The Job Centre and their silly ways

[Grandad.Malky]

Walk in and tell them you want to claim assluym,and you will get all sorts.

 

Many a true word spoken in jest.

 

[Skatiechik]

I went today...useless to be honest.

 

I am still writing my postgraduate thesis. However I have recently been transferred from full-time to part-time.

 

So I thought great I haven't had any money since March, hopefully I will be able to claim something in the interim between writing up and getting a job. Which to be fair shouldn't be too long (cross fingers someone give me a job ) but every little helps.

 

Found out I am only allowed to claim for contributions allowance anyway and as I currently have a shortfall of 4 years from doing a PhD anyway I don't think I can face going every two weeks just so they can pay my national insurance. Nevermind I still have a mortagage and bills to pay, apparently it is up to my boyfriend to look after me being as we live together.

 

It is my first experience of it and god it is just so depressing I wish I had never bothered now. I just thought I would be pro-active if I was able to claim for some much needed cash.

 

I am keeping my fingers crossed on a job I went for last week, it is ideal.

 

I can't imagine why people never want to get a job and want to be claiming all their life I don't understand it.

[rachel1000]

Sorry medusa,but a few people on hear seem to live in a dream world with the things they say.Cyclone you seam to be a little odd with that comment:loopy:

[rachel1000]

I hope everything goes well for you skatiechick.I have heard people mention this before about not been able to claim,and how useless the jobcentres seem to be.One question for (some )people on hear,why are these people who don,t want to work given help and encouraged to sponge and decent ones like skatiechick treated like dirt?

[Cyclone]

Rachel - I was just joining in since you seemed to want to throw insults around.

 

You are incorrect about asylum seekers, try finding one of the threads on them if you want to discuss why you're wrong.

[VinceNeil]

Yes the job centre is useless. I've been signing on a few months and they seem to make it harder to get a job then if you just did it on your own.

[rubydazzler]

Yes the job centre is useless. I've been signing on a few months and they seem to make it harder to get a job then if you just did it on your own.

 

I suppose it's in their interests to do so. After all, if everyone was in work, they'd be the unemployed

[m^rk]

The job centre are ******* useless!! to put it nicely ive never known it be so bad the web site is useless you type for jobs in sheffield yet london birmingham glasgow etc comes up it ridiculous.

[Skatiechik]

This was a while ago now. Before Xmas I went to the job centre and told them I was starting work in the new year. Fine she said took the book off me after I had filled in the relevant sections and told me I wouldn't need to sign on again but I would get JSA up until the day before I started work.

 

After xmas I had several letters.

 

One telling me I had missed signing on and they had arranged an interview for me to help me back to work

 

One telling me I hadn't signed on and they wouldn't be giving me JSA anymore from the middle of December.

 

One telling me I would be receiving a P45

 

Another letter with the P45 in.

 

Another letter telling me I had missed my interview for helping me back to work.

 

And we wonder what all our taxes are spent on, the amount of paper waste

 

I was a bit peeved they didn't pay JSA up until I started work when I had done nothing wrong and had followed the correct proceedures. However being as they were only paying my national insurance I couldn't be arsed to chase it up.

[LOWEnBEHOLD]

Since I have been out of work, we ( the wife & I ) have never claimed any benefit.

My wife's contract has just ended, menaing that we had to make a claim.

 

This is where we found out that she could have made a tax credit claim for myself during the time i wasn't working. We have asked for a back dated claim to be told that we can't as she isn't presently in a job.

 

I have also just got custody of my son and this made things worse on the claim front.

 

Firstly we were getting told that we had to make a joint claim, two hours later ( once we had decrypted the new claim forms ) we were told that my wife had to claim and sign for both of us as i was awaiting to claim child benefit, to receive a call the next day to say that they had made a mistake and i indeed had to sign and make an appointment to do so which would have been a different day than my wives.

 

2 days after this we received another call saying that I didn't have to sign as child benefit had been sorted out.

 

This is the first time that we have claimed any benefit as both of us have worked from leaving school and all we asked for was a bit of help from paying taxes for the last 20 years and the whole ordeal as put 20 years on us.

 

I enquired about courses to widen my job horizons to be told that i wouldn't qualify for any (a) because you have to be claiming for 6 months solid (b) because i don't sign on as a parent as to be available for the care of the child.

 

This is absolutely ridiculous!!!! My son is thirteen years old, not a baby that requires 24/7 care but it all falls under the same category.

 

As for trying to get on the phones in the job centre, everytime we have been there, it's all the smack rats that's on the phones, placing their orders.