New Deal Scandal & Welfare Reform: network snippet

July 21, 2009 — Flexible New Deal New Deal | 12 views (since 20/12/2009)

(No Ratings Yet)

Loading ...

Just a brief overall of recent content on ”New Deal Scandal & Welfare Reform” and “Ipswich Unemployed Action” blogs. This might be easier to some then using Wordpress pages as some sticky posts make normal ones difficult to see sometimes.

£1.2 billion DWP Fraud: DWP Underspend, Claimants struggle

As a Jobseekers Allowance claimant myself (when my claim hasn’t been stopped or suspended for trivial reasons such as not attending an interview they never told me about) I am not surprised that the National Audit Office (NAO) has reported a £1.2 billion under spend last year.
To stick this figure into prospective (remember it is [...]
Icelandic bank scandal

This has nothing to do with DWP, Jobcentre Plus or New Deal. I have been constantly thinking whether to post this or not, and I have decided to post it.
Icelandic Bank Scandal
Am I the only one who thinks the ability for YOUR council to INVEST YOUR MONEY in a FOREIGN overseas SAVINGS bank while YOUR [...]
16.24% New Deal Provider: YMCA Training contract terminated?

We are hearing reports that YMCA Training, a New Deal provider that managed a Job Outcome rate of 16.24%, has had its contract terminated.
Ipswich Unemployed Action reports that YMCA Training has had its New Deal contract terminated.
(1) YMCA Training and the New Deal participant data breach
(2) Cambridge Jobseeker felt “humiliated and degraded” by YMCA Training
(3) [...]
New Deal: A third went off benefits afterwards without finding employment

Statistics published on New Deal for Young People (NDYP) up to November 2008, shows a worrying trend with almost a third (31.27%) of New Deal participants not securing employment and not reclaiming benefit.
Previously published articles such as Dencora House detention centre and various news articles on “jobseekers being treated like cattle” showing the poor under [...]
£250 million cut to Housing Benefit: claimants plunged deeper into poverty

People are increasingly loosing jobs, forced to sign on to receive Jobseekers Allowance to scrape by, hundreds of people are now applying for the same jobs and if that wasn’t bad enough, in a bid to save £234 million a year, the Government has decided to pull the £15 per week excess from Local Housing [...]
How to negotiate a Jobseekers Agreement

So you are unemployed, about to make a claim for Jobseekers Allowance (JSA) or have made a new claim for Jobseekers Allowance (JSA) however not attended an New Jobseeker Interview (NJI) yet. This article explains what you need to know about claiming Jobseekers Allowance.
You wouldn’t have thought that the Jobseekers Agreement (JSAg) would be a [...]
New Deal: wasn’t designed for the “highly skilled”

New Deal wasn’t designed for those with higher skills: why not?
Higher Skills, Degrees etc.
The first ever degrees began in 859 (thats the 9th century, I haven’t forgotten a 1 in front).
University
The first/oldest university in the English speaking world is Oxford University. The exact founding date is unknown and disputed but sometime in the [...]
Housing Benefit Amendment (no 2) Regulations 2009

The Social Security Advisory Committee (SSAC) has been asked by the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions to consider proposals for the above named regulations.
Currently, if the Local Housing Allowance (LHA) rate is higher than their contractual rent, customers are able to keep the excess benefit up to a maximum of £15 per week. [...]
Jobseekers Act 1995 (as amended)

If you are seeking work and claiming Jobseekers Allowance (JSA) you would have heard about the Jobseekers Act 1995 however you are probably more familiar with it being written and acknowledged as the Jobseekers Act 1995 (as amended).
What does this mean? Read on for a brief explanation on the law that applies to you.
Jobseekers Act [...]
a4e: 47 welfare contracts but only 1 in 5 secure employment

In the last financial year, 2008-09, Action for Employment (a4e), the largest welfare to work provider who has 47 active welfare to work provisions only resulted in 20% of their clients securing employment. This is quite short of the 45% target.
Posted in Action 4 Employment, dwp Tagged: a4e, watching a4e [...]
a4e: the REAL a4e story?

What is the REAL story behind a4e?
every woman article states:
Emma set up her company A4e in 1991 initially to provide skills and employment training for workers made unemployed by the decline in Sheffield’s steel industry. She has since built A4e into a competitive public services company that delivers a range of services to, amongst others, [...]
a4e bank: deposit your Jobseekers here!

It has been a rumour been going around for several months now, it deserves a post!
A4e founder Emma Harrison is said to have an ambition to start a bank!
That’s right, she wants to start a bank aimed at poor and disadvantaged communities (or Jobseekers)!
Atomic Unemployment Bomb
If true, this is worrying news. We don’t know when [...]
Update: QDP Services & YMCA Training

We recently reported that YMCA Training is disclosing past New Deal participants personal and confidential details which they should no longer hold, to a company called QDP Services, without the New Deal participants permission.
I thought it would be best to follow up this by quoting Q D P Services‘ pledge regarding handling confidential information.
It is [...]
What the DWP doesn’t want you to know…

205 laptops lost or stolen full of confidential information.
Apparently the figures are as follows
2004 – 75 Laptops
2005 – 46 Laptops
2006 – 28 Laptops
2007 – 15 Laptops
2008 – 41 Laptops
£266,000 spent on entertainment.
2003-04 £79,000 (this particular figure is apparently just a estimate)
2004-05 £28,000
2005-06 £43,000
2006-07 £106,000
2007-08 £10,000
Maybe its all the christmas parties, who knows…
Thanks to the volunteers [...]
New Deal fraud: a4e silences ‘watching a4e’ website

