A complaint regarding someone on New Deal for Young People (NDYP) who spent 2 weeks of his Gateway 2 Work course playing games such as Jenga and when sent for an interview with Pizza Hut was used to cover rush hour for four hours with no training opportunities.
Complaint:
Job Centre New Deal waste of time?
My 19 yr old son has just completed the two week new deal scheme that the jobcentre plus runs.He hated every minute of it.He played jenga! what this has to do with finding a job i do not know,then went for an interview in Pizza Hut that they sent him on to do 4 hours work one night only to find out he had been used for their rush hour,is this what they mean by training them up i wonder,has anyone found this new deal a help or a hinder!
Source:
Yahoo Answers.
This is the worst course of all time, The job center bully you into doing this courses and all you do is sit there doing nothing all day, Iv been forced to go on a 10 week course 9-4 everyday of the week and all we do is sit there doing nothing all day, Tbh i think they make it as bad as possible so it forces people to sign off whether they have a job or not, They treat you like a five year old there and give you work sheets that a 6 year old child could do, Like add 20p to 5p what do you get? i also got told off because i didnt put my hand up to go to the toilet when im a 23 year old man
trevor webb
12 Aug 09 at 4:18 am
Im on Gateway to Work at the moment and although my experience isn’t as bad as the guy playing jenga, some of the stuff is a complete joke.
Today we played hangman and got an “IQ Test” that had questions like “how far into the woods can a dog run?” and “six fat men under an umbrella, why do none of them get wet?”.
They said these questions were becoming popular in job interviews. First time i’ve heard of it.
Chris
3 Sep 09 at 11:32 pm
I am currently on the gateway to work course myself and find it a complee farce. most of the time our ‘tutor’ isnt even in the room, and all we can do is sit around doing nothing. We are told to do our ‘job searches’ but there are only so many jobs one can apply for, and having been job hunting for so long I have already applied to those I can.
So far the only content of this course than can be considered training has consisted of reading photocopies of print outs on how to write a cv, or using the computers to read the .pdf versions of leaflets on how to write a cover letter and speculative letter. But that is assuming the inefficient amount computer work stations provided are even working properly.
It is quite obvious to me that the people running the course (Careers Development Group inmy case) don’t give a damn about getting you into an apropriate and sustainable job, but only in getting you into any job at all while they can still claim credit.
Martin Gray
5 Oct 09 at 5:29 pm
thats the trouble with jc staff they will force claimants into the first crap job they put you forward for
when the idiots(as i call them) put me forward for a job in glenrothes working seven days a week paying min wage i pointed out that my mum claimed housing and council tax benefit and that this wage would have to be declared thereby increasing the rent and council tax payments which i would have to give my mum along with housekeeping money plus bus fares i would be left with £5 in my pocket i was told its a job its not our problem it gets you off benefit prats its okay for them they work five days a week finish early on a friday and have the weekend to pursue a social life including hobbies but the unemployed scum have to work seven days a week.
another job i was put forward for again in glenrothes(cupar jc idiots seem to have an obsession about cupar claimants working in glenrothes) i asked if it was five days a week why? i was asked so that i can get another job working saturday and sunday because after all my outgoings i will have nothing left in my pocket to live on the idiot was not best pleased at this remark but i liked winding them up like that, another time when i was pulled in for a jsag review i was asked what i had worked at when i left school(I WAS 35 AT THE TIME) and told the woman that that wasnt relevant as i had left school at 16 and was now 35 another woman jc idiot said to me you can find out about jobs in the pub to which i told her i didnt go to the pub as i didnt drink and anyone unemployed shouldnt be drinking anyway amazingly she apologised!
in conclusion the job centre staff are a waste of space youd get better respect from monkeys than these idiots!
allan johnstone
23 Oct 09 at 6:55 pm
out of curiosity how can six fat men under an umbrella not get wet when it is raining?
allan johnstone
24 Oct 09 at 10:38 am
i have been on new deal for 3 weeks (18-25) and this course or what ever it is disgusts me 9-4 each day i sit around doing nothing these centres are under supplied and most of the time the staff are’nt even in the rooms i know this is just a way to get the unemployed people stat numbers down but these courses are childish and pointless its like being back at school i hope that soon a petition or some form of vote is cast to discontinue this new deal i would gladly sign and so would my whole family and the 50-60 people in my group at the moment
i hope action is taken ASAP
john davis
25 Oct 09 at 10:17 pm
Signing on at your local job-center is like digging a hole. Sure it seems like a good idea at that time, but when you have been doing it for a while you realise getting out is not going to be easy. Because if you do get out you’re still back at square one, jobless and hungry. But not to worry eh at-least you have the survival skills they teach you in school, oh wait they don’t teach you anything like that, still at-least i know 1+1=2 right ?
burntfaceman
3 Nov 09 at 4:30 pm
I am at the moment on a goverment sceme it should come under the human acts its pure hell you are treated like an imbocile with no rights they look down on you like filth on there shoes
DAVID AYRE
13 Nov 09 at 12:57 pm
I dunno who invents these Jobcentre courses,but they are a complete joke.
As someone else said;I think they try to treat people like idiots to make then sign off.
noom
25 Nov 09 at 11:49 am
Hi Everyone…Like you all Ive been on a couple of those courses and think they are an embarassment to the government (although no doubt theyre behind it somewhere), anyways I took it into my own hands and created a petition which is sent directly to Number 10, Its a new one and ive set it to be active for a whole year so please sign it.
