The Aim of this blog… [Pinned]

Having looked at the visitor stats over the last few days, the number of visitors has shot through the roof recently – I’m getting 10x more visitors than a few weeks ago, and so obviously I’d like to take a moment to thank everyone who has dropped by, left comments / suggestions, and to other blog  / website owners who have been kind enough to link back here – it’s really, really appreciated.

I’ve also noticed a lot of people are coming across the blog, due to searching for questions relating to the Flexible New Deal Programme itself. Because of this, I think it’s only appropriate that I put a bit of a disclaimer at the top of the blog – Basically, the posts contained within this blog relate to my experience on FND, with A4e. The experiences, arrangements, etc, may not be the same with other providers – in fact, they may even differ between individual “branches” of A4e, around the country.

I also wanted to quickly address some of the search phrases that have been used to find the site – such as “How to get out of Flexible New Deal“, as well as the various criticisms people may have, about A4e…

Reforms to Local Housing Allownace delayed until 2011?!?

From Page 79 of the Pre-Budget Report:

Pre-Budget Report: Welfare / Benefits specific details:

• Child & Disability Benefits up 1.5% in April,
• Specialist support for the Over 50s, to help then find work,
• Reduced Number of hours needed to work, by the Over 65s, before they’re eligible for Working Tax Credits,
• Guarantee that everyone coming off benefits, into work, will be better off,
• Basic state pension up 2.5% in April,
• Guaranteed training or work for unemployed under 24 year olds, who’ve been out of work for 6+ months,
• 50p per month tax duty, on landlines, to pay for “High Speed Broadband upgrades”,
• Free School Meals, extended to an extra 500,000 children,

NO Announcement Re: Changes to the Housing Benefit System, specifically changes to Local Housing Allowance rates.

I’m not dead – Honest :)

Just a very, very quick update – Unfortunately I haven’t really felt “in the mood” for any real updates – I’m not sure if I mentioned it, but I badly damaged my ankle a few weeks ago, and it’s “knocked me about” more than I thought – however, there are updates and article ideas floating around in my head, so hopefully, at somepoint in the near future, they should make it onto the screen

Sometimes, all it takes, is a picture…

Should Ex-Offenders be sent to “regular” FND Providers, and, perhaps more importantly – should other Clients be informed?

Towards the start of last week, I started to notice I was getting visitors “referred” to the blog, from a site I’m somewhat familiar with already, due to researching A4e, called  WatchingA4e. It turns out the person running the site was nice enough to include my site on the list of “Interesting sites”, on the right of the page, and as a result, people were clicking through, and stumbling upon the site. So by co-incidence, after my second FND meeting at A4e, I popped into a local library, to check my e-mail, and by chance I accessed the site, and noticed that as well as a link to my site on the sidebar, there was also a comment about my site, and a link through (again, many, many thanks). What interested me, however, and what’s ultimately inspired this particular post, were the comments posted in reply, by a person called Jack…

Quick Post: Flexible New Deal “User guide” from the DWP.

Some encouraging news for people who have been placed on FND – the mythical “Flexible New Deal” booklet has finally surfaced. During my initial interview with the JCP, I was told that such a booklet was available, but that it was currently only available for staff. However, it’s now available online, so if your Jobcentre “Advisor” hasn’t given you a copy, head over to the following link, where you can read it:

Flexible New Deal: What You can expect and what we expect from you (FND1 10/09) [Via Flexible-New-Deal.co.uk]

Having looked through the content, it seems identical to the version I was able to quickly browse through at the JCP, other than the date (the version I read was dated 09/09)

A4e – Second Interview, Online Assessments, and seemingly hitting a brickwall.

The first of 4 planned posts, before my next appointment with A4e – this one talks about my second interview, the A4e Online Assessment tool, and the feeling of seemingly hitting a brickwall. Originally I’d hoped to have all 4 posts / articles online by today, however I twisted my ankle over the weekend (It’s my own fault for going running while it was raining), so I’m taking things a bit easy, until it’s fully back to normal. Anyway, that’s enough of my offline difficulties – onto the topic at hand.

Tuesday saw me up nice and early, so that I could fit in my morning run, before heading out for my appointment with A4e. Following on from my first interview with my “Career Coach” I’d been set two seemingly simple tasks – bring in a copy of my CV, and complete an initial assessment, through the A4e Website. Sounds simple enough…

Upcoming Posts…

Just a very, very quick update. I’m currently brainstorming a few different ideas for posts, as well as collecting links for a new page (I want a seperate page full of links, as well as information, so as not to have to cram them into the side), so hopefully, over the remainder of the week, the following posts should start popping up:

 

1. A4e – Second Interview, Online Assessment results, and seemingly hitting a brickwall.
2. A4e – Full Induction overview, and information (I’m due to attend my half-day induction, on Friday November 6th)
3. FND and Ex-Offenders – Should Ex-Offenders be sent to “regular” FND Providers, and, perhaps more importantly – should other Clients be informed?

Article #1 might be online before the end of the day, and I’ve started a draft of #3, but #2 – The A4e induction, will have to wait until I’ve actually completed the induction

Flexible New Deal @ A4e – Meeting your ‘Team’

As with any of the posts within this blog – this only relates to A4e – the content within this post comes from one of their booklets – “Welcome Aboard – Your Journey Starts here!”. It would seem that, whilst participating on the FND programme with A4e, you’ll actually be dealing with 4 different people – here’s the information from the booklet – I promise, with the exception of a note or two by me, this is an exact transcription – I honestly haven’t made any of this up: