A Step In The Right Direction

All benefit sanctions on the government's work-experience scheme are to be dropped by the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) following meetings between ministers and employers.

The news was conveyed by Anne Marie Carrie, chief executive of Barnardo's and one of the employers present at the 90-minute meeting between the employment minister, Chris Grayling, and more than 50 firms involved in the scheme.

They had met to seek reassurances that the government was not seeking to force young unemployed people into work-experience schemes.

The government says the scheme is voluntary and gives unemployed people eight weeks' work experience. But participants can lose two weeks' jobseeker's allowance if they leave for no reason after more than a week on the scheme.

There have also been suggestions that some jobcentre staff do not make it clear that participation in the scheme is voluntary.

The removal of the sanction after one week was a key demand of employers, some of whom said they would withdraw from the scheme unless reforms were made.

Full article HERE


I suppose it's time for a mild celebration here, since we can now safely go back to business and not fret about going hungry if we get placed into a Work Experience scheme that actually offers nothing to us.

I've ranted and raved enough about how terrible this scheme was to literally fill up a couple of blog posts, so I think I'll just let the article and the quote above fill you up with the joy of a progressive step towards realistic welfare reformation.



In other good news, one of the companies that I currently volunteer for is advertising a position as Community Manager which I have applied for.

This position is basically what I have been gaining experience in with both companies, so while my chances of getting the job might be slim (I'm under the assumption that the job is being advertised in many places, and is likely to have several hundred applicants, if not several thousand), I hope that I can at the very least get an interview with them and show them my worth as an employee.

Fingers crossed that I get at least an interview, or hopefully even the job.

But don't worry, this diary/blog will continue even if I do gain employment, as I feel the issue is still an important one to cover in this particular economic period.

In The Firing Line

With the welfare reform bill still pinging and ponging between the houses of parliament – there's another vote expected on Wednesday – the final verdict is not quite in, but the government has already clawed back most of the ground. Specific amendments – which would, for example, have safeguarded the benefit rates of disabled children and their entitlements when they reach adulthood – have given way to vague ministerial commitments to undertake some form of review. The great battle to double the proposed time limit on the main incapacity benefit from one to two years has ended in an amendment that gives Whitehall the power to postpone the cut-off at some later date – in the event that it has a rethink. No wonder ministers were happy to accept that one.

On some other questions campaigners are left with more crumbs of comfort. Although the Lords' demand that cancer patients be exempted from the time limit has been overturned, there is at least the promise that days spent enduring chemotherapy will not count against the clock, and a pledge to rethink ways that certain criteria are applied in cancer cases, which may smooth the roughest edges. The bishop-led charge to protect child benefit from George Osborne's £26,000 benefit cut was pushed back in the Commons, but the government has offered families thrown out of work a nine-month grace period, before the cap bites. That extends some protection in redundancy cases, but none to those (more numerous) parents who have long been without work, either because no jobs are available or because childcare or health represents an insurmountable barrier.

Full article HERE

It seems that, despite protestations from media outlets like The Guardian and people like myself, very little is going to change with regards to recent plans for benefit or welfare reform.

I'm not sure if this is down to a lack of reporting of the real issues by the media, or if it's down to a push from both the media and the government to make people think the worse about unemployed people during this period and shift the blame over to them.

Either way, I found an interesting letter from Professor Alan Walker that discusses this issue in a brief, yet succinct, way:

Your leader on the work experience furore was excellent as far as it went (25 February), but why not expose how excessively punitive the British system is in comparative terms? Out of 27 EU countries, only Estonia has a higher level of poverty among unemployed people than this country. This is because the benefits paid here are among the lowest in Europe. Over the last 40 years unemployment benefit has been cut by 50% as a proportion of average earnings, to just 10%. (Over the same period the total remuneration of FTSE chief executives rose by more than 1,000%.)

Rather than taking for granted public attitudes towards welfare, they should be seen as fluid and often based on little knowledge. If politicians started to make the case for decent welfare, good quality jobs and fair wages, and if pollsters asked if people really want their country to be vying for the bottom place in Europe, we might see apparently entrenched public attitudes begin to change. In the absence of such challenges the base elements in the tabloid press will always triumph. As in the 1930s and 1980s, when unemployment rises, it is always the unemployed that are in their firing line.

Letter found HERE

The emphasis at the end was added by me.

I can't help but agree with him on this issue. There has been a distinct absence of challenges within the media, and those that do challenge the consensus are often drowned out. It has only been at the last minute that an outcry to this reform has been heard at all, and as the main article states the government are already picking themselves back up and clawing back their position.

