It wont come as a suprise to anyone who has had dealings with the government's flagship Work Programme - I'm 18 months into the compulsory 2 year stretch - that official figures released today show its failing to meet its targets. I think they must have fiddled the figures - from personal experience I'm suprised they're even as high as they are. As usual, The Void has its finger on the pulse... Today’s Work Programme performance figures reveal that the bungled scheme is still performing far worse than if the Government hadn’t handed approaching a billion pounds to welfare-to-work companies. For those claimants on Employment Support Allowance (ESA) – the benefit for people who are sick or disabled – just 5.3% of people found jobs which lasted over 3 months. This is against the DWP’s own minimum performance figure of 16.5%. As the name suggests, the minimum performance figure is not a target. It is a contractual requirement set 10% higher than the rate of people who would have been expected to find jobs under their own steam with no intervention whatsoever. This means that had the Work Programme not existed then the number of people who would have come off sickness benefits and found work would have been expected to be three times higher. In total, after two years of the scheme, just 13.4% of all claimants have found jobs which lasted over six months, or three months in the cases of those on sickness or disability benefits. Overall this is still less than the number who would have been expected to find work without the Work Programme, yet the DWP are today trying to tell us what a wonderful success the whole sorry farce has been. Read whole article here - http://johnnyvoid.wordpress.com/2013/06/27/work-programme-still-worse-than-doing-nothing-at-all/ As The Void sums up - There are no fucking jobs. It doesn’t matter how many billions of pounds are handed to vile scum like A4e to bully and harass claimants, there will still be no fucking jobs. It’s about time politicians of all parties grew up and accepted the real, brutal and unequal nature of the capitalist economy that they all think is so fucking wonderful.
Came across this on the Unemployment Movement Forum (recommended for anyone who wants to know what life is really like being unemployed in the UK in 2013)... Been sent on an Intensive Job Search. Its a chance to rattle off my compulsory applications and learn what others get up to. Coincides with a bit of correspondence with Mr Hoban - Minister for Employment. He has confirmed that there are 2.7 million on JSA and 500,000 vacancies. I am sure you are sceptical of these figures. I am. He informs me that the Office for National Statistics cannot differentiate Full time, Part time, Self Employment. The way people say CAN'T so easily! Amazing. Back to my Job Hunting ( filled with fresh confidence ) - now I know I have 1 in 5 chance of getting a Job ( assuming only Unemployed apply and I am willing to travel any distance ). I spot a Job. Down in Surrey ( not where I live ). Babysitter required 2 to 3 evenings per month. This is an actual job apparently, so is included in the UK Vacancy figures. I then raised my expectations. Apparently, Chief Executive of Ofwat is stepping down. It pays £162k. Yet none of other Senior Management appear ready to apply. Chance of a promotion like that and people don't want to apply? It gets better - now they are bringing in Consultants to advise with next Price Setting. This is a Government Regulatory Body which is struggling to make decisions about water. So I sent a Speculative Letter/CV putting myself forward. I had a reply in 24 hours - Sorry Vacancy has been filled. That was quick - wonder which Posh boy got that cushy number? It has all gone in my Universal Jobmatch records. Point is there aren't enough vacancies and when there are some, the unemployed are often passed over. Why don't the two Ed's embarass Tories with these types of tales. Until the true wicked nature of Unemployment is exposed many, politically unaware, individuals will just keep thinking its ALL GOING TO GET BETTER AGAIN. http://unemploymentmovement.com/forum/index
