Tuesday, 5 April 2011

My bad mood from yesterday wasn't helped by someone sending me a link to This video article from the Guardian. Nor was it improved by a friend of my daughter explaining that she'd turned up for an interview with her baby last week, only to be turned away because they didn't allow young children in the Job Centre any more.

Because she was turned away, they decided she hadn't attended, so they 'sanctioned' her. That is, they've stopped her income for at least two weeks, and wouldn't be refunded unless she went through the appeal process.

Worried I was being fed a load of bull, I had someone phone the Job Centre pretending they wanted to attend with their child. They confirmed that young children are now banned. They asked why they weren't told, and were told that it would be impossible and too costly. Jeez.

If you have any information that can contradict that, please feel free to do so. It would be helpful if you could point me to/put me in contact with another reliable info source. Cheers.

~~~~~


2 comments:

Jo said...

what do they expect you to do with your children, leave them home alone!! never heard anything so daft.

there must be some european rule against it, after all there are rules for everything/everyone else, eg criminals!

Josie x

Wheelie said...

I was gobsmacked.

My daughter accompanied a friend who signed on to look after her 20 month old outside, and found that outside the Job Centre were a lot of friends and partners with babies and toddlers.

It's beyond belief. What happens in bad weather? Then there's the added costs of the bus fares for people on already poor incomes.

I'm still flummoxed. As I said, if someone out there knows different, please let me know - I'll happily post a correction.