Employment

[mk1]

raging lefties.........class warfare

Is this a pitch to win back the UKIP defectors?

[mk1]

The 14 jobs a fortnight became an isuue and I was asked to return one day to speak to a Supervisor as I had not applied for 14 jobs, said there isnt 14 which match my skills, basically told me to send 14 CVs to different Employment Agencies, which I duly did every fortnight,

This is the madness that passes for 'targets'.
You have to apply for a set number of jobs and it is never possible to find that number of jobs that fit your skills. The system takes no heed of that-rules is rules.
You  have to play the game. Apply for any job(even though there is no chance you will get it) and the system is satisfied.

The system also demands a fixed number of sanctioned (stop your money) claimants. Everyone who works in the Job Centre knows the paperwork is fake so it is easy to  find someone to sanction.  These targets are denied but there have been a number of leaked Emails that show it is in operation and is an official policy.
The whole system is corrupt from top to bottom.

[DRiddle]

The more the two main parties reveal their hands, the more I fear for our country and for everyone caught up in it.

We're approaching a situation where we're seeing (essentially) the NHS privatised, large chunks of the benefit system potentially disappearing altogether for certain age brackets and, in time, i'm certain we'll see the end of the state pension in the form we currently know it.

There seems also to be a cross party consensus in that schools are changing dramatically and we're looking at economies of scale changing the entire education system. People paying to go to uni, 19+'s paying to go to college... then paying to go to uni.

Basically nothing is off limits to either party when it comes to trying to dramatically cut the state spending.

It's a statistical fact that WHOEVER was/is in government between 2012-17, you'll see government borrowing which is more than the previous 100 years of government borrowing put together.

All the talk of austerity is actually acting as a smokescreen which hides the FACT (not a belief, a fact) that despite austerity measures, public debt will almost certainly hit £1.4 trillion by the time the next general election comes round.

Which will be more than TWICE the level it stood at in the last election.

Our countries in big BIG trouble. I fear economic turmoil the like of which none of us have ever seen.

Personally, I think within 3-5 years, there'll be far more to worry about in the UK than who is or isn't working for their benefits.

There's big trouble ahead.

[mk1]

Perhaps scrapping Trident and white Elephant aircraft carries could help solve the problem?

[ARC86]

Lets hear it right, if your unfortunate enough to fall on hard times your a scrounger, if your a top rate taxpayer your a saint and can have a 5% tax cut, cut straight to 40 % in 2015 with a tory victory.. i think the attitude that these people will leave the country says more about them as a person, id much rather they werent here.. im all for people making a good living but demonising those out of work and cutting forcing people into slave Labour to pay for their tax cut is taking the p**s.. id love to see any politician of any  party live on £71 a week for 6 months, then see how their attitudes change!

2% of the whole welfare bill is spent on jobseekers.. and 0.7% is claimed fraudulently, instead of going after jobseekers, go after those who are not and never have paid their dues

[Hartlepudlion]

Arc86 I have to disagree with you yet again.

Let's get something clear, state pensions are NOT a benefit to the majority. They are paid for by contributions made by the employer and the employee in the form of NI. It is a contract no different to any occupational pension that many of us also contribute to. I had to work 42.5 yrs (not including the years I worked before reaching the age of 18 as these were not counted although I still paid the NI) before reaching the contribution level to receive a full BASIC state pension and I contributed again for the extras e.g. Graduated pensions and SERPS to receive an enhancement to my basic state pension. I paid for my state pensions just the same as I would have done in a private pension.Note: many of the current work force will only have to work 30 years to reach full basic pension level although you have to work to 67 rather than my 65 to receive it. Who has the better deal. Don't forget most current state pensioners started work at age 14, 15 or 16 - long before anybody who has a degree e.g. As they will not start work until 23yrs at the earliest, some 9 years AFTER many current pensioners. The only people who receive the state pension as a benefit are the ones who didn't contribute enough or not at all, basically the people already on benefits. So ARC 86 when you take into account the benefits the one who will be required to work 30hrs a week it is hardly slave labour. Just think of it as bonus.

