Ashton Under lyne, baby, ESA, feminism, Food bank, government, Green Party, Housing, hunger, Jobcentre, Northern resisters, Payday loan, poverty, sanctions, Tax credits, trade union movement, Uncategorized, Universal credit, womens rights, Workfare

Don’t bring your child to your Jobcentre interview. Pay a childminder yourself to look after them. And other obscene comments and rulings made by Jobcentre staff.

It’s Autumn and not warm anymore, but we soilder on. As usual we were stood outside Ashton Under Lyne Jobcentre for our weekly Jobcentre demo. We give help, comfort and advice to anyone using the Jobcentre that needs it. I’m very proud of the team. We are all very dedicated and the weather doesn’t stop us. We know that to change the system you have to be persistent with your efforts. Shouting and screaming doesn’t always get you anywhere, but challenging the system from the bottom up is sometimes what’s essential. There’s more than one way of getting  results. I’m sure I’m regarded by some as the bad smell that won’t go away. And no we aren’t going anywhere. 

It started raining heavily amd whilst we were sheltering from the rain a young lady stopped and spoke to us. She is a parent who has tried through the help of evening classes to keep herself in lessons. She wants to become more educated. She wants a future but as we know this government aren’t making. This easy. 

She was asked to attend a mandatory back to work interview even though her child is 4. She was told by her Jobcentre advisor that she wasn’t to bring her child to this interview. She would have to pay a childminder to look after her child. Because she is young and wasn’t aware that they can’t actually lawfully demand this she went ahead and paid a childminder. She paid the childminder £40 out of her meagre income herself. 

She arrived at the Jobcentre amd even though her name was on the list at the reception desk and she was told to see her advisor, her advisor told her that they had changed her appointment. They failed to tell her this and understandably she was very annoyed and upset. The advisor even implied that the young girl had made a mistake even though she clearly hadn’t. Now she has to return next week. We advised her to bring her child. There are no laws against this and this is clearly discrimination. 

The young girl also said that she felt like she was being bullied into going back to work. Her child is only 4 and as the law still stands she doesn’t have to return to work until her child is 5. She said she was scared because they had forced her friend back to work when her child was only 2. 

 Remember Jobcentre employees. There are NO rules or laws that state that a parent cannot bring their child to the Jobcentre. Neither are there any rules stating that a claimant has to pay for a childminder. One day a claimant could well take you to court, and you will be held responsible for this unlawful action in a court of law. Do you really want this? 

We advised her and she went on her way. 

Another woman stopped me outside the Jobcentre. They had just decided to sanction her unlawfully because she had unticked  the box on her online universal credit form to say that she allowed the DWP access to her email account and her job search account. 

It is totally lawful to do this. By law they cannot access both accounts without your permission due to data protection laws. As long as the claimant shows them her job search efforts then they have to agree to this. 

This DWP officer obviously chose to ignore the law which is in the DWP handbook created by them. The lady is appealing. We advised her on how to do this. Incidentally this was the same DWP officer who had advised the other young lady. So wrong. Both vulnerable women but it seems that some DWP advisors have lost their compassion. 

Another young lady told me her struggle against he Jobcentre. She has several serious health problems and was told by the Jobcentre that she can’t claim sickness benefits. They even went as far to ask her what medications she is on. I’m not aware of any fully qualified medical advisors working for the DWP. 

I advised her on her best route to claiming the benefit she needs. She’s been without money now for 6 months. My heart went out to her.

  
A good news story! A young man who had appealed the Jobcentres decision that he shouldn’t claim ESA won his case! It was overturned straight away. I cannot advise people enough to do this. He’s a lovely man and he’s happy now. I’m happy for him. 

Thank you very much for the donation of hats, gloves and scarfs. They are much needed and some have been taken. We will need more over the winter season. 

Many thanks to the kind man who I call the chocolate man. I call him this because he runs over and donates some chocolate to the team. He then runs off. It is much appreciated in this cold weather and I was lacking in energy due to not eating earlier today. I like many only eat once a day now usually at nighttime. 

Many thanks to CVAT Tameside for printing our leaflet. It’s been a life saver to many. 

Please donate if you can to both keep this blog going, the work that I do going and to donate towards leaflets. I’m very busy campaigning and attending meetings concerning our campaign. It’s vital work though. My PayPal is seercharlotte@gmail.com 

Many thanks to my comrades and supporters I really do appreciate everything that you do. 

Remember like I said a few years ago at a peoples assembly meeting. It’s not benefits or welfare it’s social security. This was adopted by Owen Jones and others. Please remember to call it by its original name. Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

36 thoughts on “Don’t bring your child to your Jobcentre interview. Pay a childminder yourself to look after them. And other obscene comments and rulings made by Jobcentre staff.”

  1. Pingback: Don’t bring your child to your Jobcentre interview. Pay a childminder yourself to look after them. And other obscene comments and rulings made by Jobcentre staff. | The poor side of life | Britain Isn't Eating

  5. WELL I try to keep up as much asi can with this changing benefits system and the consequences it has for people but i still feel so out of touch. as an OAP now so much is different. but when did single parent benefits stop?why are they forced to go to work? being a mother does not stop while the kids are at school. that’s when mothers usually have to shop for meals, do the housework, wash the kids and her own clothes and household things like bedding. they need time for all this. when does it all get done?hen do they get time to relax so they can regroup their energies for when the kids come home from school. do those at the top think everyone has laundry maids, cooks, cleaners etc? they need to be made to spend time doing all those jobs they never see being done at their homes. i do not agree with having kids then being forced to send them to childminders which they have to pay so they can go out to work(assuming they can find work of any sort). no wonder kids behave as they do these days. they need their parents. not strangers looking after them most of the time.