The unemployed are once again in the firing line, left to defend themselves from attacks by the government, attack by the tabloid press, and attacks from the general public.

It is not the unemployed that have screwed up the country, it is not the unemployed that have messed up the welfare system, yet we are taking the blame.

Work Experience & Volunteering

While fury engulfs the varied toil-while-you-claim benefit schemes, it is worth remembering that real work experience can be valuable. Sociologists say acquaintances matter more than any qualifications in getting a job – it really is who you know, not what you know – and contacts with employers will not be forged at home on the dole. For slump-era youngsters who have never had the chance of a job, exposure to almost any culture of work can only be a Good Thing: yes, including in high-street stores. Heaven knows enough journalists found their way to their desks through an internship.

Volunteering while claiming the dole used to be barred, and it was right to lift this ban – it closed off a route into employment. But the all-important question is what constitutes decent work experience. In essence it has to do what it says on the tin – that is, provide real experience from which one can actually learn, as opposed to the dismal dead end of unremunerated labour. Important in the distinction between the two is time: a day or two's taste of even menial work might teach the uninitiated something about employed life, although this "education" would clearly not take long to complete. With less skilled and more routine work, there is less training to do and any unpaid spell should be measured in days, not months. A good scheme would take account of older workers' experience and young people's ambitions. In one reported case, however, a mundane placement came at the expense of a more interesting internship which fitted better with the individual's dreams. Above all, fair work experience must be undertaken freely. Any teacher will tell you that you can't impart much knowledge to someone desperate to get out of the classroom, and non-paying employers will run into the same problem.

Full article HERE

I've spoken before about the volunteer work I do for two different companies, and I've spoken at length about the various issues that surround voluntary work, part time work, and benefit claims so I don't think it should come as any surprise to find me reposting this particular issue and article from The Guardian.

The volunteer work I do is largely from home, checking the websites and communities for these 2 companies and uploading news and various other small tasks. It's generally only about an hour per day, so nothing taxing. I am occasionally asked by one of them to pop into their offices for a discussion about what needs to be done, future plans, etc.

There is a small (very very small) chance that I may get employed by one of them one day, but for now it's decent enough experience to place on my CV that is relevant to my chosen career path, and the people I volunteer for may be useful as references for any future job applications.

As it stands, if I were to be placed into the work experience program that the government are currently fretting over, I'd be unable to do the voluntary work that I currently do and would likely be placed in the local Poundland, or Tesco. Experience in stores isn't a bad thing, especially for those that are under-qualified and under-experienced in basic retail jobs or even cleaning positions, but when I already have years of experience in retail and other labour type jobs I find it quite insulting to be forced into these sorts of positions simply under the pretense of giving me "experience" for the future.

I worry almost daily about getting a letter through the post, or a phonecall, telling me that I've been moved into this new scheme and will be expected to turn up at one area for a certain date and time. If it comes to that, I'll do the placement for fear of losing everything and going hungry, but I'd prefer to remain doing the volunteer work I'm already taking part in as this gives me relevant experience.

"The Jobcentre hinders my search for work"

I'm 24, a bit of a geek, spend a bit too much time online, and in front of the Xbox. But mostly I look for work, like an ever-increasing proportion of everyone I knew from school, college and university.

Like most graduates, I'm in vast amounts of debt. I owe £18,000 (and rising) to the Student Loans Company, £3,000 to Halifax and £750 to HSBC. Despite this, I don't regret my degree course for a second (I have a BSc in genetics from the University of Wales, Aberystwyth). No, my demons reside at the jobcentre. Forced to move back in with my retired father (whose state pension is barely enough for him, let alone both of us) I rely on jobseeker's allowance to get by, to stay out of poverty.

The Jobcentre has done nothing but hinder me in my search. When I was asked what qualifications I had, and I told them about my degree, Btecs, A-levels, AS-levels and GCSEs, they responded with "Are you sure? Have you got certificates to prove that?" To be patronised and looked down on didn't faze me, but what did was the suggestion by a personal adviser that I take my degree off my CV, saying it might be scaring employers. I steadfastly refused, and later asked another staff member who said there was no way any adviser would suggest a customer remove a qualification.

Full article HERE

My, doesn't this sound familiar?

I have to be perfectly honest here, I gave up on going to the physical JobCentre after my first stint of being unemployed (my gap year before University), I found it far easier and far quicker to find work on my own, looking on their website or walking around looking for adverts in shop windows.

The issue of being an unemployed graduate is a real problem for me, like I've said many times before I'm either over-qualified or under-qualified for a position.

