Financial help with interview clothes for the unemployed

[spritulist 10]

good luck mate

[sleepercreep 10]

good luck mate with your job

[SatanInHeels 10]

I have yet to come across an employer that makes you work 4 weeks without pay!

 

I have started two jobs at the start of the month and got paid at the end as that was the monthly pay date.... they don't change it and pay you earlier!!

 

Totally disagree with the clothes thing though, unless its really really necessary and they should be cheap stuff not trousers, shirt and shoes totalling £100 or whatever it is.... a lot of people who are in work (perhaps on a temporary contract or wanting to improve themselves) dont have spare cash to buy interview clothes and they get no help!

 

Do think it also makes a difference if its someone who has been working for years and got made redundant etc or someone who has never worked and has no intention of working etc.

Edited October 15, 2010 by SatanInHeels

[wotsits 10]

I have started two jobs at the start of the month and got paid at the end as that was the monthly pay date.... they don't change it and pay you earlier!!

 

Totally disagree with the clothes thing though, unless its really really necessary and they should be cheap stuff not trousers, shirt and shoes totalling £100 or whatever it is.... a lot of people who are in work (perhaps on a temporary contract or wanting to improve themselves) dont have spare cash to buy interview clothes and they get no help!

 

Do think it also makes a difference if its someone who has been working for years and got made redundant etc or someone who has never worked and has no intention of working etc.

 

Many jobs make you work 4 weeks in advance and won't advance wages.

I don't think intent to work can be judged. If someone is paid benefit to seek work and then fails to do so the benefit is disallowed. There is also a limit to the number of times this help will be given.

[sheff5555 10]

All I know about this subject is that I am sick of yobs on buses taking orders for clothes cos they are getting their clothing vouchers from the DSS. Nearly as bad as pregnant girls selling fruit.

[wotsits 10]

All I know about this subject is that I am sick of yobs on buses taking orders for clothes cos they are getting their clothing vouchers from the DSS. Nearly as bad as pregnant girls selling fruit.

 

Whats the DSS ?

[Ms Macbeth 73]

Whats the DSS ?

 

It used to be the Department of Social Security. It hasn't been the 'DSS' for ages, but people still use the term. I think the original term was National Assistance, then it became the DHSS (the H stood for Health), the DSS and now its the DWP. Department of Work and Pensions.

[LadyInRed 10]

@ HappyHippy:

 

Wrong. So long as you have proof that there was an interview, then you would be refunded for the travel costs, or in some certain cases given a travel warrant under the Travel To Interview scheme.

 

You are wrong I took this all the way at the job centre the DO NOT refund for interview I had letter / email and telephone call proof!!!

 

@ HappyHippy:

 

God knows where you shop, but I barely spend that a month on food for myself!

 

Well im intolerant to food so need special diet but I don’t eat crap I shop at local shops and supermarkets not m&s but still spend more than this a month – don’t you use cleaning products etc.. plus us ladies need other supplies!

 

@ Wotsits

 

With regard to help with Maths or English etc, unless I am mistaken if you are in receipt of Income based benefit, the college course fees are heavily subsidised, in that you only pay the Admin fee. Along with ADF, there are Job grants (qualifying criteria allowing), possible help with travel. There is also the option of applying for interest free loans, again qualifying criteria allowing.

 

The government have cut funding and when you have only the little bit the JSA pay you how can you pay the rest? Admin fee on some are over £200

 

I AM SO BADLY IN NEED OF A JOB AND LOOKING REALLY HARD some people need to get in the real world – do you not think I ask and ask the job centre for help and advice I even spoke to a supervisor/manager person and there is NO HELP

[fluffystuff 10]

The travel to interview scheme funding has been restricted and is no longer promoted the way it used to be. It is still available at the Job centre I work at (not in Sheffield) but not every one who requests the funds get them. Each case is looked at individually.

[wotsits 10]

@ HappyHippy:

 

Wrong. So long as you have proof that there was an interview, then you would be refunded for the travel costs, or in some certain cases given a travel warrant under the Travel To Interview scheme.

 

You are wrong I took this all the way at the job centre the DO NOT refund for interview I had letter / email and telephone call proof!!!

 

@ HappyHippy:

 

God knows where you shop, but I barely spend that a month on food for myself!

 

Well im intolerant to food so need special diet but I don’t eat crap I shop at local shops and supermarkets not m&s but still spend more than this a month – don’t you use cleaning products etc.. plus us ladies need other supplies!

 

@ Wotsits

 

With regard to help with Maths or English etc, unless I am mistaken if you are in receipt of Income based benefit, the college course fees are heavily subsidised, in that you only pay the Admin fee. Along with ADF, there are Job grants (qualifying criteria allowing), possible help with travel. There is also the option of applying for interest free loans, again qualifying criteria allowing.

