Sentencing has begun this week on the 10 A4e employees who were convicted of fraud last year. And, at last, the mainstream media have decided to take notice. The Guardian's report is restrained. The Independent goes into more detail, and reports a defendant's barrister as accusing the company of fostering "a culture of dishonesty". Perhaps the writer, Emily Dugan, has been reading this blog. She ends with a list of "previous A4e scandals", including a contract it lost in Teeside after forging signatures; the laptop containing personal data of clients stolen from an employee's home; and the Edinburgh case where a tribunal ruled that A4e were wrong to sanction a client who wanted to be accompanied by a representative.
The Mail, as we might expect, goes to town on the story, bringing Emma Harrison into it. Unfortunately, they get it wrong, saying that Harrison "was forced to step down from her role after fraud allegations first came to light in 2012". As we know, Harrison's downfall was nothing to do with the fraud.
Sentencing continues this week, and perhaps the papers won't bother to report the outcomes. But this is a bad way to get a decent price for the company as Harrison tries to sell it.
In my opinion? Tip of the Iceberg,a lot more going on,fraud among the Providers is rampant!
ReplyDeletePerhaps we should all club together and buy A4e? Only joking, but I am seriously wondering how it is being sold and who is being given the opportunity to buy it? It is, after all, a business that has made its money off the state, so shouldn't its sale be out there in the public domain for all to see? At the moment it looks as if some kind of secret deal is going on behind closed doors. Considering A4e has received millions of pounds out of the public purse, surely there should be transparency regarding its sale?!
ReplyDeleteA4e is not a quoted company on the stock exchange - were it so then the transparency requirements would be much greater. As it is it's a bit like selling a house - there is no obligation to tell anyone who you are negotiating with.
DeleteI found the Mail article amusing - they clearly haven't finished carving up Emma. Also the comments BTL were noticeably anti A4e and anti Tory. - strange considering the ultra right wing stance of the "newspaper". I felt obliged to re-register with the Mail and post my own tuppence worth (I was previously banned from posting there with a threat that they would report me to my employer). My dastardly crime? - I accused them of unprofessional journalism.
I will now go and disinfect myself.
I'll chip in a fiver! Or is that too much?
DeleteNo doubt A4e's assets will be sold wholesale hook line and sinker to one of it's major competitors. Perhaps Reed, G4s or Interserve. The latter bought Leeds based BEST a couple of years ago (BEST had a reputation as bad as A4e). Interserve have also picked up a number of A4e's contracts in W. Yorks also.
Do all of you genuinely hate A4e this much. My experience was very positive, but having done research first this blog included I was genuinely anxious about going. They have been great and I just cannot understand all what I read about them.
ReplyDeleteYou must be one of the few who had a good experience with them. All I can say from my time with them is that they did nothing to help me get back into work. The jobsearch sessions seemed like a punishment. I suppose people who didn't have the internet at home would have found them helpful, but the majority of people mandated to attend jobsearch sessions looked for jobs on the internet at home anyway. It just seemed like a monumental waste of time and I was shocked that they got paid for that.
DeleteAnon, good for you that A4e treated you properly - as they are paid to do.
DeleteHowever, you are confusing hate with confronting a company that has failed time and time again in its basic provision. And not just under the Work Prog. They performed poorly under the previous governments New Deal.
They have been investigated not only by this blog but the likes of the Guardian, Independent, Ch4 News, BBC 2 Newsnight, BBC Radio 4, and BBC Radio 5 Live. Even the Daily mail has had a pop at them! All have had similar reports which back up what current and former A4e clients have had to say about the company.
If you have genuinely researched A4e, you must have seen more than a few quotes from current and ex clients whose experiences have been considerably less than great. If A4e were a restaurant, retailer or car dealership, would you honestly give them your cash after reading such reviews?
Fair points I have read alot outside of the blog. I must of been lucky to get a good advisor. Did not force me or threaten me with sanctions. Just went out his way to give me a hand when needed. Was always honest about stuff. I appreciated this as my experience with job centre was shocking. Dreaded going every time.
ReplyDeleteNo one has said that everybody had a bad experience with A4e. Most of their staff are, and always have been, hard-working people who want to do the best for their clients. It's inevitable that lots of the people referred to them are there unwillingly.
DeleteOf course I wasn't delighted to have been referred to A4e. However, I might have changed my mind about the experience if they had actually agreed to provide support which would have been useful to me, such as paying for me to do relatively inexpensive courses which would have provided me with vocational qualifications. However, they claimed there 'wasn't the funding' for anything which I thought might have been useful to me.
DeleteAs I mentioned above, the vast majority of my time at A4e was spent in jobsearch sessions- the only 'training' provided was to show me how to do things I already knew how to do, such as write a CV. Unfortunately I can't even say that the staff I observed were hard working, as they seemed to spend a lot of time out of the jobsearch room, therefore weren't even there to help people who thought they needed it.