Robbo Posted February 21, 2014 Report Share Posted February 21, 2014 A neighbour of mine was made redundant from his job about 2 years ago, because he was over 50 the company paid him a small pension, not enough to live on but because he then went out and got another job he was comfortably well off. 6 months ago he lost that job so went to the job centre to sign on. Because his pension was £20 more per month than job seekers allowance he was told that he would receive no benefits. Fair enough I suppose, but he was also told that although he was out of work and actively looking for work he would not be put on the unemployment register because he didn't qualify for job seekers pay. I wonder how many more are not include in the statistics for similar reasons. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
observer Posted February 21, 2014 Report Share Posted February 21, 2014 Damn lies and statistics Robbo. Remember when Maggie embarked on her de-industrial programme, throwing millions onto the dole queue. It became rather embarrassing; so fortunately they had North Sea oil revenues to pay the dole, but in order to reduce the notional figure, they created long term sickness benefit (all funded by the oil boom). This gave rise to the long term benefits dependency that is still with us today Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Davy51 Posted February 21, 2014 Report Share Posted February 21, 2014 The figures at one time used the phrase " out of work & claiming benefits" to set the dole figures but i don't know if that still applies. It seems that the job centre doesn't have a lot to do with providing jobs any more ,they just get you signed up to one of their recruitment partners which seems to be like a glorified employment agency. I suppose once you have moved onto one of these company's books it helps the government figures too. Like Robbo said there are so many points that disqualify people from claiming benefit which is a joke really because ,after having worked & paid your dues into the system & may be a company pension ,you can't claim a penny & because you scrimped & saved & provided for your future you become self supporting. I can't claim a penny ,which at times is annoying,but at least i can walk down the street with my head held high . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Evil Sid Posted February 21, 2014 Report Share Posted February 21, 2014 I had a similar problem the last time i came out of work. I could claim jobseekers allowance but as my pension was more than the allowance I would not get any money but would get appropriate benefits, council tax etc. They continued to sign me on for a while then asked me to come in for an interview. the gist of which was because of family obligations (illness with the father inlaw amongst others) I was deemed not to be available for work and so they told me that my money would be stopped. After I had stopped laughing some five minutes later the guy asked me what the joke was and so when I told him he was a bit put out. Stopping my money was no threat as I wasn't getting any. He then asked why I was signing on to which I replied that I was only signing on to keep up my NI contributions towards my old age pension. As it turned out I had over 36 years of contributions and so in a way did not need to sign on as I would get a full pension for the 30 years and an extra amount for every year i had over that. I gave him a rather wry grin and said that I would not be bothering in future.( mind you I had got a job as a passenger assistant anyway but did not tell him that). Figures for both unemployment and sickness are a fiddle. Want people off the unemployment numbers, put them on sick. Want people off the sick numbers put them on jobseekers. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Davy51 Posted February 22, 2014 Report Share Posted February 22, 2014 I hear that ATOS who are responsible for reviewing sickness claims are desperate to get out of their contract due to protests & even death threats to employees. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Robbo Posted February 22, 2014 Author Report Share Posted February 22, 2014 There's probably a few thousand disabled people who will not be sorry to see them go. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Primedius Posted February 23, 2014 Report Share Posted February 23, 2014 The 'getting people off disability and onto job seekers' interview lasts less than 10 minutes and totally ignores doctors and/or specialist reports. Good riddance to them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
observer Posted February 23, 2014 Report Share Posted February 23, 2014 The problem with Gov efforts in this regard imo; is that they aim at getting folk off benefit, rather than into usefull employment; and fail to recognise, that many jobs nowadays pay too little to risk the loss of some benefits. The emphasis should be on making folk better off in work, rather than worse off on benefits, which suggests the maintainance of some benefits to those starting in work. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Davy51 Posted February 24, 2014 Report Share Posted February 24, 2014 I think the whole idea would be a lot better received if, instead of just stopping people's benefits the agency involved was duty bound to help with finding jobs to suit individuals within the bounds of their medical limitations & within a reasonable travelling distance ,before any benefit was stopped. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Robbo Posted February 24, 2014 Author Report Share Posted February 24, 2014 Agree with Primedius Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Robbo Posted March 3, 2014 Author Report Share Posted March 3, 2014 http://youtu.be/IkaGlA04rkY Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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