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      1. Each family situation is different but when there is a separation of parents the hardest part is that the government does not give any respect or value to the caring part of childcare in the home, not even all the aspects of bringing up/educating, emotional-care, feeding, clothing, socialising a child: – mother may have more than one child and at different ages. These young people are our future. Mothers and/or fathers need to be around their children and to socialise them and if possible include grandparents and other family members also our friends and this makes children into caring, good citizens. As Hugosmum70 says mothers are usually doing most of the housework – we don’t have payed servants! As Charlotte says being a mum is a full time job! So women are left, in these Government engineered “austere” days, of chasing their tails, making ends meet and doing 2or3 jobs. It really doesn’t have to be like this when we work together!!!

        I am going to a conference this coming weekend called – “Caring, Survival and Justice vs the Tyranny of the Market”. women are coming from Nanas Against fracking UK, New Zealand Prostitutes Collective, feminist-e newspaper Greece, Resource Centre for Black, Immigrant and Refugee Women Norway, Welfare Warriors USA, Black Lives Matter Canada, NUI-Galway Ireland, sister from a Haiti school, Dalit & Tribal Indian women, Domestic Workers Union Peru, Empower Foundation Thailand, Save Lewisham Hospital campaign, sister campaigning for justice against benefit sanctions UK, Sojouner Truth/KPFK Pacific Radio USA, Black Lives Matter Canada, mothers at home matter UK, Scottish Kinship Care Alliance, Selma James the Author of Sex Race and Class – the Perspective of Winning and much, much more spread over 14th and 15th November At WAC Arts Hamstead Old Town Hall London NW3 4QP Full wheelchair access, organised by Global Women’s Strike All welcome – Book for tickets on a sliding scale and book for childcare – http://www.gwsconf15.weebly.com – gws@globalwomenstrike.net

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    2. Also need at least one of them at home to support them emotionally. Being a mum is a full time job as I know. It’s hard. They just like to make it even harder. How about chasing the absent parents that never pay their way? And the bankers and big businesses who don’t pay their taxes? They are the ones that caused this problem not the single parent at home trying to give their child a good life on a very very low income.

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      1. i know there are a lot who dont pay towards their kids.(also know of one who refused to take anything from the father and did everything she could to stop him seeing his kids. which he didnt till the eldest was 16 and able to make her own mind up about it. long story. not the fathers fault. he tried to do everything legally through solicitors.in such cases you can hardly blame the father for not contributing… now his daughter lives with him but is having a right time of it with her, for various reasons(doesnt see why she should pay board, go to work etcetc.)
        plus a lot of fathers do contribute but its taken off the mothers benefits.
        plus the single parent at home may not have been inncent in the breakup. so we cant make big assumptions like that. fact still remains, the parent left to bring their kids up (and dont forget one reason may be the death of other parent.) still have all those things o do and be there emotionally and physically for their kids.

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  6. Solidarity from us in the Derbyshire Anti Cuts Campaign and Derbyshire DPAC. What day of the week do you do your weekly job centre demo? Want to come to bring you chocolates! God bless you good people. Liz from Ilkeston, Derbyshire xxxx

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  7. I would like to thank everyone who comments and re-blogs Charlotte’s revealing observations – I was there and can vouch for every report. Moreover as thelovleywibblywobblyoldlady says “knowledge is power” – to each and every one of us. We need to contribute our time and abilities for whenever whatever we can.

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  8. Pingback: Don’t bring your child to your Jobcentre interview. Pay a childminder yourself to look after them. And other obscene comments and rulings made by Jobcentre staff. |

  9. This is disgusting. I feel the jobcentre has become a military institute. Not only are the security rude and look at you like your scum and they are better than you. The now order you to do things and if you dont odr cant they penslise you. What happened to the days when the job centre did as tiyled and actualy went out there way to help you into work and find you jobs. Those dwp employees were actually trained to help now it seems its like they just employ people that haye anyone who is out of work…….

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  10. Complain, and tell them that you want to know at every stage what they are doing. I would have refused to pay for a child minder and took the child with me. When they said it was cancelled I would have said “I’m here so I demand to have the appointment” She has kept to her part of the contract and the JC+/ DWP have broken their part so she should demand compensation and a letter of apology from them.

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  12. I can vouch for their trickery when I went for my interview for my Social security I had to bring all my medical letters from my doctors and hospital along with all my medications and was told I was fit for work ,I was then sent to the unemployment office for a interview for my esa and showed them the same letters and they said there was no mention of any of this in the letter from my previous interview . and its now 19 months without a single penny of income from the social security and I cant get anywhere with them .I also have a child of 7 and one of 2 years old

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  14. Pingback: Don’t bring your child to your Jobcentre interview. Pay a childminder yourself to look after them. And other obscene comments and rulings made by Jobcentre staff. | lawrencerowntree

  16. This is similar to my experience at PIP appeal where the ‘disability Expert’ stated when I said for the 5/6 time I don’t go out alone – “You MUST go out to get your nails done or to a spa at least” – Way of the UK 2015!!

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  18. Me too, it makes me sick thinking about how shamefully low we have sunk as a country. How we treat the vulnerable is the measure of a civilised society.

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  19. Reblogged this on campertess and commented:
    I can’t believe the way the job centre treats people but like true bullies they pick on the vulnerable. The poor girl having to pay a childminder out of the pittance she gets & is meant to live on…She obviously doesn’t have anyone to advise her. It makes me sick thinking about her.

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  20. Pingback: Don’t bring your child to your Jobcentre interview. Pay a childminder yourself to look after them. And other obscene comments and rulings made by Jobcentre staff. | The poor side of life | sdbast

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