Community Work Placements are supposed to start next week. That's the "help" for the long-term unemployed who have been failed by the Work Programme; months of unpaid work "in the community". But there has been no announcement about which companies have won the contracts to organise this. It seems certain that the contracts have been awarded. G4S is advertising dozens of posts to do with CWP on the Indus Delta site. So why are the public not being told?
Could it be that the DWP wants to avoid the inevitable media outburst which would follow an announcement that those lucrative contracts had been given to G4S? After all, this is the company which defrauded the government (which means you and me) of millions over the tagging contracts. It is obvious that the tendering process for CWP was going on while G4S was still supposedly under investigation and suspended from bidding. Yet it was "cleared" just in time to be given another opportunity for oodles of dosh. Perhaps Serco, with a similar record, is also on the gravy train.
Community Work Placements could come to grief not just on the incompetence of its providers, but also on the lack of actual placements. We know that lots of voluntary organisations want nothing to do with it. CWP is a popular concept with the right, but even the commercial sector could find it attracting too much bad publicity for comfort.
We will just have to wait and see. Those of our readers who are referred to the programme will no doubt keep us informed.
At my meeting(JCP) yesterday I brought up CWP and was assured that it will happen! Right,will it be similar to PWSP? 7+ Months and still no Training or Work Placements? I also brought up Intensive Jobsearch,where are all the computers that were suppose to be installed? The subject was changed to the reason I had been called in "My Jobsearch activities" I am not putting enough information in the claimant booklet,the 3x5 area,now if I give access to my UJM account I will not have to be so specific as that apparently was how the Booklet was designed. Bloody knew it,it is all about tracking, It was brought up that I am not phoning enough employers and it is a requirement...I brought to their attention that they have removed all the phones from the JCP+..We are totally digital and do not need phones...but you do! Sweet Sonny Jesus!
ReplyDeleteReceived a letter from the JCP with Bus Ticket,it is for an hour long talk about "Jobs and Training" I compared it to one I got 2 Months ago,same exact thing,at that meeting I was told their is no training and I need to find a job,what we talked about was the Claimant Commitment and UJM, I will refuse to talk about anything else other than training or jobs at this meeting,their was nothing in the letter requiring that I bring anything,am I pushing the point to much? being very compliant in the past has had no results.
DeleteIt will be introduced like Universal Jobmatch - with no warning. This will be deliberate, to create confusion at the Job Centre and amongst the long-term unemployed as to who is eligible and what the terms of 'work' will be. This is to avoid the terms being subject to legal challenge and delaying the scheme or it being scrapped, which would be a huge embarrassment for the government as it was their 'flagship' conference policy. They will introduce the scheme on Monday and then try and fight off the subsequent legal challenges one by one.
ReplyDeleteAs you say there will be limited places due to the lack of interested charities. As a consequence most will be placed on daily signings and then placed with providers if the government (and the DWP) beat the legal challenges.
It could be several months before this happen.
So expect a rapid introduction, followed by a protracted debate in the press and the courts about the social and economic implications of the scheme.
Don't be surprised if the courts declare it illegal because it contravenes NI and minimum wage law.
If I am offered a place I am going to take it and then (hopefully) be paid in full later.
Im already looking into back pay for being placed on MWA.
DeleteI read on the void that only two out of every three got work placements on the trail blazer of the people that were referred for them, this was when the major workfare supporting charities were still involved. So if there was a 2/3 chance of being put on a work placement, I wonder what the chances are now?
ReplyDeleteIf it fails and the majority have to be put on jobcentre+ intensive support, how is the jobcentre going to manage with the daily signings of hundreds of thousands of claimants when their staff is being cut this year?
I don't want to jinx it, because of course this Help To Work programme has been shown to be a failure before it has even begun in terms of results and I hope it falls flat on it's face, perhaps ending the threat of Workfare for the foreseeable future. But I just don't see how it's going to manage with the resources that appear to be available.
It is coming:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.pcs.org.uk/en/department_for_work_and_pensions_group/dwp-news.cfm/help-to-work-and-sr13-conditionality
Very interesting. The PCS clearly recognise that increased conditionality (for example daily signings) is solely designed to 'frustrate' the unemployed off benefits. But I bet they still implement it!
DeleteHopefully, their members (our advisors) use their common sense and recognise what the governments objective is here i.e. to INCREASE SANCTIONS.
The news isn't clear on how the community placement aspect of it will work and this suggests to me (as I implied above) that it has yet to be finalised.
I think daily signings will be the norm, with possibly varied appointment times to confuse claimants, if the news is to be believed. I find this the most disgusting part of the process. How is it likely to help someone back into work to sign on at a different time everyday. The whole process bears a striking resemblance to criminal rehabilitation/probation.
