Today I have seen a lady was crying outside London St Marylebone Job Centre Plus and she was saying her ....?

Question

She was saying her benefit claim has not been succesful and she has to apply again. She has not got any money to for day to day living ... plus she is carrying a six month baby ... she could not get a crisis loan from the JCP. I went inside the office ... Many of the Job Centre Plus workers sitting in front of the computer for nothing ... some of them reading Novels and others may be on the internet and 4 floor managers and two security guards were having laughs about another unemplyed person who was trying to get some information.

Should the goverment take a look at the Job Centre Plus services?

...oh ... sorry ... she is pregnant for six month .. baby is not on the earth yet ...

Dear andrea b (one of the answers below)

I could not send you an email as you opted in your profile. if you come back to this page please let me know your contact detail. In the mean time do something decent for your living at the Job Centre Plus.

Dear loobeloo999 (one of the answers below)

I could not send you an email as you have choosedn .... not to receive any communication from others. I would like to say ... be decent when you want to get more information from me.

Vig

Answer 1

Perhaps if she'd had a job for a few years before she got pregnant she could have saved herself some money and not had to sponge off the state.

Answer 2

It's funny how most people seem to be bitching and backstabbing the social security system. All I can tell you is that unless you've lived outside of the UK, you really can't appreciate just how good it really is. Nobody can talk about how things are anywhere else unless they've personally experieneced a direct comparison. Compared to many EU systems, eg: Germany, where you can wait for up to three months for a straightforward claim to be dealt with, and do not get immediate help with housing etc. Britain and everyone living there, should just be glad that we do have a safety net. As for the staff in J C Plus offices, they do a good job and put up with a lot of B.S. from members of the public and can just as easily end up without a job and on the dole as anyone else. At least they, like so many of us, work damned hard to make sure there's taxes paid to help support non working people in the UK. And just for the record, I and likely a lot of people, have been given the grim news that when I retire in about 25 years, my state pension will be worthless! I wonder where my contributions went?!

Answer 3

This is typical.

I was refused incapacity benefit this year even though I have worked solidly for the last 10 years. their "excuse" was that as I had gone part time a cfew years ago for a while (due to my divorce) I was not "paying enough contributions".

I am also pregnant and my partner is on a low wage. He does not earn enough to support us both but was told that as he worked over 16 hours a week I couldn't get Income support. We were also refused Council Tax Benefit.

Because we cannot get these benefits we cannot get a Sure Start Maternity Grant to buy things for our baby or a crisis loan to put a deposit on a rented property.

When he said we didn't have enough money to make our mortgage payments and were likely to be repossessed they said to speak to the Council. the Council said that if we were evicted for repossession wh'd be "intentionally homeless" and they would not accommodate us - they'd give us 6 weeks ina B&B (because I was pregnant) and then throw us out on the street.

On the other hand, a teen mum who has never tried to own her own home or do anything to be independent would get a council house in the blink of an eye. Hook Hamza's family live in a £600,000 council house and claim nearly £2,000 a month in benefits.

It makes you wonder why we still bother in this country.

Answer 4

I think that the Job Centre shouldo come under a lot more scrutiny. I also think that there needs to be a shake up of the benefits system, that people that fraudulently make claims should be forced to work for free until they pay off their debts and that unemployed people need to be given a chance to get back into work without getting caught in the benefit trap.

Answer 5

Its a major paradox in life that it is easier to find a job when you are already employed. You have to give weeks or even months notice while the unemployed can start immediately.

My heart goes out to the woman you met and yes I think government services should be looked at. It is a statement of fact that a single mother is financially better off on benefits than working full time hours at minimum wage. Working families have been screwed over by the disaterous tax credits system where the government mistakenly over-paid people. They then had the audacity to claim the money back leaving a lot of people thousands in debt.