DOWN WITH NEW DEAL (what deal there is I really do not know!)
http://petitions.number10.gov.uk/notonewdeal/
Tim Hoggarth
7 Dec 09 at 4:25 pm
I have just had a letter notifying me that I will be starting this after Christmas, the letter itself is totally unclear as to where I go and as to putting an action plan together what the hell do they think I’ve been doing when I present them with evidence of the methods I use and jobs I have applied for each week at my normal meeting.
Englishguy
15 Dec 09 at 6:37 pm
not sure if this has changed. but in Peterborough i did new deal about 6 years ago and parts of it was a joke you go and do bowling and get a meal out how does that get you a job. the 26 week course was ok if you did work placement and if you got a job from it. you signed off and had a job (happend to me) but sadly after 4 years was jobless so back to sign on and after 2 years of it now doing new deal again but different since i am 29 and dosen’t seem the same
Matthew
18 Jan 10 at 3:01 am
I’m currently on New Deal and my mother was unemployed for a while and she had to do it too, a complete waste of time in my opinion it is just to put everyone on jobseekers in a room together and watch them so they are not cheating the system and working while claiming benefits. Everyone on the PC’s was playing card games while i was sat in the middle at a table with no help for hours when i wanted to talk to someone and get my CV looking better. I can make better progress in one hour looking on my own outside of New Deal than i could with them, waste of time. My mother was also having kidney problems and had to go to hospital and New Deal told her she has to attend or lose her benefits, so she went in terribly ill, they’re seriously stupid.
Nat
10 Feb 10 at 6:41 pm
2 weeks left.
I have been on the CDG “Course” for 11 weeks, What have I seen? Overcrowding of cash cows. there is no intention for the “clients” to be helped back to work. The ‘Brown’ initiative FAILS.
If you are not wanting a security license, a CSCS card for building sites or your health and safety certificate you will NOT be helped. You will go over basics of how to create a CV and cover letter, You will practice interview questions and be guided into a prepared state of mind for the interview, both of which will take up maximum of a week in a well organised program. But this is CDG, Staff members are sparse and under qualified with the minium of adult teaching qualifications. The time created to help individuals with their needs is blocked by the staff’s mandatory paperwork ALL DAY EVERY DAY. For the tutors that indeed what to make this a better place and genuinely want to help are behind on timesheets and induction classes that leave the current ‘clients’ to either wait for a timeslot on 1 of the 10 computers or search through outdated local newspapers.
The corridors are filling up faster than people are leaving. Privatised organisations like Career Development Group (CDG) are here to pocket the millions of pounds of funding (£3mill to be exact) and leave the tax payers shelling out for the £50 per week travel money i get as well as an extra £15 a week on top of my usual Job seekers allowance.
This is not right. I am writing this from a computer in a CDG building and people are walking around like headless chickens as their is TOO MANY here. To travel in and immediatley be told to do ‘External job searches’ basically go back home because the weekly load of ‘clients’ have arrived and their is no room and no staff to develop anyones career because of the paperwork involved. HEALTH & SAFETY??? come see for your self and tell me having this many people in one small building is safe..
Paul C
23 Feb 10 at 12:38 pm
Are you able to email over a photo to flexiblenewdeal@live.co.uk?
I respect peoples privacy… I wouldnt publish without obscuring their faces with a blurring or smudge tool in photoshop or something.
We at Ipswich Unemployed Action ( http://intensiveactivity.wordpress.com ) and New Deal Scandal have been highlighting this problem for some time now (over a year personally!) and we thought they were looking into it with Flexible New Deal coming up in phase 1… it seems like the phase 2 areas like the one you are in are not being improved too. This is disgusting - is it alright to allow it because it is ending soon?
I believe that it will be packed… Government promised every young person within 6 months to get a job secured…… or training (New Deal!) The Community Task Force isn’t mandatory until April so they have seemed to overlook that and stick people on New Deal.
Flexible New Deal Scandal: New Deal Complaints Administrator
23 Feb 10 at 6:04 pm
I forgot to mention… its good that CDG hasn’t block this website!
Flexible New Deal Scandal: New Deal Complaints Administrator
23 Feb 10 at 6:06 pm
I was unemployed for > 18 months, signed off for 2 months for medical treatment and signed on again and was put onto new deal in 2 months.
I’m on flexible new deal and I’m required to attend jobcentre twice a week. Is this normal?
Also my PA seems to insist that I apply for the jobs she wants me to apply for even though I want to apply for jobs in another area which is part of my jobsearch. Can she insist on this?
I’d like to know more of my rights and would welcome some clarification.
Mark
8 Mar 10 at 9:38 am
Hi Mark
Who is your provider?
Your Flexible New Deal provider can only insist you apply for a job when they create a Jobseeker Direction (that is any “written” notice be it an Action Plan or letter).
You should only be attending Jobcentre once every 2 weeks. obviously, if you choose to use jobpoints instead of using the website you would need to go there more frequently. However, if you use the website then there is no need to use jobpoints too as they use the same jobs database.
So to answer your question it isn’t normal to be “required” to attend Jobcentre other than to sign on.
I hope this helps.
Flexible New Deal Scandal: New Deal Complaints Administrator
8 Mar 10 at 1:44 pm