 

The government have cut funding and when you have only the little bit the JSA pay you how can you pay the rest? Admin fee on some are over £200

 

I AM SO BADLY IN NEED OF A JOB AND LOOKING REALLY HARD some people need to get in the real world – do you not think I ask and ask the job centre for help and advice I even spoke to a supervisor/manager person and there is NO HELP

 

Assistance with basic maths, English or CV skills, I doubt will have an admin fee of £200. The goverment have not cut the levels of interest free loans as of yet, I made that reference in terms of the gentleman who stated he could not afford clothes. I thought maybe it would ease the situation if he could pay it back a smaller amount weekly. As for getting in the real world, you have no idea how much in the real world I am. Maybe thats your problem attack attack attack. All I was trying to do was offer some advice.

[Lady Star 10]

IMHO

 

I find these threads amusing, I lost my job in June after working for 12 years solid, went to get jsa and get treated like scum..

 

My outgoings still are over the JSA and I don’t have enough for food half the time and have had to walk to plenty of places, the job centre do not give money back for interview bus fare which on one day cost me £4.30 bus and £cant recall the tram ticket day rider but which when I did not get the job pickled me as it was money I don’t have!

 

leccy is £35 monthly

net / phone / tv / mobile is £50 (in contract cant break)

rent contribution £80 a month and that’s with benefit

TV licence £12.12 a month - compulsary

bus fare to sign on £2.60 every two weeks £5.30

debt £1 token payments £5 each month (you don’t know your going to lose job when you take on credit with places – so don’t judge)

which is £187.42ish every month and i get £256 - out of this i need a new winter coat and some shoes.. i also don’t have a suit that fits anymore.. so this help would be greatly received from me and seen as i have paid NI since 16 – even if its only from a cheap shop – nobody will take anyone serious in an interview in jeans or old scruffy clothes, trainers or the like..

 

this leaves me with £68 ish for food over four weeks.. this is less than an average person spends a week on food.. and also if i get interviews that’s less to spend..

 

iv not always been unemployed but don’t tell people I am as they treat you different and talk to you like your slow

 

some people ought to live in the real world .. i sit in the job centre to sign on and look for work - i like to look smart but none of my clothes are designer – some people don’t want to work fine – they don’t get help but the ones who do like me should get some help after all I have paid my tax for long enough!.. and yes if I did not get help like a previous post about a bus pass if the job was meadowhall way or further I would not walk all that way then be expected to a) interview b) start an 8+ hour shift..

 

“we work to live we do not live to work”

 

edit: Matalan and Primark - how can they supply clothes as they dont go up to big enough sizes for EVERYBODY! so thats discrimination!

 

edit:

 

From direct.gov.uk:

 

When you claim Jobseeker's Allowance, you'll need to attend an interview at the Jobcentre. This is called a 'new jobseeker interview'.

A Jobcentre Plus adviser will talk to you about the extra help that may be available to you, such as:

 

access to specialist help for things like writing a CV, preparation for interviews, confidence building and work skills - send you to a4e for six weeks!

help to look for work if you haven’t had experience of looking for a job for some time - not available as they are understaffed

help if you're looking for professional or executive jobs - ?

help with reading, maths or with your English - the government have cut funds the gov site should be updated

information about improving your skills to suit the type of jobs available locally - as above..

help with one-off expenses that might help you get back to work quickly, such as the cost of buying formal clothes for an interview - i will ask when i next visit.. ?

 

You need to get yourself on a programme such as Remploy or A4e run... They will give you a bus pass and assist you in looking for work... The Maths and English courses are also still funded and are being run by them (until March anyways) so if you need this sort of assistance (or feel you do, as some people don't really need it as such, just lack confidence) these are the places to be referred to... It's called Future New Deal, but if you can't be referred by the job centre, you can self refer to the ESF projects run by the same companies... They both also outsource some of the work out to companies like Wise and CTS, so you are bound to find a place on one of these somewhere - even if you only use them to get additional interviews, have someone to talk to who doesn't treat you as though you are slow or just pay your bus fares!

[billybilo 10]

Money for clothes - advisor discretionary fund - has now been scrapped.

 

(The shops you could use were Topman/Dotty Perkins etc. But for job specific needs you can go anywhere as long as you provide receipts. This was not just for clothes either. Whatever you needed top start a job. And the limit was actually £300 in a year.)

 

As has travel to interview sceme.

 

If these schemes are still going in places it is because their current kitty has not yet been exhausted.

 

The one thing that remains is "back to work bonus" for 26wks+ claimants. £100 standard, £250 for single parents etc. It only applies if everyone that affects the claim will then be off benefits. In this situation you also get Housing Benefit and council tax run on of 28 days.

 

You can still claim bus fares into the job centre when you have to go in and it's not your signing day.