The kicker is, if I take my degree off of my CV, then there's a 3 year gap in my employment history where people (potential employers) must wonder where the heck I've been, and what the heck I've been doing. It just doesn't help at all.

The most annoying thing is that potential employers assume that if they offer me a job, I'll get bored and leave after a while because I've got a degree.

I. Need. Work.

I. Need. Money.

If I got offered a job that was far under my qualifications, and it was all I could take at the moment, then I will work it, and I will put up with it, because I need the money to survive.

Is there a chance I'll leave? Yes, but there's also just as much chance as the other people leaving, whether they're over-qualified or not. It's pretty much unfair treatment simply because I spent my time getting a degree instead of working up the corporate structure.

So, yeah, the JobeCentre does not help much (it is another of those things that badly needs to be reworked and reformed, especially the staff), and the view that potential employers take is ridiculous.

I am not lazy or workshy. I send at least 20 job applications every week. No replies. No recognition of your existence. And of course, no jobs.

At university, I was part of a project researching how to make heat-resistant potatoes that could grow anywhere a cactus could grow, even in the desert. We were going to solve world hunger by feeding Africa chips. Now they say I'm only good enough to stack shelves. For no wage. It's a very bitter pill to swallow. I suspect, for my generation, there is no future. We were supposed to be the next set of great thinkers. What do you think we think about now? How to stay out of poverty. How to avoid being made a slave.

Have a good day.

Unemployment Statistics - I am now a number, not a free man

The UK unemployment rate has remained at 8.4%, the highest level since 1995 according to the latest figures published today.

There were 2.67m unemployed people, up 48,000 on the quarter, the statistics from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) show.

The increase in unemployment however, has been the slowest since last June according to analysts. Heather Stewart writes today:

Analysts pointed out that the increase in unemployment was the slowest since last June, when the jobs market was deteriorating sharply, after improving through much of 2010.

Alan Clarke, of Scotiabank, said: "If there was any doubt that the UK economy had turned the corner and that the worst news was in the past, then today's labour report should lay those concerns to rest."

Youth unemployment has continued to rise - the unemployment rate for 16 to 24 year olds in the three months to December 2011 was 22.2%. Described last month as a 'a record high' the number of unemployed 16 to 24 year olds has remained at 1.04m although there has been an increase of 22,000 from the three months to September 2011.

Full article HERE

The South West, the region of the UK I currently reside, starts at number 487 of the list that The Guardian kindly posted up for all to read.

According to statistics, I am currently 1 in 96,083 people that are unemployed in my region which only constitutes 2.9% of the total unemployed within the UK. Once again, how very depressing.

I noticed an odd trend while browsing through the statistics in that the percentage of unemployed men seems to be higher than unemployed women (at least around the South West, admittedly the main focus of my browsing). That doesn't mean anything to me, but it might to somebody else.

I remember reading reports and articles that men were now less likely to go into education or other forms of care, and I wonder if maybe there are more educational or daycare centres in the South West than there are in the rest of the UK?

I doubt that, but I'll stick to that until someone comes up with a better explanation (more men in the South West to tend to the farms seems overly ignorant of the large number of female farmers, which is why I didn't go with that one).

I find there is very little I can comment on at the moment other than how terribly depressing it is to read about just how many people in my local area are unemployed. It gives me an idea of just how many applicants there must be to the positions that I apply for, and perhaps gives me a better understanding of just why it is that I rarely get any interviews for these positions.

There's nothing like statistics to get your hopes up, right?

'People don't have an idea what caring for a disabled person entails'

Her experience of the brutal reality of everyday abuse came as her two daughters grew up. Lizzy, now 17, and an actor, has Asperger's; Emily, 14, has autism with learning disability and epilepsy. Strangers would come up to them in the street and vent their fury at Clark's "inconvenient" offspring, or her "lack" of parenting skills. People behind them in the supermarket queue would say: "That child needs a good slap," she recalls. Others would simply stare, point, or jeer.

"Hate crime always begins with hate speech," says Clark. The systematic bullying, ignorance and institutional neglect that, for example, led Fiona Pilkington to kill herself and her disabled daughter, began because that behaviour was "normalised", she believes, by the casual acceptance of disablist abuse.

Full article HERE

This blog appears to be following a certain trend at the moment, but let's face it it's an important issue.

I brought up before how Lindsey often suffers abuse both online and in the street for the way she is, the way she acts sometimes, and for numerous other small things.

As both her husband and carer, I experience similar problems and I also have to deal with the fallout afterwards. People truly don't understand the amount of work that goes into caring for an individual that has a disability, whether or not that disability is physical or mental.

