again - it is up to you whether you supply copy e-mail applications to a complete stranger!
DeleteI haven't been asked to (I think they know better than to try!). I certainly would not do so if they were to ask.
At the end of the day, the Government now has the power to read whatever emails they want regardless of personal passwords.
ReplyDeleteWell I had a quick look at the Merlin audit on A4e.
ReplyDeleteMy eyes quickly glazed over at the tide of incomprehensible consultant newspeak.
All I can say is...
"So that's all good then."
and move on....
Yes, it had a similar effect on me. It takes real talent to write like that!
DeleteOn a slightly different topic I read somewhere that the DWP had advised work programme providers to source placements where a criminal records check would not be required. Can anyone confirm this?
ReplyDeleteIf true, it would make it easier to get a placement for those clients who do have a criminal record. On the other hand, if the placement lead to the offer of a job then presumably a criminal records check would be made.
At a4e they asked for a copy of my C.V. This has got my email address on it. Should I have refused to give it to them, this is stated on on my C.V. I have put my email address on my C.V. for when I apply my jobs if case the recruiter what's to get in touch with me that way. Your website helps me in a lot of ways, very informative.
ReplyDeleteOf course you give people your email address. But if you worry about A4e, or anyone else, having it, then create an email account specially for job applications, as we said above.
DeleteGissajob stated on 16 July 2012 02:03 that "Advisors have no right to have any of your e-mail addresses. Advisors have no right even to know if you have an e-mail address."
ReplyDeleteI have just had my initial visit to A4E and the advisor was quite insistent that I must provide them with an email address. I said my email address was confidential and I did not want to share it with anyone. The advisor insisted that I must have an email account for them to contact me through, and also I would need to send them a copy of my C.V. by email (rather than the paper copy I had already supplied- as otherwise it would take a long time for her to type it out).
She insisted that I would have provide my existing email address or open another email account for sending her my C.V. and for A4E to be able to contact me through.
I offered to bring my C.V. in on a disc so that she could upload it. She claimed that she wasn't allowed to do upload anything from disc or memory stick because of potential viruses. However I can't help thinking that any potential viruses would also be just as possible in an email attachment as they would from a disc.
I would really like to know where I stand legally as I would prefer not to provide them with any email addresses or mobile phone numbers at all.
When i did not provide an email address or mobile phone number the advisor claimed I was being negative and said that she was leaving the room, walked out and came back 15 minutes smelling of cigarette smoke.
I was given a document to sign relating to the data confidentiality act giving my consent for A4E, the DWP and employers to share information about me. upon reading it, it seemed to be optional saying that I could still take part in work programme without signing it.When I said that I would prefer not sign it if i could do so without having benefit affected, the advisor told me that my benefit would be stopped if I did not sign this document allowing the sharing of information about me. I feel this is unfair and a violation of my rights, but I obviously cannot afford to be without benefit.
The whole experience so far has been one of verbal bullying, aggression (at times veiled aggression and other times quite blatant)and and pre memorised sales patter. I am not looking forward to my next visit and I would like some advice on my rights concerning disclosure of email addresses, mobile phone numbers and also the signing of documents pertaining to the data confidentiality act. If anyone can advise It would be most appreciated.Thanks.
Gulagvictim
You can create an email account specifically for the purpose. This will actually make life easier for you. If they have several means of contacting you, there is less chance of them claiming to have made an appointment which you missed If you look at my latest post (http://watchinga4e.blogspot.co.uk/2012_08_01_archive.html) you'll see that the ICO doesn't think it's a data protection issue. As for refusing to sign the consent form, that has been tested and the ruling is that you don't have to.
DeleteIf you are not happy with your adviser, put up with it for a bit, making notes of conversations, and then politely request another adviser.