http://news.aol.co.uk/jobless-face-losing-benefits/article/20081201231025211773977

About time they cracked down on the 'hardcore' jobless, those that obviously really don't want to work.
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"Always look on the bright side of life..... tetum tetumtetumtetum....."

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jHPOzQzk9Qo

I completely agree Tracey.....About time I say. I for one am fed up keeping all those people who often have better lifestyles than me (i.e. parts of my own family)

Sorry, but to some extent I disagree with some of the views expressed in that article.

In theory, if someone is actively seeking employment (which, incidentally, for those who have never been unemployed, is part of one’s Jobseekers Agreement), then forcing them to do community work from 9 - 5 means that they might not have time to actually look for (and attend interviews, etc) if they have commitments with community work.

And, rather like the recent discussion on the forum about testing jobless for drug use, who is going to determine who is hardcore jobless? Some narrow-minded bureaucrat? Some bigoted prat who believes anyone who doesn’t live the same life as they do is a waster?

Having been unemployed for extended periods myself, I found looking for work a full-time activity in itself! Extended periods of unemployment sometimes depend on more than an unwillingness to work – geography(amongst many other factors) plays an important part too. A relevant example of the geography factor, and I hope that Little Vixen won’t mind me bringing this up (since she often mentions her unemployment on the forums, she probably won’t, and she will more than likely agree with me) but she is somewhat limited to employment opportunities due to her remote location, regardless of her skills and abilities.

Many people (myself included) are limited due to circumstances. I would be unable to take on physically demanding work, and have to limit my employment to search to administrative type vacancies. Competition for such jobs is quite fierce where I live, and unemployment figures here are rising quickly. If I could afford to move elsewhere, where there is work, I would.

My point is, if someone told me I was ‘hardcore jobless’ because I have been unemployed for a year, I’d be pretty pissed off with them; I put a lot of effort into looking for a job, and often travel long distances(i.e. up to 4 hours on a train each way) for interviews.

Hey if you are putting in the effort to get a job and can prove it then it isnt going to affect you. Littlevixen is the same..she has been actively looking for god knows how long and went on training courses and is doing some type of job placement at the moment so she is trying her hardest and would work in a heartbeat if the opportunity came up. I also know that there are those who are genuinly sick and unable to work too but it's the ones taking the piss the government will be looking to catch.

It's the ones like my family i.e who supposedly has knee problems that causes their knees to lock up but yet the last few jobs he has went for (about 2 years ago) have been driving jobs...hmmmm and i wonder why he didnt get them. He can spend half his day on the computer playing games, going on websites etc but won't go for a job working on computers. No cos he is quite happy claiming his incapacity benefit. Or his wife who spends half her day shopping and the other half on the phone and hasnt had a job or tried for one in all the time ive known her. No because she has supposedly got something wrong with her..what i dont exactly know (it beats me) but quite happy to claim her incapacity benefit too to feed her child that she had through IVF (or something else like that not sure). Shouldnt she have been able to pay for the upkeep of that child?? Why should I have to??? Between the two of them they actually get more money from the government than I earn in my monthly wage!!!!

Or the ones who have child after child who get everything thats going to them...free rent, free council tax, big benefits, extensions to their council houses. All because they can't keep their legs shut. To much time on their hands cos none of them are working....Why again should I have to pay? Neuter them instead

And yes I have been unemployed in my lifetime and done some crappy jobs too just so I didnt have to be unemployed i.e working in factories dealing with bloody brussel sprouts!! Still can't eat them to this day.

At least if they are doing work within the community then they will actually be benefiting those taxpayers that are paying their benefits. Im sure that if they have interviews, training courses or applications to fill in then they won't have to be doing the community service. The onus will be on them to prove it. They will be getting plenty chances to prove it before the community service order kicks in so its up to them to do something about it. Maybe these short sharp shocks will do the trick???

Gawd thats the longest thing i've written in a long time. Felt like i was doing my college essay again. Oooh look im working and also trying to further my education so that I cn improve my prospects to get a better job...If I can do it while working theres no reason that others who have more time on their hands cant too. There are grants available for furthering their education. People in my class at college are testament to this

I hear you Cazz.
I am a moderator on a different kind of forum.
There's someone on there wanting a council flat swap.
A couple, neither working - no idea why or for how long, so cant really comment on that - and they currently have a 2 bedroom flat with no garden.
They want a swap because they have 5 yes 5 kids!
Now, I would be the first probably to crow about peoples rights to have kids, buuuuut, I also believe with rights come responsibilities, and vice versa.
If you are stuck in a 2 bed flat at the top of some highrise, stop popping out babies!
Surely its not rocket science?
Sadly these days, people seem to expect rights without responsibility.
Oh dear, just read that, it makes me sound an awful snotty right wing bigot!

i can tell you now that being on JSA sucks big time, i would give anything to have a job, i have applied for all kinds of things, i spend god knows how much of the allowance (£46 a week) on stamps and stationary to be able to do my cv and send it out to people, my email account remains signed in for god knows how long at a time to send cvs by email and to see if employers have emailed me back ... its rare you get a response to anything ... out of 3 weeks and about 40 job applications i have one interview on thursday.

