Thursday 6 August 2009

Publicity - lots of it

We know that A4e's strategy is to feed PR thinly disguised as news stories to the press, but it's been confined to the regional and local papers - until today. The Times carries a story, "‘Loan shark threatened to break my legs if I didn’t pay £1,000’" describing how a Stoke on Trent man went to A4e for debt advice. They're called "a debt advice agency based in Stoke" - actually they have a contract to provide money advice to Stoke's council tenants. One wouldn't, perhaps, have expected The Times to print stuff fed to them by firms like A4e, but this reads so typically of their planted stories that, sadly, one has to believe it.
And there's more publicity to come on 20 August when Channel 4 begins a series entitled "Benefit Busters". The first episode sounds like wonderful propaganda for A4e. "Hayley Taylor is a no-nonsense Yorkshire lass whose job is to persuade single mothers on benefits to go back to work. The company she works for, A4E, makes millions from helping to tackle the Government's target of getting 70 per cent of lone parents into paid work by 2010, and is the largest welfare reform company in the world. A4E is run by multimillionaire entrepreneur Emma Harrison, who believes her business is 'improving people's lives by getting them into work.' Until recently, the 700,000 lone parents receiving benefit didn't have to look for work until their youngest child was 16. Soon, they must either work, or be looking for work, once their youngest child is seven. At Doncaster A4E, Hayley runs a course called Elevate that aims to give lone parents the skills and confidence to enter the workplace and convince them they'll be better off doing so. Cameras follow her group of ten single mothers during their intensive six-week course to prepare them for work." Some of that must have come straight from A4e's handouts, and it certainly doesn't look as if the programme will be a hatchet job. A4e's own publication, Blueprint, says, "...one of our teams in Doncaster was in for a nice surprise – and more than just 15 minutes of fame – when a Channel 4 documentary maker chose the team to star in a film about the welfare system. Doncaster’s Elevate team was selected to appear in the documentary after Elevate Trainer, Hayley Taylor, made a great impression on the series producer. He felt that Hayley had the energy and passion to inspire her clients – all of whom are lone parents – to get back into work and training. You can read their fascinating story on page 12, and find out what it was really like to be in front of the camera for weeks on end." If you really want to read page 12, it's here. Can't wait.

11 comments:

  1. Well,I've just left a comment on the Benefit Busters Ch4 webpage. This is rather interesting as CH4 News did a report into A4e's fraudulant practices such as forging clients signatures.

    I wonder if Benefit Busters will be an extended PR exercise for A4e? Will anyone be allowed to challenge their claims?

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  2. Somehow I can't see many of the single parents getting a full-time job paying a living wage especially in the current economic climate. But I'll defintely be watching the show, as I ssupect it will make for compulsive viewing judging by the description of Hayley Turner ( a no-nonsense Yorkshire lass). I did see a clip of the show last night, and someone (may have been Ms Turner herself) saying to someone "just be yourself, and don't waffle"

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  3. It will be interesting to see how A4e works with clients in this documentary and I am sure it will highlight just how difficult to reach some of these individuals can be and the true passion and belief staff have at A4e to help people get back into employment.

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  4. I've allowed it, Mikey - but no more. I have no objection to comments from A4e staff, but I won't give space to the robotic cliches.

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  5. Well said, Historian, in relation to Mikey's comment. Perhaps someone from Doncaster, where the programme is set, could tell us more about the job opportunities the town has to offer, in particular how many full-time jobs paying a living wage it has to offer single parents?

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  6. there are so many trite cliches when it comes to a4e. I can just see them going to a pr expert and saying we need a soundbite, that sells us.. can you come up 5 words or less..

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  7. I've seen the first episode. Taylor is effectively depicted as a monster, albeit one who's very good at badgering folk into taking shitty minimum wage gigs. At several points the film-makers use the theme from Witches of Eastwick to announce her arrival.

    A4E aren't directly critised per se but I wouldn't be surprised if that changes as the series progresses.

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  8. For those who have never heard of A4e I'm sure the programme will be bit of a eye opener about the way claimants are treated are treated on these courses.

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  9. i think that this programme can show you how much hayley taylor try's to help these women get back into work.And i also think this progamme can show us how much single women without jobs need help.Can't wait to see it.

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  10. On the page 12 in question, it states the clients knew their was going to be a camera crew, but they still turned up. Apparently they loved it.

    But surely, if they DIDN'T turn up for the classes, they would have had their benefits sanctioned?

    Or can you 'just' not turn up without any sanction?

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  11. Just watched this and I am disgusted at the way those Women were treated. What right did Ms Taylor have to accuse that poor woman of being an alcoholic? Is she medically qualified to diagnose this problem? There was no discussion or support to enable people to acutally achieve proper jobs and the "excitement" at securing a 2 week unpaid trial in a poundstore was unbelievable (not meant as a put down to the Women, more the fact that with thousands of pounds invested in this company thats the best offer the recruitment advisors could come up with after 6 weeks).
    I can't believe as a tax payer I am actually contributing to the funding of this! If those things were said in a working environment Ms Taylor would be rightly accused of bullying. I'll not even go into the fact that Ms Taylor failed in the fundamental issue of working out if the trainee's would be better off in work....
    Never been so animated during a TV programme, my husband is equally disgusted and he works for the DWP!

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