A lot of the abuse, as I've stated before, tends to focus around Lindsey's invisible disability or the fact that people deem it as an "excuse" for Lindsey not to work. This repeated abuse aimed at both her and myself leads to large breakdowns in private, and has even lead to Lindsey's self-harming when it has gotten really bad.

Nobody else witnesses this. She takes the abuse, puts on a brave face, and doesn't show much emotional response until we get home. The same goes for myself, I ignore it in public, but it destroys my will to live and any sort of love for humanity I have.

I just thought this was worth reposting here, given it sits well with what I've recently discussed.

Work for free, or go hungry

Cait Reilly, 22, is completing three weeks at Poundland, working five hours a day. Reilly, who graduated last year with a BSc in geology from Birmingham University, found herself with five other JSA claimants last week stacking and cleaning shelves at Poundland in south Birmingham.

She says there are about 15 other staff at the store but, unlike them, she will receive no remuneration for her work. "It seems we're being used as some free labour, especially in the runup to Christmas."

Reilly says she told her local jobcentre in King's Heath, Birmingham, that she did not need the experience in the store as she had already done plenty of retail work.

Despite DWP rules, Reilly says she was told by the jobcentre that she would lose her benefits if she did not take the Poundland placement. The DWP says jobseekers should be told about the cooling-off period but was unable to comment on individual cases without being given personal details."I was told [the work experience placement] was mandatory after I'd attended the [retail] open day," she said.

She said she felt she had to do it because "without my JSA, I would literally have nothing".

Full article HERE

This story is somewhat old now, but I feel it is still worth talking about.

It links quite nicely with the scheme that the DWP are hoping to bring in for disabled people, asking them to work unlimited amounts of time for no pay.

As you can see, the DWP aren't specifically targeting disabled people with their schemes, it just seems a natural byproduct of their plans to target those that need the help the most with pointless plans.

In this case, we've got skilled workers, people that are already gaining voluntary experience in the industry that they want to work in, being forced to work in simple retail positions. This is problematic for several reasons; for starters we've got big businesses getting free labour, cutting down on the number of positions or hours available to those that are actually seeking work and forcing those that are on JSA to do the positions that they could take for free.

Finally this also means that those people that set up volunteer work within the industry they want to work in are being forced to cancel their time to work under retail systems that have nothing to do with their future career plans.

Ultimately this doesn't come across as badly as the focus on disabled claimants does, but it really highlights an issue that both the government and the DWP really have when it comes to reforming our welfare system. No matter how many schemes and plans they come up with, they consistently target the wrong people, punishing those that are working to get better or are seeking work, and rewarding or ignoring those that cheat the system.

Workfare, the documents

In document 2 the civil servant who gave the presentation answers some of the questions raised. On pg 4, in reference to the question of time limits to the work experience placements, I went back to the DWP to clarify this further. They said that there were no time limits (unlike in other similar schemes). Over the phone with a DWP spokesperson our conversation went something like this:

"So someone could be doing work experience for for ten years?"

"Don't be ridiculous, it would never last that long."

"So then why don't you put a ten year limit on it?"

[Pause]..."We don't have any plans to put a limit on it."

Full article HERE

Over the weekend, after The Guardian posted up their coverage of the DWP's plans to make people with disabilities work an unlimited amount of time, people were stating their disbelief that the government, or the DWP, could ever do such a thing.

In response to this, The Guardian have posted up the main documents used in the DWP's meeting about the issue, and also included the fascinating phone interview with a representative of the DWP regarding the unlimited nature of these placements.

While the documents themselves point out that only those deemed able to go back to work will be "compelled" to take these placements, it is worth noting that the people doing the assessing often have little understanding of the various situations that disabled people are in.

My wife, for instance, was at one time deemed perfectly fine to go back to work because she was not visibly sweating or rocking back & forth during her assessment, thus proving to the assessor that she mustn't be suffering too badly from anxiety. The assessor was not trained in Autistic Spectrum Disorders, and had no understanding of Asperger's Syndrome, meaning that she missed the fact that Lindsey was completely unable to look the assessor in the eye, could barely speak to her, and was having to control her anxiety because she didn't want to appear "weird" infront of her by stimming (rocking back & forth, shaking her hands, wringing her hands, tapping her feet, etc).

Now, once again, please do not think that I am saying that Lindsey will never be able to go back to work or that people should not go through these assessments; all I ask for is that those that do the assessments be trained in understanding the disability they will be assessing. In this case, it would be as simple as asking Lindsey's therapists, psychologist, or CPN, whether they felt that she was fit enough to return to work or even take up a placement.

