Exactly, KlootBlanx. If the Government, health care trusts and the National Institute for Clinical Excellence didn't keep denying people treatment and medicines after paying taxes all their lives then we might have a healthier population more able to work. It's their cruel and ignorant short term cost cutting that's still part of the problem.
I agree with you with regard to people who have paid taxes all their lives but what about the significant number that could but never have and never intend to? These are the people I believe should have to work for their benefits. How you weed them out is the problem.
Quite frankly, if the bloody government want me off IB and IS, they can offer more than 8 sessions of cbt and a year long wait for therapy.
It's a shame that people like you will be forced to jump through hoops for what you're entitled to, but it's not the government's fault - whoever was in power would have the same moral and financial obligation to stop certain unworthy people sponging indefinitely and for no good reason off the welfare state. Sadly there are enough of them now for stringent measures to be necessary - although I fear they'll still manage to find a way round 'the system' just as they have always done. Sigh!
I really don't like the fact that people who are not working through no fault of their own will be given menial tasks to do for less than minimum wage - that's penalising them for something that is outside of their control and could be hugely demoralising and just really unfair!
Lets hope that they are made to clean off the graffitti as well!
But why should they ?
maybe they could be given jobs teaching the idiots who go round drawing graffitti over everything how much money they are costing councils to clean up after them.
Or maybe they could get some of them to teach these same idiots how much it cost councils everytime one of them makes a prank phone call to the emergency services.
Or what about when they vandalise properties and bus stops etc, maybe they could teach them how much it costs councils to repair them.
The list is endless yet even though these things cost money which is also paid for through taxes these things seem to be acceptable.... Why!!!!
On the surface it may seem that New Labour is being ever so thoughtful with its "No One Is Written Off" strapline for these welfare reforms. Nothing could be further from the truth though. We really don't need crude, cheap and ignorant populism from either of the two main Tory parties which is precisely what we have been getting.
I would prefer to see a more considered approach whereby healthy jobseekers are given intense and practical assistance to improve written and personal presentation, to improve skills by specific training in administration, computer skills, literacy, etc., and help with matching up jobs with people's skills and interests. Such an approach though would cost money which I suspect why the private sector is being brought in to try to attempt this on the cheap.
I have particular concerns over the treatment of people who are ill or disabled irrespective of whether they have physical, mental, social or emotional issues to deal with. A civilised society tries to help such people and does not attempt to stigmatise them or hound them back too early to inappropriate working conditions that will make them have a relapse, get depressed or, most tragically of all, end their own existences on Earth.
It is this punitive element about these proposals that I do not like as if continually reassessing someone will miraculously improve their condition. Ultimately, it should be a person who, with their GP and medical consultant, should decide whether their are fit enough for work and not some Department for Work and Pensions Medical Services doctor who's on performance related pay and targets to get as many people off benefits as possible irrespective of their state of health. Indeed, the stress of continual reassessment is likely to actually make things worse.
I think a better model in this intense is the Employment Opportunities model and they have some offices round Britain. They work with people to see what their current state of health is and what they can do. These people are then matched with suitable posts with sympathetic private, public and voluntary sector employers. That is ideally how things should work and it is a system that does not rely on coercion or pressure.
If anyone who is ill is faced with undue pressure from the Department for Work and Pensions then there are a number of sources of help out there including GPs, local MP, Citizens Advice Bureau, Claimants' Unions and Disability Alliance. There are also a couple of useful websites about what people are entitled to claim at http://www.entitledto.co.uk/ and http://www.gm.tv/index.cfm?articleid=30165.
I've been hunting for a job for just over a year now since leaving colege and even though I've applied for getting up for 100 (if not more) jobs, I've had few interviews and none have offered me a job. I have good qualifications so it isn't my fault no one wants to take me on.
I'm with Remploy at the moment as I have a slight disability, they are hunting for jobs for me but I just am not getting anywhere. :mad:
Of course the problem with incapacity benefit arises from government attempts to manipulate dole statistics for years. I absolutely agree that there are a large number of claimants who are not so much fake as they are in a rut, after being shunted from jsa to ib in the past. They often live in deprived areas where there aren't any well paid jobs. They're not doing training courses because they're not on JSA. They live from one payment to the next with no savings and often lots of debt. I can see why the prospect of coming off benefits to take a minimum wage job which might not last is frightening to them. And the only courses they can get are literacy or basic IT.
The government should focus on specific hotspot areas, putting more money into training and creating jobs and looking at a long term change in local attitudes rather than short term punitive measures.
And yes there are also the lazy scrotes who cheat the system. So make the punishment more severe for proven cheats. Don't just make them pay the money back. Give them prison sentences or lots of community service too. And make those school leavers who don't want to get a job or go on to college do community service for a couple of years to give them some sort of work ethic.
I've been hunting for a job for just over a year now since leaving colege and even though I've applied for getting up for 100 (if not more) jobs, I've had few interviews and none have offered me a job. I have good qualifications so it isn't my fault no one wants to take me on.