So can we agree, most pensioners have PAID for their pension and it is not a benefit but a contractual agreement, no different from any other pension scheme. It fact it is in many ways worse as I cannot take the State to a financial regulator for not fulfilling my original contract (mis- selling?) as I could with a private pension provider.

As I am still paying Income Tax and Council Tax I am still paying for the education and well being of the people of this country and town which is more than can be said for the recipients of true benefits.

[pensionater]

I too was not entitled to any benefit payment the last rime i signed on.Because i had paid enough stamp i told the job centre i couldn't see the point of me going down there every week being told to stand outside as i had turned up too early.I signed a form saying i would not be signing on for the foreseeable future.What i didn't realise was that i couldn't apply for any vacancies on the job centre site as i didn't have a job centre number.Total farce.

[pensionater]

Hartlepudlion,the difference with the pension is if you don't qualify your money is made up.So how is that fair?.

[mk1]

Well someone should tell 'call me Dave' and his cronies because all they ever say is they will reduce the Benefits budget.
Most people (and I assume you are one of them) assume millions is wasted on scroungers when the see the bald statement X Billion paid in benefits.
The truth is the money going to the unemployed is a tiny fraction of the overall bill.
The 'huge' benefits bill is because we have lots of pensioners.

Stop being bamboozled by politicians trying to out-fruitcake UKIP.

[mk1]

I too was not entitled to any benefit payment the last rime i signed on.Because i had paid enough stamp i told the job centre i couldn't see the point of me going down there every week being told to stand outside as i had turned up too early.I signed a form saying i would not be signing on for the foreseeable future.What i didn't realise was that i couldn't apply for any vacancies on the job centre site as i didn't have a job centre number.Total farce.

Ah but you took yourself of one of the unemployment lists. They love that. It allows them to understate the numbers.

[mk1]

I detect a whiff of 'hands off my benefits but take theirs ' creeping in. Divide and conquer. Dave sets one group of people on another and then will attack the winner when the loser is forgotten about.

[DRiddle]

I agree that in terms of actually making a difference to the broader financial situation, whatever they do with regard to work based benefits is 'messing around with chump change', in relation to the big picture.

The stuff they don't tell you in the mainstream media is our economy is already as 'on the cliff' as Greece's. Worse arguably. Our debt to GDP ratio is as precarious as virtually any country on the planet.

Historically, a situation as economically problematic as the one we're in only ends one way.

I'd say there's major social unrest ahead before the next election.

[mk1]

If things get worse then I am willing to shoulder my share of cutbacks. What I will not  do is take the brunt of the pain.

[seaton]

The 14 jobs a fortnight became an isuue and I was asked to return one day to speak to a Supervisor as I had not applied for 14 jobs, said there isnt 14 which match my skills, basically told me to send 14 CVs to different Employment Agencies, which I duly did every fortnight,

This is the madness that passes for 'targets'.
You have to apply for a set number of jobs and it is never possible to find that number of jobs that fit your skills. The system takes no heed of that-rules is rules.
You  have to play the game. Apply for any job(even though there is no chance you will get it) and the system is satisfied.

The system also demands a fixed number of sanctioned (stop your money) claimants. Everyone who works in the Job Centre knows the paperwork is fake so it is easy to  find someone to sanction.  These targets are denied but there have been a number of leaked Emails that show it is in operation and is an official policy.
The whole system is corrupt from top to bottom.

Further to my earlier post, it depended on what advisor I seen when I 'signed on' You are supposed to keep a daily log, I did a word document which in general was ok, I could be in and out in 5 minutes or there for 20 minutes. I am sure some of the Advisors knew how to work the system as they are under loads of pressure to get people of JSA and there is a bonus system. It became a battle of wits for me, I am not a scrounges just wanted to be treated like a human being and get what I was entitled to !
It will be interesting to see what happens when one of the new options for people who have been unemployed for 2 years and have to turn up at the Job Centre every day, think they will need to recruit more staff and how do people who live at the other end of the town get there ! There are people, genuine people who have been out of work for 2 years and can't find work.

[pensionater]

You presume wrong MK1,for a start the winter fuel allowance would be taken straight off the energy bill at source if i had had my way.Why should the resorts in Benidorm benefit from our benefits if you get my meaning.