Reform for the welfare system is a necessity, because we know that people are indeed taking advantage of it, but those that are pushing for reform are taking it in entirely the wrong direction. I'd have thought it was obvious that instead of trying to pin everybody under one benefit claim as a liar, they could simply reform the assessment techniques they use and quickly solve the problem of "fakers" and "cheaters".

Dismantling the Welfare State - Brick by Brick

Some long-term sick and disabled people face being forced to work unpaid for an unlimited amount of time or have their benefits cut under plans being drawn up by the Department for Work and Pensions.

Mental health professionals and charities have said they fear those deemed fit to undertake limited amounts of work under a controversial assessment process could suffer further harm to their health if the plans go ahead.

The new policy, outlined by DWP officials in meetings with disabilities groups, is due to be announced after legal changes contained in clause 54 of the welfare reform bill have made their way through parliament.

The policy could mean that those on employment and support allowance who have been placed in the work-related activity group (Wrag) could be compelled to undertake work experience for charities, public bodies and high-street retailers. The Wrag group includes those who have been diagnosed with terminal cancer but have more than six months to live; accident and stroke victims; and some of those with mental health issues.

In official notes from a meeting on 1 December last year, DWP advisers revealed they were not intending to put a time limit on the work experience placements.

When asked at the meeting if there was a maximum duration to the placements, the reply was: "There are no plans to introduce a maximum time limit."

Full article HERE

For the past 4 entries I've focused quite heavily on myself and my problems finding a job, with only a small focus on my wife, her disability, and her problems getting back into work.

Everything I've said previously can be applied to the both of us in equal measure, but Lindsey faces far more problems than I could ever experience when it comes to finding employment in these times.

Lindsey suffers from Asperger's Syndrome, something that is often deemed to be among the "invisible illness" category. It's a mental health issue, and it is something that will never go away with treatment, never be cured, and never be made easier through medication.

Asperger's Syndrome is a form of Autism, it is often classified as "high functioning" autism, as those that have it often have the bonus of high intelligence and increased learning capacity, but suffer from the downside of having poor social skills, and are often prone to panic & anxiety problems. Lindsey also suffers from an increased sensitivity to pretty much everything (sight, sound, touch, taste, smell, etc), and is currently unable to venture outside of our flat without being accompanied by myself or a friend.

As I'm sure you can understand, this makes holding down specific jobs a nightmare, and when it comes to the jobs she can do (and has done), it requires the employer to be fully aware of her condition, and the ways in which it can be combated (such as regular breaks to calm herself down, being put into less stressful situations, and not having to deal with large crowds of people for hours on end).

Since being diagnosed with Asperger's only a few years back, Lindsey has been seeking regular help from Psychiatrists and other trained medical consultants to help her manage her anxiety and depression (something that is often triggered by her other problems, due to feeling out of place in this overly social world). She has started an Open University course in Psychology, and is working towards being OK to get back to work.

The problem?

The above Guardian article helpfully sums up the major issue faced by those with disabilities at the moment, especially those with an "invisible" disability, as the current government and the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) are planning on once again pulling the rug out from under the feet of the people that need the most help from the state.

Recovering from any illness, or learning to live with one, is a lengthy process that can take many years and forcing somebody back to work (especially unpaid and unlimited work) before they are physically or mentally capable of doing so can push back this recovery process by years.

The Guardian have been covering these issues for months now, perhaps one of the few newspapers around that I still respect for their willingness to stand up against current media trends to lable all people on benefits as scroungers and thieves:

I recently read an impact assessment compiled by the Department for Work and Pensions on the proposed "reform" of disability living allowance – in other words, getting rid of it. DLA is a benefit designed to help people with the additional costs of living with a severe disability. Applicants must fill in a 50-page form, spelling out the most intimate details of their care and mobility needs. Doctors' details must be provided together with a statement from someone who knows you well, an occupational therapist or social worker, for example. There are different levels of benefit according to the degree of assistance required, and a large proportion of claims are rejected altogether.

DLA is far from perfect. In particular, it struggles to respond to fluctuating conditions and the assessment form is strongly geared towards physical rather than mental health problems. But because DLA is payable regardless of employment status, it is a highly enabling benefit. A great many people are able to work precisely because their DLA pays for the additional help they need in order to do so.

For a government committed to getting people working, abolishing DLA presents a PR challenge with which the impact assessment grapples heroically. Replacing DLA with a personal independence payment, and slicing 20% off the bill, will "provide an opportunity to … communicate that support is available both in and out of work" it states. A "more objective assessment" (designed to reduce the bill by 20%) will create "a more active and enabling benefit" and – get this – the fact that "those on low incomes have higher rates of ill health" does not mean that "a change in income has an effect on health". What the dickens?

