Read the correspondence on this post. You'll notice that when I thought he'd finished I said, " I hope that you'll engage with this blog again if you have anything to say." He came back with another post which still didn't answer any of the points which had been put to him. He then sent a comment which read, "Dear Historian, I know you are not going to publish this, but I wanted to say that I am really sorry to hear that you want to end the discussion there. I am even more sorry that you feel I have not answered any of your points. I am not sure what points you mean. If you just send me a list, I will definitely reply. My address is ********. (I'm not going to publish it.) Have a good weekend, Jonty"
He's now using this to tell other people that I have banned him. Why should I give my blog over to him to say anything he wants to? Why should I embroil myself in a pointless email conversation with him? If this really is the sign of A4e being "a different company", then it's not a difference we should welcome.
And no, I won't publish any response from him. He has forfeited that right.
Eeeehhh, he's got some brass neck on him has Mr Olliff Cooper!
ReplyDeleteIf A4e has changed, then the changes must be minimal. Cooper must have a low opinion of those he engages with as he clearly thinks they must be stupid and completely ignorant of his obvious spin and downright deception!
If this character is the best A4e can employ, then it says a LOT about them as a business. Still, as we know with Dave Blunkett, Cooper is employed primarily as a source of contacts.
There have been plenty, indeed a cornucopia of questions and points put from me, Historian and others on this blog to Cooper. He has simply decided to sidestep and ignore all of them.
To Doleitevermin. I have certainly replied to you. Check your spam folder.
ReplyDeleteTo J-O-C,If you are the answer man,please tell me the main purpose of A4E,in clear precise terms! (1) What training do you provide (2)What is your success rate? (3) your current turnover? (4) If you fail to meet the minimum level of performance,will you forfeit your contract and return to the taxpayer the money? (5)What do you deliver that JCP does not/or have not in the past? (6) Who turns a blind eye to this total waste of Taxpayer money and how much are they paid?
ReplyDeleteM, the answer is Commercially sensitive.. At least that is what they will claim..
DeleteIrrespective of why A4E were ever awarded any contract, and they have grown rich solely through Public Sector Outsourcing within the UK, doing wonders to Emma Harrison and other plebs, perhaps the key issue to address is why on earth does A4E insist on treating candidates as inferior, whereas if truth be known, if the plebs within A4E (and the more general Welfare To Work Sector) could get a job in the Wealth Creating Sector of the UK Economy.
ReplyDeleteUnfortunately, all things being equal, the W2W Sector occupies a substantially lower point in the Economic Food Chain than Job Centre Plus.
Fact of life, A4E plebs. Deal with it.
The company will never change, I worked there for over ten years and the vibe was about making money and putting the customers second
ReplyDeleteOnly the likes of A4e control freaks would use the logic "I have given them my email address, but they have not used it". Sending someone an email address does not mean having to respond by disclosing one's own email address. Emails are also used to track down anonymous speakers, via email header IP address info and of course in the event of wanting to make any claims of defamation to request a court to disclose email account details and correspondence. Looking across social media it is apparent this individual is being paid by A4e to co-opt it's detractors, whilst at the same time ignoring questions not in A4e corporate interest.
ReplyDeleteBrowsed the A4E website(Sheffield,Facebook) and boy are you starting a debate,bloody brilliant!
ReplyDeleteI work for A4e. I take great offence being branded a pleb or control freak. yes I don't work on the wp but work with customers who have experience of it. some say good some say bad. I too have been unemployed but was lucky and found a job. I also understand some of the failings listed on this site. My customers always come first which is way being branded because of the company I work for has an effect
ReplyDeleteI don't blame you for being offended. I let that one slip through, and perhaps shouldn't have. But can we take "plebs" in the Andrew Mitchell sense?
DeleteSorry that you feel offended,I am sure that this Blog did not intend this as a personal insult,I am not with A4E,but with a Subcontractor,the "Advisor" is brilliant,but has no resources,frustrated,annoyed and fed up,not his fault,as sick and tired as I am.
Deletemaybe I took it the wrong way some A4e staff do care. I like this blog and fair play you do normally defend the staff who do care. I read this blog all the time. Its feedback helps me to try and make my service better. I am just a small cog in the wheel but i do take your feedback back. I also agree with some comments and disagree with others.
DeleteIn terms of your advisor tell them to contact the local a4e office and use their training. My guys enjoyed the accredited qualifications which the skills department offered and it has helped get them work. Yes they get paid for this but free trying with other providers and colleges is available.
Also A4e do link with with some companies. I understand that if multiple jobs are on offer they should also offer to the subcontractors. How much this happens only you guys will know. I actively encourage you to get him to do this.
Well done and keep up the good work
As a private company (social enterprise or not) A4e are not realistically going to consider that they are answerable to concerned members of the public.