Job centres are over-run by people with nothing to do. There is a skills shortage in the UK because the education system is too busy focusing on political correctness, tests and "multi-culturalism" that they are failing the kids they are trying to teach. Too many managers, too many civil servants and too many consulatnts doing f*** all for 50 grand per year.

The end result is that the girl outside Marylebone, who is willing to work, could possibly end-up destitute because of a system designed to get as much out of people like you and me and to give as much back to the wealthy.

Answer 6

Could it be that she was of the so-called 'chav' class? My experience of JCs is that if you are well spoken and look 'respectable' you will be treated with respect. If you look 'poor' or live in a particular area, however, you will be treated like the scum of the earth. Who are JCs to label people 'deserving' and 'undeserving' poor? Do people want to go back to the idea of the workhouse, because some of the intemperate and judgemental responses on this page make it seem that way? Poverty is not the fault of the individual. I was poor and worked my way out of poverty. I would not judge someone who was poor - poverty leaves you with no resources, no back up and no choices. Try being more open minded. And besides, how many employers are going to hire a pregnant woman?

Answer 7

I work in a jobcentre & i work bloody hard, I have appointments booked every 30 minutes to try help people back into work, now if they don't turn up for those interviews I can't do anything about that so although I may look like I'm doing nothing but messing around on the internet I'm mostly likely looking for jobs for my next customer or for people who I know want help looking for work.

As for not getting any money, just cos she's pregnant doesn't mean automatic benefit in fact she can't legally claim Income Support until 11 wks before the baby is due so maybe she refused to claim JSA remember just cos she pregnant doesn't mean she can't work, most parents do work right up til the day before having their baby because they've planned to have children & are aware of the financial implications of children & don't turn up at the jobcentre expecting money just because their pregnant
As for floor managers & security having a laugh sorry but have you never laughed at worked because i tell you it gets me through most days
Stop being such a mug she was playing you

Just a note from person who was told jobcentre couldn't help them look for their kind of work, are u aware we can't make companys register jobs with us so if your doing some kind of airy fairy work instead of the bog standard factory work or retail work which is registered with the jobcentre don't expect us to help you, you know wat you wanna do so get out their & find it

Answer 8

It is a sad bloody mess,genuine desperate people needing assistance,cant get it because those (if that is the case)working in the offices
cant be bothered to take it seriously,I bet theyre in their early twenties why I see it all the time,Not saying theyre all like that becasue you do have a lot of serious ones but those jokers are in the WRONG jobs.God she has to go through that whole long process yet again.
Trully SORRY and ANGRY.
I agree with you

Answer 9

Its disgusting but i can`t say i`m surprised .and the people who are saying nasty things like she should get a job or she should have saved, need to get real every one doesn`t live in that cosy world . before i had my accident i had a full time and a part time job to try and keep me and my kids and we were still living hand to mouth .Then when i had this accident last year it took them 9 weeks to give me any money if it wasn`t for family and friends we would have been on the streets and my kids in care but according to them it was my fault for not informing them immediately i was unfit for work (i was in a coma ) the government is quick enough to take your money but they try to get out of giving any back.

Answer 10

government has at the instant made the job centres ineffective places. maximum declare are actually performed over the telephone and the job seek machines are no longer so solid the two. no longer customisable sufficient. the comparable is going for different income places of work. purposes are dealt with with the help of inaccessible human beings in an untransparent way so as which you are able to't make certain what is going on.

Answer 11

There are indeed many examples of cruelty by those in authority, and there are many people in authority who ought not to have authority over a brush, let alone the welfare of needy people.

The job of the people at the job centre is not to see to it that you get entitlements, but rather to fox you out of them, and where you do not know what you are entitled to, they are not going to tell you.

This is Government instruction, the same Government who does not ask for or request that you pay tax, but simply takes it, without having to expalin the need or where and how they are going to spend that money.

Current Government is just an extortion racket, as bad as any mugger, and if we let it get worse, along American lines, they you will see a lot more desperate people in the streets.