Full article HERE

To save money, and fudge the statistics, our current coalition government is planning on dismantle the welfare state brick by brick, starting specifically with those that need it the most and ignoring the greater issues at hand.

As I have explained before, neither myself nor my wife want to live on benefits for the rest of our lives. Once one of us has a full-time job, we'll be off them, and we'll be happy. But taking away the support that this system offers, and keeping support for the people that don't need it, is just plain ridiculous.

The focus of our current government, and the constant vitriol coming from many media outlets at the moment, against those with disabilities is sickening to the very core, and has created a backlash within society where people seem to take it upon themselves to judge those with a disability as fakers, cheaters, scroungers, and thieves. Those with an "invisible" illness often get it worse, being told they look perfectly fine and should stop faking, that they're too young to have severe disability and should quit complaining.

At 24, Holly Ferrie has to cope with disruption to her life on a scale few of her age could recognise. A complex and as yet not fully diagnosed arthritis-related condition causes her almost constant pain in her legs and feet. On occasions, her legs are seized by agonising spasms.

Yet Ferrie fears she doesn't seem disabled enough. People who don't know her, she says, find it hard to comprehend the severity of a condition that afflicts someone so young and is not immediately obvious. "They either get very confused or think I'm faking, or say, 'I hope the injury gets better soon', things like that," she said. "I've lost some friends over it. Pain is invisible and hard for people to understand."

Such attitudes, Ferrie contends, have become more common and more vehement since the government began arguing for wholesale reductions in disability-related benefits on the basis that many were falsely claimed or received by people who were exaggerating their symptoms or whose health had improved.

...

Ferrie says she is most likely to be insulted or abused on the street after a media article on supposed welfare abuse by the disabled. On a recent occasion, a group of students refused to share a taxi with her, she recounts. "After the next articles came out I tweeted, 'I wonder how long it's going to be this time before someone says or does something to me?'"

It took five days. On another occasion, she was rushing for a bus about to depart from a bus garage when her way was blocked by a staff member standing in the vehicle's doorway. "I said to her, 'Excuse me, can I get on the bus please?'. She looked down at my stick, looked up at my face and said, 'No. You should have walked faster.'"

Ferrie explained why she could not move more quickly, and met a response dripping with more scepticism: "Oh, really?"

"In the end I had to push past her," Ferrie said. "I burst into tears on the bus. I couldn't believe someone would say that to me."

Full article HERE

Holly Ferrie is not the only person to suffer such criticism on a daily basis. Lindsey is constantly tormented by people on the street, people online, and even occasionally from people that only barely know her. We both have friends that have similar problems, having people shout at them for using a disabled parking space when they are barely able to move without a walking cane, or a partially sighted friend of mine who was questioned as to whether or not she really was blind.

By all means, go ahead and question those that legitimately appear to be cheating the system, myself and my friends have reported several acquaintances that spent most of them
ir time playing ill and getting ridiculous amounts of money for it, but judging people with a legitimate illness? People that work hard and try their hardest to overcome their difficulties and live fullfilling lives?

As I said, this is sickening to the very core, and the government are doing nothing to help the issue by targeting disability benefits.

"I wouldn't wish this life on anyone"

In the town of Royal Wootton Bassett in Wiltshire, 25-year-old Ben Gillet is in his cramped room lighting up a hand-rolled cigarette.

The window is ajar and a crisp cool breeze forces its way through, blowing the curtain into the side table.

He hasn't slept all night - a common recurrence when you're without work, he says. The last time he was employed was in 2008 - and now his days mostly consist of playing video games and consuming vast amounts of tea.

"I've played all my games to death, I watch TV series that I've watched three or four times through," he says.

"My confidence is practically nil. I have no reason to be confident these days - I don't know why I'm failing to get a job, because I get such little feedback that it just amounts to none."

He doesn't have a plethora of experience. Short stints at factories and restaurants make up the bulk of his CV, along with low-grade A levels in sciences and IT.

Full article HERE

Continuing the trend from yesterday's report of unemployment rates rising to 2.67 Million in the UK, the BBC posted this story about 2 guys in the UK, different ages and living under slightly different circumstances, basically suffering from the same issue.

This is pretty much the same boat that I and many others are on at the moment.

I'm 25, a University Graduate, with several different CVs tailored to various industries. If I do get an interview, I am overqualified or under-qualified.