ReplyDeleteOn the other hand our MPs and ministers *are* answerable to us: surely it would make more sense to lobby *them* about dubious practises within A4e than attempt to get anything sensible or honest from some PR-type bod within the company.
I think you're right to cease engaging with him.
I have left a number of comments on Twitter for Jonty OC to reply to, but he hasn't felt it necessary to respond to a single one.
ReplyDeleteComments such as:
"A4e performance on government programmes has been abysmal. Extremely poor value for the hard pressed taxpayer..."
"A4e performance has been described as 'abysmal' by the Parliamentary Public Accounts Committee."
"Disappointed that A4e, similarly to G4S, takes huge sums of public money and then delivers poorly on its contracts."
These comments were made over ten days ago in response to A4e tweets left by Jonty OC.
Jonty OC has in fact responded to some of my tweets. I was in error when I stated that he hadn't. I hadn't seen them on Twitter. My apology to Jonty OC.
ReplyDeleteI said: "A4e performance on government programmes has been abysmal. Extremely poor value for the hard pressed taxpayer..."
Jonty OC replied: "which programmes are you referring to? A4e has outperformed the industry on most contracts"
Very good. A4e is about average for the industry, better than some, worse than others. All of them were abysmal when put against targets. So that's J O-C's idea of answering a question!
DeleteJOC says the views expressed on his Twitter account are his own, and not those of his employer. I don't seem to remember him expressing these views before he got a job with A4e?
ReplyDelete"has outperformed the industry" is ingenuous of course as it means very little. What they are likely saying is yes we performed atrociously but we weren't the only ones.
ReplyDeleteI have had the benefits of attending both Ingeus and A4e and the differences were like night and day. One was run by teams with a keen sense of social responsibility supported by a deep corporate support structure and a distinctly professional feel, and I would rather not comment about the other.
Amazing,not wanting to be classed as feckless,I accepted a job working 18 hours,worked for 10 Hrs per week awaiting for the promised 18,was paid for 40 hrs/over 4(5,1 held back) weeks,submitted to JCP with weekly bus ticket(£19.80)total difference? I am now .20p better off,still feel good about working,but I understand why people do not bother.
ReplyDeleteit's sadly true that unless you work full time or 25hrs plus it won't return much more than benefits. unfortunately with cost of living going up so did benefits. problem is wages didn't.
DeleteReading your post made me think of the cancer charity that gets nervous when a cure appears close as it would remove their reason for existing. Does engaging with J OC risk showing that the devil's horns are not so large or sharp? If he is presented with clear questions and obfuscates your point will be made. As things stand, other than to the sycophants and A4e haters, it looks like it is you who is ducking the dialogue.
ReplyDeleteWell, I'll let you make your point, just this once. You see, you are wrong to suppose that he was not "presented with clear questions". He chose to ignore every point that was made and to instead press on with the charm offensive. He has obfuscated, on here and elsewhere. A4e has always ducked dialogue, never printing comments on its many and various internet sites and blogs. Why should this blog turn itself over to the supposed dialogue the company refuses to have elsewhere?
DeleteImportantly, J O-C was not, as he claimed, banned from this site. You've forgotten that. I even published his last contribution. So if you think that everyone on here is either a sycophant or an A4e-hater, you'd do well to read more extensively.
@RDA
DeleteYour allegation that Historian is the one who is "ducking the dialogue" is not true.
Read all of Historian's blog-articles throughout September 2012 and you will be able to find all the evidence for yourself. Once you have read each blog-article, please ensure that you also read every comment made in response to that particular blog-article. I would suggest that you keep a pen and pad handy so that you can make notes as you go along.
If you do your own end of the necessary research fully and properly, your conclusion will be the same as my own. Jonty O-C is the one who has been "ducking the dialogue," as you put it, not Historian.
Will you then have the courage and the decency to apologise to Historian as publicly as you have tried to slate Historian, I wonder?
RDA, what is YOUR agenda? Do you work for / with A4e or have you personally received a good level of service from them?
DeleteCooper has been given PLENTY of opportunity to answer VERY CLEAR AND CONCISE points made by me and others on this blog. He has singularly failed to do so.
I think it is people like RDA who need to step away from the keyboard and really consider what they are saying. He / she calls contributors here "A4e haters"! Actually, it is more frustration and despair rather than genuine hate. Despair that despite being proven right about A4e time and time again, they (A4e) still get awarded contracts.
Being backed up by critical articles in national publications such as Private Eye, The Guardian and even The Daily Mail as well as damning reports on Ch4 News and BBC's Newsnight still has not convinced the right people that something very suspect lurks within the very fibre of A4e.
I strongly suggest that RDA as well as Cooper take this weekend as an opportunity to sift through not just this blog but many others detailing clients' personal encounters of the company they so wish to defend.
Of course, Cooper gets paid by A4e to defend their actions. What's RDA's excuse?