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…

JobCentrePlus.gov.uk – Closing on March 31st 2010.

A few weeks ago I mentioned the change to Online Jobsearch, and how customers are now expected to use Direct.Gov, which in my opinion is inferior to the existing system (and that’s saying something). Luckily, there’s a workaround you can use to access the original system, however it doesn’t look like it’ll work for much longer. Having just accessed the site to perform my jobsearch activities, I spotted the following message:

This site is closing on 31 March 2010. All jobs found on this site are available on the DirectGov website. Find a job now using the jobs and skills search

Please save ‘jobs and skills’ as one of your favourite internet pages. The site will also allow you to search for training, careers or voluntary work.

Bydd y safle hwn yn cau ar 31 Mawrth 2010. Mae pob swydd sydd ar y safle hwn ar gael ar wefan DirectGov. Dewch o hyd i swydd nawr drwy ddefnyddio chwiliad swyddi a sgiliau
Arbedwch ‘swyddi a sgiliau’ fel un o’ch hoff dudalennau’r gwefan. Bydd y safle hefyd yn eich caniatáu i chwilio am hyfforddiant, gyrfaoedd a gwaith gwirfoddol.

So it looks like Jobseekers are going to have to either make-do with the inferior option over on Direct.Gov, or failing that, either use the terminals within the Jobcentres, or phone JobSeeker Direct (and incur the related costs).

Updates coming – For real this time…

I’ve been a bit quiet recently, as not a lot has been happening, but I’m hoping to have a few posts written and uploaded, before the end of the week.

Due to Sign-on Today…

Just a quick post – basically I’m due to “sign-on” today, down at my local jobcentre. Now I’m not sure how it works in other JobCentres, but I know if I phone my local centre, to see if theyr’e open, they’ll insist that I come down – even if they’re not actually signing people on.

It happened a few years ago – I phoned the Jobcentre, was told to come down, the buses weren’t running, so I walked the two miles to the jobcentre, only to find that while it was open, they weren’t signing people on – everyone due to sign-on that day, had been automatically processed.

It made me smile, because although the staff are excused from turning up, us “dole scum” aren’t afforded such luxury.

The other irony, of course is the Government issued Travel Advice – Only travel if it’s absolutely essential. From my pov a trip down to the Jobcentre isn’t all that essential, however, getting my JSA next week most certainly is.

DirectGov Jobsearch – Completely useless.

I’m due to sign-on on Thursday, so I’m just updating my jobsearch “diary” for the jobsearch that I’ve done since I last visited my local JCP. Which means, using the JobCentre Plus website, to search for new vacancies.

Now, while the “original” system wasn’t perfect, it was at least useable. The new version, located over at DirectGov, is quite honestly, appalling. It’s completely unintuitive, and makes searching for vancancies a lot, lot more difficult, and time consuming, than the old system.

If I were a cynical person, I’d say they’ve removed the “original” jobsearch website, not in order to streamline everything under the DirectGov banner, but to draw more traffic to JobSeekers Direct, in order to generate additional revenue.

Update -> The “original” version is still online, for the moment – though for how long, I’m not sure. It isn’t linked from the JobCentrePlus website, but if you type in the old address, it’ll work.

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)