Hopefully the media including the BBC and C4 will pick up this trend - the criminalisation of the unemployed and benefits. This has implications for EVERYONE including in the future those on Working Tax Credit.
I recently talked to a mate that works at/for a temp agency,they were approached to help find placements for the CWP by a provider,their was a criteria that had to be met to satisfy the DWP for community good,the point was raised about liability insurance,at first they thought the employers insurance would cover it,but they/us are not considered employees,they looked at an addendum to be added to cover volunteers similar to what a charity has,this was also shot down as this is mandatory at this point the insurance agent started talking about a new product,no cost was mentioned but it was stated that they would send it to underwriting,things to be considered would be the fact that no drug and alcohol testing could be used as a condition of being employed as it was mandatory =Risk The fact that people were being compelled to work = Risk The type of work was unknown = Risk H+S Training? Safety gear? Transportation? It was also mentioned that some people might suffer from pre existing health or mental illness conditions,will their be a screening process? They have withdrawn as it is just to much? RISK!
ReplyDeleteI was wondering why I've been told I will be required to attend group sessions after finishing with the post Work Programme adviser.
ReplyDeleteThese are job search reviews. I have been on three since Jan.
DeleteBTW Historian I have done a little digging and found this in the DWP's website re funding for CWP
'In England, Community Work Placements will be part-funded by the European Social Fund, under DWP’s co-financing agreements.'
Does this mean that JSA will be paid for via the ESF or that those on the scheme are going to be paid the minimum wage?
Also, it is interesting that the PCS are complaining about an increase in workload for their members due to Help To Work. This could mean that daily signings will be kept very short i.e. sign here and clear off.
Although we all know the government want to increase sanctions (and have done so) I just wonder whether it will be POSSIBLE for Job Centre staff to implement HTW fully?
It certainly doesn't mean that those on the scheme will get minimum wage, just that ESF money is helping to pay the companies organising it.
DeletePaying forced labour the minimum wage? That sounds like communism to me!
DeleteIn all seriousness though, DWP ministers kind of get the notion of the 'dignity of labour', they just see wages as a non-essential component of it.
"Community Work Placements are supposed to start next week"
ReplyDeleteScrew that ..... They've already referred me to a college course, so it would probably be a bit late to send me on a work placement now.
On the contrary lucky lucky you being referred to a college course by the Job Centre! Three years ago I was on JSA and a post a4e Attendee. I asked about courses and told I would have to fund them myself ..... Eh? What with?
DeleteThe vast majority of adult courses in colleges are free to JSA claimants, alternatively you could have applied for an Adult Learners Grant?
DeleteIt depends where you are live. Different authorities, different funding. Mine is a wealthy area so they can expect full fees to be paid by wealthy students.
DeleteThey did use to be free for the unemployed many years ago, then a minimum rate of £5 then it jumped up considerably thereafter.
Historian - Slightly off topic but I have been looking for info on Help To Work and came across this character who works as a senior economist at the DWP - Jennifer Bradley. Guess who she used to work for in 2011 - that's right, she was Iain Duncan Smith private secretary! I wonder if she is the mystery DWP spokeswoman!
ReplyDeleteJobs for boys (and girls)!
A private secretary is a civil service job; they're not employed by a minister or secretary of state directly. Working in a minister's private office is a pretty routine part of the civil service fast-stream progression, so there's nothing fishy about a former private secretary appearing elsewhere in a more senior position.
DeleteOne thing I find utterly hilarious is that companies like Serco and G4S have a lot of fingers in multiple pies. I mean Serco have hold of immigration centres as well...
ReplyDeleteMakes you wonder honestly what the Gov is doing with these private companies and contracts... especially how they botch them.
Still I'm, glad to finally be away from the JSA rubbish. I feel sorry for people still caught up in the rubbish they are churning out in order to trip jobseekers up.
If you to read the PCS statement they do make the point that the increased 'conditionality' doesn't really help jobseekers find work but only 'frustrates' them off benefits WITHOUT finding work (and probably into 'self-employment'.
DeleteOh I know... I was jumping through Jobcentre hoops for 5 years until recently. I was lucky, the zero hour contract I'm on is pretty good.. with good benefits.
DeleteNot everyone is quite so lucky to get anything. As it is, at the moment I have to travel about 2 1/2 hours each way to get to work which leaves very little time for anything else. JC insisted though that I go for everything in the 'local' area. They seem to think that everyone owns cars and doesn't take into account terrible public transport.
Still... my comment about the private companies was that they're trying to corner the market on everything, from running jobcentres to running jails and immigration centres. It adds up to a rather disturbing picture in my mind at least...