I'm with Remploy at the moment as I have a slight disability, they are hunting for jobs for me but I just am not getting anywhere. :mad:
I understand perfectly what you are going through my daughter has been going through the same thing, since finishing college she's applied for loads of jobs in general office work and/or data inputting as she is qualified to do this type of work and she's had interviews but nothing has come of them.
She has also applied to supermarkets in our area Tesco, Asda etc and also poundland, JJB's, Ethel Austins,Woolworths and all the small local shops but to date she has only been given one interview and that was at Tesco's but she didn't get the job.
I think that the root of the trouble is that most employers will only hire people who have already had jobs, I'm begining to think qualifications mean absolutely nothing.
So why this Government or any other thinks there is a need to keep children on at school until they are 18 is beyond me.
Actually they would be as well finishing school at 12 and instead of sweeping chimneys like they used to getting a job sweeping streets. :mad:
I think that the root of the trouble is that most employers will only hire people who have already had jobs, I'm begining to think qualifications mean absolutely nothing.
So why this Government or any other thinks there is a need to keep children on at school until they are 18 is beyond me.
Actually they would be as well finishing school at 12 and instead of sweeping chimneys like they used to getting a job sweeping streets. :mad:
I agree with you about qualifications, most jobs I apply for want experience and hardly mention qualifications at all.
I'm interested in starting a career in Graphic Design but every job I apply for says 'must have x number of years experience'. So I decided to write a letter and send it out to local printers and graphic designers asking if they'd be willing to take me on for work experience (on a voluntary basis). I've sent the letter out to seven different companies so far and only one has had the decency to reply! They were very apologetic, but as they were a very small company they wouldn't be able to offer me any placement. I bet all the other letters have just ended up in the bin.
Comments
I agree with you with regard to people who have paid taxes all their lives but what about the significant number that could but never have and never intend to? These are the people I believe should have to work for their benefits. How you weed them out is the problem.
It's a shame that people like you will be forced to jump through hoops for what you're entitled to, but it's not the government's fault - whoever was in power would have the same moral and financial obligation to stop certain unworthy people sponging indefinitely and for no good reason off the welfare state. Sadly there are enough of them now for stringent measures to be necessary - although I fear they'll still manage to find a way round 'the system' just as they have always done. Sigh!
I really don't like the fact that people who are not working through no fault of their own will be given menial tasks to do for less than minimum wage - that's penalising them for something that is outside of their control and could be hugely demoralising and just really unfair!
But why should they ?
maybe they could be given jobs teaching the idiots who go round drawing graffitti over everything how much money they are costing councils to clean up after them.
Or maybe they could get some of them to teach these same idiots how much it cost councils everytime one of them makes a prank phone call to the emergency services.
Or what about when they vandalise properties and bus stops etc, maybe they could teach them how much it costs councils to repair them.
The list is endless yet even though these things cost money which is also paid for through taxes these things seem to be acceptable.... Why!!!!
Good post.
I've been hunting for a job for just over a year now since leaving colege and even though I've applied for getting up for 100 (if not more) jobs, I've had few interviews and none have offered me a job. I have good qualifications so it isn't my fault no one wants to take me on.
I'm with Remploy at the moment as I have a slight disability, they are hunting for jobs for me but I just am not getting anywhere. :mad:
The government should focus on specific hotspot areas, putting more money into training and creating jobs and looking at a long term change in local attitudes rather than short term punitive measures.
And yes there are also the lazy scrotes who cheat the system. So make the punishment more severe for proven cheats. Don't just make them pay the money back. Give them prison sentences or lots of community service too. And make those school leavers who don't want to get a job or go on to college do community service for a couple of years to give them some sort of work ethic.
I understand perfectly what you are going through my daughter has been going through the same thing, since finishing college she's applied for loads of jobs in general office work and/or data inputting as she is qualified to do this type of work and she's had interviews but nothing has come of them.
She has also applied to supermarkets in our area Tesco, Asda etc and also poundland, JJB's, Ethel Austins,Woolworths and all the small local shops but to date she has only been given one interview and that was at Tesco's but she didn't get the job.
I think that the root of the trouble is that most employers will only hire people who have already had jobs, I'm begining to think qualifications mean absolutely nothing.
So why this Government or any other thinks there is a need to keep children on at school until they are 18 is beyond me.
Actually they would be as well finishing school at 12 and instead of sweeping chimneys like they used to getting a job sweeping streets. :mad:
I agree with you about qualifications, most jobs I apply for want experience and hardly mention qualifications at all.
I'm interested in starting a career in Graphic Design but every job I apply for says 'must have x number of years experience'. So I decided to write a letter and send it out to local printers and graphic designers asking if they'd be willing to take me on for work experience (on a voluntary basis). I've sent the letter out to seven different companies so far and only one has had the decency to reply! They were very apologetic, but as they were a very small company they wouldn't be able to offer me any placement. I bet all the other letters have just ended up in the bin.