Whatever the reforms, it would be nice if Jobcenters were co-located in libraries.
YOU_CANT_GILD_ME on
> The work and pensions secretary is to overhaul benefits system, pushing young people into work or education
Open University courses should be made available to anyone for free.
This isn’t the 1950s any more. Most of the courses offered by Open University do not require anyone to physically attend a uni and can be completed remotely. Even MIT in America offers free courses.
> MIT OpenCourseWare offers free, online, open educational resources from more than 2,500 courses that span the MIT undergraduate and graduate curriculum.
So make it free.
Then if your requirement for job seekers is to be enrolled in education, have them enrol in a course that would increase their chances of employment.
Back in the day the government would outsource courses like basic English and Maths skills to companies like Ingeus, who would charge the government a load of money. But because claimants were taken off the official unemployment figures while they were doing those courses, the government looked good because it saw the unemployment figures drop.
And yet all it did was siphon off tax payer money to private companies to run basic English and maths courses and massage unemployment stats.
Spamgrenade on
They serve no real purpose anymore.
Back in the eighties you would walk into one, pick a card off a board take it to the JC guy who would often get you an interview on the spot. If you didn’t see anything on the boards or looking for a less basic job you could sit down and the JC person would have loads of advice about what’s available locally. None of this signing on BS, that was done elsewhere.
Last time I used on, maybe 8 – 10 years ago, it was a straight up interrogation every 2 weeks, no help getting a job whatsoever, just a pointless check that you had been searching for jobs. Really got the feeling that they were just looking for scammers.
Probably more cost effective to scrap job centres altogether, do the essential bits online/phone and retrain JC staff to go after actual fraudsters like they really want to rather than just harassing people down on their luck.
lookatmeman on
The problem is you can’t magic together thousands of unskilled jobs. Most jobs are now very skilled and people need much deeper training. Putting people on a 2 week maths course isn’t going to cut it.
TheFirstMinister on
Shut them down. All of them. JCs as a hub for hiring and/or job openings have no purpose anymore.
unnaturaldoings on
Recently i’ve had to visit one of these and honestly, they’re run by nice but utterly useless people. To even call them job centres is a joke. They’re expecting you to do all the work (like we’re not already looking everywhere for a job). I even said I could do your job and I was advised to check out civil servant jobs. Not actually a link that would be useful just that throwaway comment. How there can be so many staff all not actually getting people jobs is beyond me. This system isn’t fit for purpose but you’re making people come in every week when they could actually be spending time looking for work. And making appointments without consulting with people makes no sense. If they’re on an interview, then you mark them as deliberately missing their appointments. Make it make sense?
6 Comments
Whatever the reforms, it would be nice if Jobcenters were co-located in libraries.
> The work and pensions secretary is to overhaul benefits system, pushing young people into work or education
Open University courses should be made available to anyone for free.
This isn’t the 1950s any more. Most of the courses offered by Open University do not require anyone to physically attend a uni and can be completed remotely. Even MIT in America offers free courses.
> MIT OpenCourseWare offers free, online, open educational resources from more than 2,500 courses that span the MIT undergraduate and graduate curriculum.
So make it free.
Then if your requirement for job seekers is to be enrolled in education, have them enrol in a course that would increase their chances of employment.
Back in the day the government would outsource courses like basic English and Maths skills to companies like Ingeus, who would charge the government a load of money. But because claimants were taken off the official unemployment figures while they were doing those courses, the government looked good because it saw the unemployment figures drop.
And yet all it did was siphon off tax payer money to private companies to run basic English and maths courses and massage unemployment stats.
They serve no real purpose anymore.
Back in the eighties you would walk into one, pick a card off a board take it to the JC guy who would often get you an interview on the spot. If you didn’t see anything on the boards or looking for a less basic job you could sit down and the JC person would have loads of advice about what’s available locally. None of this signing on BS, that was done elsewhere.
Last time I used on, maybe 8 – 10 years ago, it was a straight up interrogation every 2 weeks, no help getting a job whatsoever, just a pointless check that you had been searching for jobs. Really got the feeling that they were just looking for scammers.
Probably more cost effective to scrap job centres altogether, do the essential bits online/phone and retrain JC staff to go after actual fraudsters like they really want to rather than just harassing people down on their luck.
The problem is you can’t magic together thousands of unskilled jobs. Most jobs are now very skilled and people need much deeper training. Putting people on a 2 week maths course isn’t going to cut it.
Shut them down. All of them. JCs as a hub for hiring and/or job openings have no purpose anymore.
Recently i’ve had to visit one of these and honestly, they’re run by nice but utterly useless people. To even call them job centres is a joke. They’re expecting you to do all the work (like we’re not already looking everywhere for a job). I even said I could do your job and I was advised to check out civil servant jobs. Not actually a link that would be useful just that throwaway comment. How there can be so many staff all not actually getting people jobs is beyond me. This system isn’t fit for purpose but you’re making people come in every week when they could actually be spending time looking for work. And making appointments without consulting with people makes no sense. If they’re on an interview, then you mark them as deliberately missing their appointments. Make it make sense?