Admittedly i do not spend 9-5 5 days a week searching for work but i spend a hell of a lot of time doing searches and applying ... if they wanted me to do 9-5 5 days a week then i am sorry to say this but they would have to give me a bigger allowance - im not sorry i have said that and if anyone gets on at me for it so what ... in my local village there is a load of terraced council houses with brand new cars sat outside, where i know of people who live there who do not work and claim everything under the sun and are going on holiday twice a year and afford to buy horses and keep them and have these brand new cars (and i am on about big 4x4s here, not the cheap ranges of cars) yet there are people like me who work hard who really want a job, who feels so useless and shit as they do not have anything and no one seems to want to employ me.

and this afternoon i have to go and sign on and explain why i didnt do as much searching and applying last week as i was too ill to hardly do anything ... and then i will have to get a note from the doctor as they will not believe me because the shit lazy people are the norm and there reputation is passed onto everyone else

do these people care how i cant sleep, how i worry all day, how i spend half my time in tears and how this is now going into my counselling sessions as well as everything else, all because i have no job and no money

no they dont, and i couldnt give a flying f**k about them
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FoxyHan - Proof that it's not all grim up north

My heart does go out to you Hannah, and I know others in that situation.
I would imagine it must be very hard for you to even bother to get out of bed to look for work, when I am depressed and weepy and feeling ill the last thing I would be having the energy mentally to do would be to face the world and look for a job, let alone drag myself to an interview and look and act my best.
A vicious circle, I guess.
I hope something comes along for you soon.

A friend of mine, that I know through charity work, is a recovering alcoholic with large holes in his CV due to his attempts to recover.

As a result he is one of the last people employers would want to employ but still a reasonably functional person. Through his charity work he aims to return to the workplace.

However he was placed in a long-term JSA recipients' "job application boot camp", along with agressive ex-prisoners who were themselves very upset that they were further confined. The mix of aggression and tedium (staff were there not to help but instead just to enforce) lead him to relapse.

He is back on track again now but he remains at the bottom of the stack when it comes to employability.

Many genuine applicants desperately need employers that will actually take a risk with them.

206bones, if you read the article properly you'll see it means people who frequently are late or do not turn up at all to their 13 week interviews and to those that consistantly do not offer hard proof of their job hunting and have been like this for a good length of time. It does not refer to people that are able to show that they have been looking for work and are making the effort to better their chances of finding work.
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"Always look on the bright side of life..... tetum tetumtetumtetum....."

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jHPOzQzk9Qo

Before my son was termed "chronically sick" and given 'incapacity benefit in youth' due to manic depression (and he has aspergers), I went with him to an interview at the job center and the lady spent ages filling out forms and asking questions about what jobs he'd done, his interests etc. (with the view of finding him a 'new deal' or some kind of training) then she got to the bit about his qualifications.....Book shut, she sat bolt upright in her chair and said "I'm sorry, I didnt realise you had qualifications, we can only help by way of sending you on basic literacy and numeracy courses and job training of that calibre...."
Right.
She then told him to stay on the sick as long as possible as he'd be better off than on JSA and there's bugger all jobs around above the basic rate.
He was most upset and went home and banged his head against the wall and cut up his arms again.
Really helpful that was.
Even his psychiatrist said to him, "hey your IQ is higher than mine, we should swap chairs", which was meant to be funny but wasnt at the time.
He just wants a job.

We still have job clubs in Helston, I have been loads of times, sometimes I was the only person there, what I dont understand is how come all the unemployed people that should have attended didnt even turn up? Bet they didnt get there money stopped, but if I missed one I would have had a ticking off...

Also as being out of work for nearly 2 years, I was put on the 13 week Scheme, although it is called a work placement I only ended up there because no one else wanted me so the Training Provider decided to use me as a Tutor in their IT centre....

And 206bones I dont mind...you know me too well
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I think if you cant find a job in civi street its time to look into military?

All i ever hear is Army and RAF shortages...
Its bloody good money, i applied for the Army...i just wish i took it further than the fitness tests.
I got in...just...bleh.