Who has claimed Universal Credit??

You do realise you had to WORK in workhouses?

I have and its not a pleasant experience if you're a single bloke

Job Centre advisers (they are called something else now though) are actively told to antagonise men, esp single blokes who have no partner as its easier to get under their skin by poking them emotionally. Us blokes for the most part are passive aggressive when alone, its a natural default behaviour in my opinion

And not to sound sexist but the worst "advisers" I had to deal with were women they had no grasp of the situation they were possibly putting themselves in at all, another bloke would know when to cool it, but women from experience keep on poking and poking and poking without ever realising the blokes about to go up like a facking volcano, maybe that's the plan who knows, but its a facking unfair disadvantage you are in when dealing with them and I'd advise not to waste their time with it

Once recently. I was actually doing an hobble next door to my advisor and she saw me creosoting the fencing.

They always do stupid stuff like ask if you can read, write, use a computer, send you on stupid courses and job fayres. They make you apply for stupid jobs too. They wanted me to work as a prison guardeven though I've got multiple convictions.

I saw a guy get stabbed in the one in Bexleyheath once too.

that women last night seemed to get a large advance that she didnt know how to deal with  ...

They make you apply for stupid jobs too

This is partially true. The objective of an adviser at the Jobcentre (or Work Programme etc) is to get you back into work, regardless of the position. If you are capable of doing it then they will pursue it.

Anything that makes it harder to defraud the benefits system should be applauded.

Dr C. I worked on the 'Work Programme' for 6 years following the 2009 crash (that pretty much crippled my own business) to ensure I had an income in addition to a much reduced income. My mortgage was a priority and when it was offered I jumped at the job. Most (and I mean most) of the staff that I came across treated the clients (jobseekers) terribly. As I said, give an average Joe power over others and it goes to their head and I sympathise with those that had to suffer this contempt, but try to improve it and it falls on deaf ears, however; none of us, EVER, were told to be a certain way with them; our sole objective was to work with them and help them find work. There was no conspriacy.

Aspro

That was the old work programme and you would have been actively told to push people and antagonise them hence the treatment some of the staff you worked with treatment of certain individuals

The new work programme isn't the same either, its now an entirely 3rd party run programme that is disconnected from the job centre, but the job centre can be called upon if this "programme" sees a problem. It basically means this programmes staff can bully and prod claimants without any come back because the DWP doesn't run it. I've heard from people on it there's staff there who bully vulnerable people into jobs they can't physically do. To cut a story short its now basically a recruitment agency disguised as a "work programme" because they have trained recruitment consultants working in the offices. They deal with getting into contact with companies etc, building up a relationship and then the poor sods who are tricked onto the programme by the job centre are bullied and pushed into these jobs by the other staff.

You need to experience it first hand aspro, from the perspective of the claimant not the hired thugs

As for being bullied and pushed, there is a case there, but it due to the quality of staff they employ and the training is laughable at best. The rules stated that if a job became available and the client could do this job (regardless of what it is) then the only thing that could stop them taking it is (provable) ill health or if it didn't make them better off. A client can only refuse a job if they would be out of pocket, otherwise they either had to take it or sign-off; that's not bullying, that's how it should be. The benefit system is there to provide when people fall on tough times, it is not there to supplement a job that someone is capable of doing.

And no the benefits system shouldn't be a safety net on hard times, it really should be there full stop and anyone can claim it

Because we've created a society and system that requires money to live, we aren't allowed to live of the land anymore its "against the law" remember? so how the fack can we live if there's no help from our lord and masters? they seem to want it all their own way

You were involved in it when the system was more humane, you left it years ago?

It was pretty bad even then, but now there's stories about job centre staff demanding personal emails, social media data and the rest

They want you to rely on the system but to do so you need to jump through every hoop and be compliant to the point of not making a peep, if you do so you can consider yourself a nutjob and in need of a psychiatrist

Any email is personal ? and there's information on such emails that is confidential, asking for emails is fine if the claimant agrees to it but they would need to seek permission from the company they were applying to as well? because there's possible phone numbers and names on there that would be protected under the data protection act

As for social media that really is taking liberties, its well above their pay grade and you can flat out deny them that and you'd destroy them in a court of law

Everything needs to be written into this "commitment" thing they agree with you and if its not written into that and agreed upon by both parties its tough facking t*tty

Fair enough aspro its not that long ago but a lot has changed. The new programme started around the time you left so need to bare that in mind, the new programme is basically the job centre hidden in plain sight I'm told, acting as a recruitment agency under the guise of the "work and health programme".

Would love to hear about that aspro

Get some info from the men on the inside of it

they've already made one major change in last year,2 years ago you had to have an online profile on their jobsearch app updated daily,which they could log in to and check your applying,looking for work,thats been binned and you now have to fill in a book and take it in,of course you can now fill in the book with addresses,names,phone numbers etc ,after 13 days or the morning you go to sign on, which suggests the computer software wasn't working

I don't bother ,but I did look into claiming my stamp as I had a missing year, not now ive got enough,but even just getting the stamp meant going through the same system even though you wernt claiming any benefits,told,m to ram it

i remember in the 70s was out of work and the qs to sign on went up the stairs and round the block you could be queing for half an hour or more ,loads of blokes would turn up in overalls coated in paint or plaster clearly working aqnd bomping on , you would often hear someone shout while at the signing on counter ,"hurry up for fooks sake i gotta be back at work in 10 minuets" !

Foyleswar

Women run the show now though and there will be none of that going on

And back then society wasn't conditioned to dob their fellow man in because of jealously or greed