Action for Employment, the main New Deal prime contractor caught up in fraud allegations has recently requested a host to take down the Watching a4e website.
We are proud to announce, that the owners of Watching a4e has kept us up to date with the new web address.
Watching a4e!
A snippet of what you are missing…
A4e – [...]
Jobseekers Allowance Scandal

Jobseekers Allowance: the Scandal (A MUST READ FOR ALL JOBSEEKERS)
How many scandals can there possibly be?! Its becoming crazy now…
Jobseekers Allowance (JSA)
As described further here, when unemployment benefit began it was equal to 22% of average male earnings. By the 1980’s it was still 21% of average earnings. In 2008, Jobseekers Allowance [...]
Jobseekers Future: inverted

What is with the unemployment system?
“Assaults” on staff are to be dealt with by benefit sanctions and not by police.
Awkward customers are to be removed from the Jobcentre Plus office by police after being held by security.
Assaults are crimes, it is a police matter. Exceeding your time slot or talking back to staff isn’t! The Next [...]
Jobcentre Plus: security and assaults

You may have heard about assaults on Jobcentre Plus staff in the news, however, these figures are largely distorted. They refer to Incident Cases and not solely due to physical assault – which we will explain later.
Six months ago Jobcentre Plus boasted over 1,600 security guards costing the taxpayer over £40 million a year. I [...]
New Deal: YMCA Training discloses confidential information to tracking statistic firm

YMCA Training has, without their New Deal participants consent, sent their contact details to some statistics company who has contacted them asking to complete an anonymous survey on the YMCA Training New Deal courses.
This company, however, uses a unique tracking code to check up on who said what – not anonymous – and the letter [...]
Jobcentre Plus suppression continues: false allegations

We recently reported about Jobcentre Plus suppression regarding the misuse of security officers and police time in ejecting jobseekers from the Jobcentre Plus offices for false incriminating reasons to prevent them getting their legal entitlement.
This misconduct was only the start: a blog reader added more worrying concerns who states that the Hackney Jobcentre Plus prevents [...]

YMCA Training New Deal contract terminated

We have heard a rumour from someone returning back from the Jobcentre that YMCA Training has had their New Deal contract terminated with immediate effect and everyone who were on New Deal have been pushed on to Flexible New Deal Stage 3.
New Deal Scandal stated that New Deal had ended in half the country, but [...]
YMCA Training data disclosure: take action!

What can I do about YMCA Training breaching the Data Protection Act 1998?
Read on for advice regarding resolving the unlawful disclosure of your personal details.
QDP Services
If you have been on a New Deal course within the last year with YMCA Training, you may wish to:Write a letter of complaint to QDP Services.If you have received [...]
Suffolk unemployment benefit claimants DOUBLE

Ipswich Unemployed Action can reveal that the number of claimants in Suffolk has doubled in one year, where in Essex it has increased more than double. An average of 4,000 new claims per month in the last few months has been reported in the region.
The devastating affect of the recession has led to 13,634 people [...]
YMCA Training and the New Deal participant data breach

YMCA Training Manual.
YMCA Training keeps all New Deal participants details on file and discloses this personal information to QDP Services who then later sends a letter pretending to be YMCA Training with a poor made up letter, requesting your support to help future participants by giving feedback on the course. They claim it to be [...]
Ipswich Unemployed Action Member Attacked by Security Guards.

Manual for Job Centre Security.
News just coming in is that a prominent member of Ipswich Unemployed Action was attacked by 3 Security Guards at the Silent Street Job centre. Coz he got a bit stroppy. He managed to escape before the Police came. Details are only now emerging. But he was there because he had [...]
We have Won a Small but Significant Battle.

The Spirit of our Goddess was with us today.
The Historic Leader of Tendance Coatesy, and activist of Ipswich Unemployed Action, (Internationally famous pioneers of fighting for the unemployed) was in a bit of a foreboding.
The Dole had summoned me for a special meeting.
Turns out I am excused from any version of the New Deal. I wonder why…
And [...]
New Deal: The TRUTH Exposed!

New Deal, courses to “help” the unemployed get back in to employment: overcrowded rooms, under resourced facilities, full time job search, zero rights and no independent regulation, forced short term employment just for providers to get job bonuses, providers under staffed and using volunteers, no training or learning opportunities, identities stolen by providers in order [...]
ASDA is recruiting for Stoke Park supermarket

ASDA (part of Wal-Mart the World’s largest retail business) is recruiting in Ipswich for around 200 members of staff for their Stoke park supermarket which is due to open in August. This is a great employment boost for the area and Ipswich Unemployed Action will give some advice on applying.
1. ASDA
ASDA won the Best Workplaces [...]
YMCA Training 517 London Road: No planning permission

It has been announced that YMCA Training operating out of their London Road training centre also has NOT got planning permission for a training centre – even though they have been using it for numerous years and had enforcement action taken against their newest Ipswich location of Dencora House over a year ago, planners at [...]
New Deal fraud probe begins: A4e under investigation

Ipswich Unemployed Action can report that the Department for Work and Pensions is investigating Action 4 Employment and 2 other undisclosed New Deal training providers for fraud.
This means that A4e could lose their Flexible New Deal contract if further investigations show widespread fraud.
One of the New Deal providers under investigation have entered a contract with [...]