One CV has me down as an experienced cleaner, I've worked in Iceland as a cleaner for a short while, and I worked part-time as a cleaner in a Family Health Centre. So my experience covers the Health & Safety issues of a public space that contains food, and the Health & Safety issues that cover a medical facility (such as the handling of Biological waste, etc).

On top of this I have experience as a Sales Assistant in a small comic shop, dealing with security and the safety concerns of keeping the shop tidy.

I've worked as a steward at Glastonbury Festival (healthy & safety, fire safety, and security), alongside working as a steward at several football matches and various other sporting events.

I've even done labour work on farms and small warehouses, and once had a position as a Saturday Helper at a local library.

When applying for a position with a shop or local business, this is the CV I hand in. It still gets me nowhere in the end, as I rarely hear back from the business, or I am once again under-qualified compared to other candidates.

My other CV is tailored towards the Media Industry, where I've got experience on student radio stations, experience with magazines (I worked for several weeks on SFX magazine), and I help (as previously mentioned) run a couple of web-communities and generally generate content for them.

Once again I am deemed under-qualified for most media positions.

From positions at a shop, or as a cleaner, to positions as a member of the editorial team on a magazine, or working on a web community for a newspaper, I am deemed to have not had enough experience.

The only way I can get this experience is by either working as an intern (which is likely to cause the cessation of my benefits, leaving me broke and unable to survive), or by getting a job within the relevant industry.

This is something that the Government, or the Benefits System, or whoever it is that is in charge of this system, doesn't consider. If I work over a certain number of hours, or volunteer over a certain number of hours, I get left out in the cold...yet if I don't work, or I don't volunteer, I can spend my life living off the system and the meager amount of money that they give my wife & I to survive.

David Cameron and Nick Clegg talk constantly about reforming the benefits system, getting people back to work, getting them off the system and supporting themselves, yet they ignore the reality of the situation. If a reform is going to happen to the system, it really needs to take into account that fact that if anybody makes any move to get themselves back into work, their support system is taken out from under their feet.

People like myself, or people like my wife, or even people like my friends from university, are left alone and broke for the sake of ticking us off of the list of unemployed and getting us out of one set of statistics and into another.

"Hey, these people aren't on benefits anymore, we can now say that statistics show that our system works!"

It doesn't, it doesn't work at all.

The system currently supports you if you want to spend the rest of your life doing nothing, but as soon as you make a move to try and support yourself, you are left out in the cold.

Where is our support?

Unemployment rises to 2.67 Million

UK unemployment rose by 48,000 to 2.67 million in the three months to December, official figures have shown, the smallest rise in almost a year.

Women made up two-thirds of that increase and there was a new record in the number of people working part-time who want full-time jobs.

The unemployment rate edged up to 8.4%, the Office for National Statistics said, the highest for 16 years.

There was also a new record for the number of jobless young people.

The number of 16 to 24-year-olds without a job rose 22,000 to 1.04m, taking the unemployment rate to 22.2%. This figure includes young people in full-time education who are also looking for work.

The number of people claiming Jobseeker's Allowance in January increased by 6,900 to 1.6 million.

Full article HERE

This was great news to wake up to this morning. 2.67 Million unemployed people in the UK. As I said in my opening post, I know I'm not the only one, and now I know just how many other people like me there are.

Thanks to a handy Interactive Map over on the BBC, I can even find out just how bad the economy is in my local area, and probably find out just how many jobless there are to.

Our economy has been falling to pieces for years now, after only a mild boom during the 90s after the previous recession in the 80s. I honestly can't believe nobody saw it coming, with everybody increasing their profits and buying things they really didn't need (seriously, how many houses does one person need? How bedrooms?).

With many businesses at the moment either failing miserably (say goodbye to Cable & Wireless, since my father is just about to be made redundant from them as they're going down the shitter to), or making record profits, it's really no surprise at all that people like my wife and I are jobless.

I wonder what would happen if the companies making huge amounts of profit started to lower their prices and let the money trickle back into society?

I'm not an economist, so I can't really comment...but I can't help but think it'd help at least a small amount.

I hate to jump on the media bandwagon here, but honestly...million pound bonuses being given to the higher ups in banks, or big businesses, and yet people like my parents or relatives, people like my friends and neighbours, are struggling to make ends meet.

It's days like this that something like suicide really feels like a viable option.

The Benefits Trap

Wow, second blog and I'm already discussing a fairly controversial topic!

Lots of people like to discuss this, especially those that have never really had to be on benefits.

As I eluded to yesterday, both myself and my wife are on benefits at the moment. Both of us have gone through, or are going through, various forms of education and we spend most of our waking hours looking for work.

