Ipswich Unemployed Action has reported that Local Government has given YMCA Training the go ahead to keep Dencora House detention centre open. Read more on New Deal Scandal »
Ipswich Unemployed Action has reported that Local Government has given YMCA Training the go ahead to keep Dencora House detention centre open. Read more on New Deal Scandal »
New Deal Scandal can reveal that the Department for Work and Pensions has no intention for making any prosecutions for prime contractors deliberately defrauding the system. The Department for Work and Pensions currently has no plans of stopping Flexible New Deal contracts being awarded to prime contractors who have previously defrauded the system on numerous occassions for the New Deal contracts. Read more on New Deal Scandal »
Just a brief overall of recent content on ”New Deal Scandal & Welfare Reform” blog. This might be easier to some then using WordPress pages as some sticky posts make normal ones difficult to see sometimes. Read more on New Deal Scandal »
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. Read more on New Deal Scandal »
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. Read more on New Deal Scandal »
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 best to point out that QDP Services are not to blame for the data disclosure – it is YMCA Training who kept the confidential data longer than required, a breach of the Data Protection Act 1998 and then disclosed it without permission.
QDP Services, however, are accountable for the” anonymous” survey which is tracked.
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 contained details advising the person taking the survey that they wouldn’t be able to be traced. Read more on New Deal Scandal »
The illegal act of:
… is known as “exiting“. Read more on New Deal Scandal »
Several years ago Reed in Partnership were investigated over 13 employees who has forged placements for those who had signed off to gain bonuses and also used the Employment Services data of New Deal candidates that found work outside of Reed to top up missed targets, totalling an expected multi-million pound fraud.
This was back in 2001, what have the Department for Work and Pensions learned since then?
It appears that the Government is still very slow in picking up on fraud – with the departments executive agency Jobcentre Plus ignoring complaints from Jobseekers and New Deal participants, and generally having a very laid back attitude, turning a blind eye approach to working in partnership with these external providers it can’t be surprising the failings of these fraud investigation teams they have.
For one, Ipswich Unemployed Action have reported that YMCA Training, a New Deal training provider, didn’t have planning consent for providing their services – the New Deal contract team that are supposed to monitor service delivery of contracts are, yes you guessed it, a Jobcentre Plus department and NOT Department for Work and Pensions who award the contracts. Before signing the contract training providers have to submit plans and details of the proposed premises for approval – it appears they couldn’t be bothered to do a 5 minute online planning permission check on the property (or alternatively ring Ipswich Borough Council direct).
Even though Jobcentre Plus is an executive agency of the Department for Work and Pensions (sorry for any confusion above) and that the DWP is reportedly corrupt, it seems like one team inside the DWP are checking via audits etc. the forms and such like for suspicious signatures and information for alleged fraud, while all along Jobcentre Plus staff such as New Deal Personal Advisers are even aware and support the acts of fraud happening in the system.
Reed article source: http://www.recruiter.co.uk/
It has came to our attention that the Department for Work and Pensions’ Executive Agency Jobcentre Plus is trying to push as many people in to the New Deal courses before it ends and become replaced with Flexible New Deal.
This is NOT legit and you CAN get out of it. Read on. Read more on New Deal Scandal »
YMCA Training who has dismissed a New Deal participant in just little over 30 minutes of the New Deal course Induction Week due to conflict of personal opinion (breach of the “Freedom of Expression”/”Freedom of Speech” and “Freedom of Thought”/”Freedom of Conscience” Human Rights) has justified their reason as such views were a “Health and Safety concern“.
This is obviously complete nonsense. The Jobcentre however warranted their request for dismissal even though staff were said to be against their reasons. The participant therefore is likely to be pending 26 week sanctions
So… the Government sticks the unemployed who are out of work more than 6 months on to an intensive course called New Deal which is contracted out to organisations such as faith organisation YMCA Training who are supposedly meant to stick New Deal participants in work placements to gain experience and help them find employment.
Enter Andrew Coates, someone who has protested peacefully on an online blog of a newly formed group called Ipswich Unemployed Action about the mistreatment of New Deal participants on the course at YMCA Training’s Dencora House (who were providing such courses without planning consent) – with the group’s other members.
After 30 minutes, an YMCA Training manager and another member of staff removes Andrew from the room and summons him to a meeting with copies of the blog on the table in front of him.
It is apparent that the Freedom of Thought (known in there as “Freedom of Conscience”) mentioned in the Induction Pack wasn’t applicable. Not only now has he been rejected for thinking different (it might be best also to state that he wasn’t exercising his Freedom of Expression, he didn’t disclose his views with anyone else in the room) he is now without benefits and pending a 26 week sanction.
A lot of the disputed content wasn’t even posted from himself, none of the content was slanderous or libel in nature and he also got the blame for people accessing the blog via their computer systems before he actually was on the course.
Numerous bloggers have picked up on this story – so this may not have been the first you have heard of it.
I ask YMCA Training: why was Andrew rejected from this course? Why have you gone against your principles??