I suppose this is the third in my series of anti-Job Centre blog posts, with the first two being here and here. Today I’m going to talk about the ways in which the Job Centre system can be abused, and how I personally have encountered an abuse of the system. Now, you may think that I’m talking about people lying about their circumstances in order to wrongly claim benefits, which is the kind of thing the media would have you believe is happening all the time, but I am actually talking about an abuse of the system from the other side.
Back in October, I got a call from a recruitment agency telling me that they had a week’s worth of work for me. The details were left vague, but I was told I would be a Market Researcher and that I would be distributing surveys so it didn’t sound too bad to me. Of course, in order to claim any money from the Job Centre, part of the agreement is that you will accept any work you are offered, so I didn’t really have a whole lot of choice in taking this position.
But this Market Research position was actually a job that involved distributing Conservative propaganda to people in their home. So, imagine you are somebody who depends on the Job Centre financially; you don’t like how it works and think that the system is not very good. Then, without any actual choice of your own, you have to hand out propaganda for the political group who arranged this system and who, in fact, have plans to make it even worse for you. But, on the bright side, there’s the money, right? Well, no. It was one week only, and that money will then just be reduced from your normal payments from the Job Centre.
So, really, the system can be quite easily abused by the government for a free supply of propaganda dispensers. The rule that you have to accept any job really should have at least the smallest degree of leeway.
Back in October, I got a call from a recruitment agency telling me that they had a week’s worth of work for me. The details were left vague, but I was told I would be a Market Researcher and that I would be distributing surveys so it didn’t sound too bad to me. Of course, in order to claim any money from the Job Centre, part of the agreement is that you will accept any work you are offered, so I didn’t really have a whole lot of choice in taking this position.
But this Market Research position was actually a job that involved distributing Conservative propaganda to people in their home. So, imagine you are somebody who depends on the Job Centre financially; you don’t like how it works and think that the system is not very good. Then, without any actual choice of your own, you have to hand out propaganda for the political group who arranged this system and who, in fact, have plans to make it even worse for you. But, on the bright side, there’s the money, right? Well, no. It was one week only, and that money will then just be reduced from your normal payments from the Job Centre.
So, really, the system can be quite easily abused by the government for a free supply of propaganda dispensers. The rule that you have to accept any job really should have at least the smallest degree of leeway.
(Don’t miss my latest article for SmartDatingUK!)
