It's funny how difficult times or moments of crisis reveal the true character and personality of people. Down the ages it has been the same, and always will be.
Take for instance the award of job seeker's allowance (JSA). For our international readers, this is the allowance given to someone who is unemployed for a limited period of time. It currently stands at £65.45 and rises ever so slightly in April. The award of this benefit is strictly on the basis that it is the starting point from which to work backwards.
In other words, the civil servant sits there and says in effect, 'this is what I can pay you by law; now I have to see if you have any other income that will reduce the amount I can pay you.'
The civil servant leaves no stone unturned. Government policy is clear, precise and to the point. Find evidence to reduce the benefit. That reduction is called the 'disregard'.
We have a national minimum wage of £5.93 per hour which, on a 35 hour basic week would amount to £207.55. JSA, before disregard, on a 35 hour basic week amounts to £1.87. The impact of this is felt when the Job Centre sends out a letter that has missed the franking stamp as the worker has been passing it through the franking machine, no doubt because the worker is bored and more interested in talking about some virtual reality TV programme that has really gripped their imagination for the whole day. Result? Royal Mail slaps a £1.32 penalty postage fee on the letter which the addressee must then go to the local post office which, here in Liverpool, means W H Smiths because that's the only one left in the City, to not only pay the penalty but also the original postage stamp of 34 pence. The out of work citizen now has 21 pence.
But hey ho, he's happy because Tesco have just reduced their national prices in an effort to combat the increasingly competitive ASDA stores, so he can buy that banana after all because one banana has now come down to 16 pence in the local Tesco Store.
Virtual Reality TV? No, this is life in the raw. This is what many people are trying to cope with, and it is therefore no small wonder that bank bonuses are viewed with such hostility.
All of us judge each other by our own standards. If therefore I have £1,000 at all times in my reserve current account, I will naturally presume that you also, regardless of who you are, have a reserve current account and at least £1,000.
If I am at UNI and come from a fairly affluent middle class background, and Dad and Mum pay my bills or make a contribution or bale me out when I get a puncture or have a roadside breakdown, I will automatically assume that everyone else, all my friends, have this protective cushion. It doesn't matter that I've not noticed that they use public transport. I just presume that's choice or because they haven't yet learned to drive.
Conversely, if I watch the TV or read the newspaper about some trouble in a town or city, some uprising, I will assume that the whole country is involved when in fact it is not.
It therefore behoves all of us to try and see the real state of affairs; to try and understand why our friend hangs back when the rounds are being bought, or quietly disappears. "Hey, have you noticed? As soon as it's his/her turn to buy a round s/he's off!" We've all met friends who do that of course and will meet many in the future. But there are many who slip away because they have no option; or they have just spent a whole week's JSA on a round to keep face, and feel a bit low when most of what they've bought ends up on the floor trying to walk back with the tray through the hustle and bustle.
The Recession bites deep. The Recession will be a very long time departing. Many will fall by the wayside on the way, just as has happened in all previous recessions.
The Prime Minister is of course right to remind us all that now is the time to roll up our shirtsleeves. Great. But what if you've already lost your ruddy shirt?
REALITY TV SHOW?
No. A Painful Insight into the Real Effect of the Deficit Cuts
Last Monday I popped into the local job centre - a compulsory 'back to work workshop' at 9am. The JC were blunt and direct. If the claimant does not follow up agencies who do not reply promptly, then the job seekers allowance, housing benefit and any other form of benefit will stop immediately for 26 weeks. Right of appeal? To embark on that route is so complicated and slow, that most are put off just by the introductory and meaningless letter the appellant receives. These are the revised guidelines being issued this week by the civil service to all job centre staffs nationally, implementing a series of very severe cutbacks.
It did not make pleasant listening. I think perhaps the speaker was aiming to shake some claimants out of complacency, but they were in the minority.
It is clear that there is no leeway.
As the speaker put it, 'the decision maker will not be aware of individual facts but will just go by what they see in front of them, figures, facts and whether the boxes they tick will allow the benefit to continue. The aim will always be to find a means of stopping the benefit and getting you back to work, any work, regardless.'
If a job application is completed and filed with the case worker for inputting, but happens to be in any colour other than black, then the JC Team will not process it, nor call the claimant back in to rectify. Thus no record is made on screen so that the next mandatory check will result in all benefits stopping immediately for 26 weeks. This really hit home to one listener who remarked '...k that's six months!
I felt very sorry for many of the people attending with me who are plainly not used to admin, and they left very upset that they are being treated like this. I didn't feel too good myself!
Despite the very difficult times, recruitment agencies do not always grasp the full impact of what is happening. There is still no sense of urgency; but I am mindful too that many employers are playing the market absolutely ruthlessly and therefore putting the agencies between a rock and a hard place.
If a claimant does not have work by the sixth week of claiming JSA they have to undertake unpaid voluntary work to justify retaining the JSA. This will be a full 35 hour week. And we have a loophole here that central government has found, namely, that if a claimant is on benefit then they cannot claim the national minimum wage when central government requires that person to take voluntary work.
This is the very harsh reality of the deficit. It is the peacetime equivalent of the war time regulations of the last coalition government.
Distressing times, and I am thankful that at least I don't have family or dependents. Listening and talking to many of the people I was sitting with makes me wonder how they will cope.
Here's two final quotes from that session that ended at 10am:
A fellow unemployed claimant sitting next to me:"Then I'll just have to turn to crime" - he was utterly dejected.
The Speaker:"You'll all appreciate I've only covered half of the booklet this morning; this is because in line with the cuts, these sessions are ending on 1 April. Sorry!"
If ever one felt like being thrown out of s sinking lifeboat then that was surely it!
Ian Bradley Marshall
LIVERPOOL
10 March 2011
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