Yesterday I applied for a job at my local One Stop, and I'm applying for a positions with Parsons Bakery. I've sent in applications for various jobs with Future Publishing and other publishers and distributors around my area. I can but hope that one of them can offer me, at the very least, an interview.

Here's the thing though, there's lots of Part-Time positions going at the moment, positions that I could apply for alongside all the Full-Time positions I'm looking at. My wife could do the same.

But it's not safe for us, or worth it.

To be able to survive at a basic standard of living at the moment, myself and my wife need to have a combined income of around £16,000 before tax. If we have any less than that, we won't be able to eat, pay rent, pay bills, pay Council Tax, etc. Something would have to be skipped every month, and none of them can be skipped else we end up homeless.

If we were both able to get Part-Time positions, we could just about survive...but there's no guarantee that we'd both get a job at the same time, meaning if one of us gained a Part-Time position and the other didn't, our benefits would be cancelled and, yep, we'd end up in the shitter.

The Benefits trap.

We get just enough money from the government to cover what we need. We can eat 1 (that's one) full meal a day, with snacks as well (cheap snacks mind, like Tesco own brand crisps).



But other than that, if we want to "treat" ourselves to a film, a game, or a trip out to the cinema, we need to plan several months in advance to set aside the money.

If just one of us gets a Part-Time job, our benefits are canceled and we can't even afford to do these simple things (such as eat regularly). All of our money and time goes on to necessities like bills and rent.

In the media, on an almost daily basis, we hear tales of lazy benefits scroungers...and my wife & I get stuffed under this label, no matter what we do or say.

I'm mostly just writing this to say that, believe it or not, there are people that don't want to be on benefits their whole lives...neither of us can figure why anybody would want to live like this forever.

At the moment, we are both just existing...but we don't want that, we actually want to be living. We want 9-5 jobs, no matter what the job is, but there's nothing on offer at the moment.

I'm willing to work weekends, late nights, and any holiday (even Christmas, because it really is just another day), and I'm willing to work hard...but nobody wants me at the moment. I'm either too qualified, or under-qualified.



I started University pretty much just as the recession was hitting the UK, and could do little about it so decided to stick it through.

At times like this, I am honestly wondering why I bothered in the first place. University Degrees are worth very little anymore, what with everyone and their mother having one (David Beckham Studies FTW), but I hoped that maybe the contacts I made over the course of 3 years and during Work Experience placements could put me up top somewhere.

In a sense, this worked...I've got my volunteer work, after all, but it's not paid work.

I guess, ultimately, I just wanted to point out that not everybody on benefits is a scrounger or a cheat. Some of us, more than likely the majority, are actually trying our hardest to get work.

10 Months after Uni, 3 Months after Graduation

Another day, another blog, another chance to vent what is on my mind to anybody that happens to be reading this.

My name is Andrew, Andy for short, and Zomboy to my friends. Like many others my age, I am a University Graduate with no job, or little chance of finding a job within the industry I spent 3 years studying for.

I finished University around 10 months ago, and officially graduated in November of 2011, after studying Journalism at Southampton Solent University.

I studied hard, and had many sleepless nights getting my work done for deadline. I graduated with a 2:1 (Second Class, First Division) and specialised in Feature Writing, PR & Media Communications, and New Media.

I am jobless. Unemployed. Barely surviving on benefits.

Believe me, I don't want to be jobless right now...I got married to my fiance of 3 years in September of 2011 and we moved in together, I have spent the past 10 months searching for jobs anywhere I could find them.

I have applied for cleaning positions, sales positions, managerial positions, and the obvious positions of editorial roles within newspapers and magazines. I currently volunteer for 2 websites effectively running their online communities and helping generate content and activity, all in the name of gaining experience for my CV.

I have only been able to get 1 interview in this new year, and that was for a poorly paid cleaning position. I didn't get the job.

I am either over qualified, or under-experienced, and I know I am most definitely not alone.

Of my friends from university, I know of only 2 that work in the Journalism industry. One as an intern, the other as a part-time freelance writer. The rest are working in shops, or as drivers, or are simply unemployed and desperately searching.

So this is my blog...my fourth blog now. I'm not going to make any promises to update this regularly, but I'll keep the tab open permanently to remind myself that I have it here, so I can write about my adventures in trying to find a job.

Perhaps somebody will find it amusing, perhaps somebody will find it and offer me a job, or perhaps it'll just go as unnoticed as many blogs on the internet, forever doomed to collect virtual dust. Either way, this is my blog about being unemployed.