At last! A Labour policy that makes sense.

Another good point Iam. It annoys me when I hear a SME business owner bleat “I can’t afford to pay my staff more”.

My initial thought has always been ‘well, ought you to be in business then dear?’ - followed closely by “would you be happy for one of your family to be paid the rate you offer?’…

Hmm. Thought not.

Why do some people lose their moral compass and think it’s okay to exploit workers - sacrifice them on the altar of profit margins?

Apologies.
Another debate for another time - I just had to vent!

ayse

My granddaughter left school at 16 wanting an apprenticeship. Mum helped with her CV and interview practice. She applied to several including Ernst and Young. She was offered and took this. The company had advertised the training as being well mentored, excellent facilities and benefits in the work place. It transpired that everything she had to do was at home and isolated. So not as advertised. She persevered but after a month or so it was not working for her. She tried with Mum’s help to renegotiate so she was able to go to work in office. They said no so with regret she gave her notice. She continued to apply and in no time was offered an apprenticeship by Hargreaves’s Langsdown. Unfortunately, the provider and employer did not have the correct paperwork for a 16 year old, so she couldn’t start.
At the time she was working in fast food pizza house as a kitchen porter so continued the job. She became very demotivated about getting an apprenticeship but couldn’t find any college courses until the following September. All this while her Mum and her were looking out for more apprenticeships.
Finally in May she was offered a project management placement. She found it hard going initially, office work plus college work, day release.
A year on she’s flying! She has received two pay rises and earns nearly twice my pension income! She has been told by her company that a project management degree will be open for her when she completes her college courses.

The point I’m making is that her journey has not been easy and without her Mum’s encouragement and support she may very well have become a casualty of the system.

Where is the career advice and support? More young people need encouragement and immense support on leaving school. We have given our young people great expectations and social media doesn’t help!

Many youngsters don’t have any Parental support at all, let alone ones that are savvy enough to help and give advice.

We are a a left leaning family despite my two sons in law and one of my daughters running their own small businesses. They crack on -pleased to have the opportunities they’re grabbing.
Most of their friendship group did not vote Labour 😵‍💫. Strange. What they have in common is - they were encouraged by parents to work at school then to go into further Ed/career qualification/apprenticeships. Lucky young people, now reaching 40 with children of their own
We hear so much moaning it’s important to remember how fortunate most of us are

Benefit cheats’ are small in number, the cost less than is lost with tax avoidance or so I’m told

I get what you’re saying Iam but I’ve also been reading up how social housing tenants in large cities ‘sub-let’ their apartments for astronomical monthly fees. They then bunk up or sofa surf with mates and share out the rental money.

It’s big business and has been for many years. Some grifters know all the scams …

FGT I agree, my GD works part time in a department store, does the same work as older people who do the same hours and is paid far less for it, but she perseveres and grits her teeth, when they tell her how lucky she is to have a job!

Hopefully when she finishes University she will get a job doing what she wants.

Wyllow3

It is a really intractable issue building up for a long long time. I think to welcome any successful moves in the right direction, but as I said above work/re-skilling moves take resources.

petra your young man above is different from the families who are stuck in a permanent benefit cycle and the children know no better, its probably a very individual thing for the numbers of students leaving university who cant find jobs at a level they are qualified for.

I haven’t posted on this thread.

HousePlantQueen

Wyllow3

..thought we were discussing the new benefit initiatives.

No, most posters are taking it as an opportunity to dismiss anything positive done by this government

Which posters and which posts exactly?
Most posters seem to be in agreement that something needs to be done to get these young people into work.

However, fitting them into the jobs available could be tricky.

Did you mean my comment about the CBI perhaps?

However, it worries me what jobs will be available as the CBI predicts many job losses so even more people could be out of work.
True statement.

The Government and industry need to work together to improve training and prospects for young people to have a future both in the public and private sector.
I would have thought thst made sense as the best way forward.

(petra sorry, got wrong thread.)

"At last! A Labour policy that makes sense"

Where????????

So much tinkering with an old problem and giving some new name or adjusting the emphasis slightly on an old idea which hasn't worked.
I live in a rural area and had some dealings with young people in a previous life and must say with the local transport service there were youngsters in many of the local areas who had no possibility of getting into the nearest town in time for even a 9am start let alone being able to work a full day and still get home unless they had their own transport or a reliable lift. Some employers wouldn't entertain these people as they knew the difficulties they would face.

Honestly, sanctions such as this are nothing new and will also achieve nothing.

What is needed is new apprenticeships, countrywide, in hands on learning and a guaranteed job at the end.

Things like electricians, plumbers, panting/decorating, car mechanics, hairdressing, nursery nurses, AI and coding.

If these youngsters successfully complete their first year in these apprenticeships bonuses such as driving lessons could be awarded, partially funded by the company and the rest from the govt. this would help resolve rural transport issues.

They need to include those older than 24 who only ever work for a couple of weeks before the employer has had enough of their deliberate incompetence.

Ayse, my grandaughters are in a similar situation.
Also, job applications are all done on line, and maybe it's time to bring back employment agencies, where face to face interviews are the norm.
It must be so demoralizing and soul destroying when young people are trying hard to obtain employment, and not getting so much as an acknowledgement to their applications.
The Job Centre in my town appears to be less than useless, and when one grand daughter turned down work in a care home, no further help was given.
Obviously, there are young people who are playing the system, but there are many who aren't.

The policy is a sensible one but it needs to be implemented and my guess is that it really won’t be.

My understanding was that, after a certain number of refusals to take a particular job, an unemployed person was forced to either undertake some sort of job seeking training or take any job they are able to do. Even if that were to be the case, I suppose a job seeker could deliberately do a job badly so that they are told to leave. I would imagine that is not a very common problem, but I may be wrong.

It seems fair to me that a young person should either make serious efforts to obtain - and retain - employment or otherwise be expected to gain further qualifications or training in order to be eligible for benefits.

It is a hard nut to crack though isn't it. If someone really will not work, how do you force them? If benefits are withdrawn, presumably other ways of getting money are more likely to be considered.

I understand where you are coming from but I live in a very small town, no shops not much industry. There just isn't the jobs! Before anyone says travel there are no reliable train networks. The other day 5 trains on the trot were cancelled and no bus for the 40 mile trip so not walkable.

I remember Tebbitt advising people to ‘get on their bikes’ to find work.

Btw DWP and business work extremely closely together, setting up all kinds of incentives and opportunities, and have done so for many years.

Every jobcentre in England has at least one Employer Advisor and at least one Disability Advisor Advisor, their roles are to liaise with all local employers and seek out roles suitable for those in local Jobcentres looking for work.

There is also a nationwide standalone team whose only job is to engage with head offices of companies and HR teams.

A lot of work is done in the background to get organisations to engage with all jobcentres.

sandye

I understand where you are coming from but I live in a very small town, no shops not much industry. There just isn't the jobs! Before anyone says travel there are no reliable train networks. The other day 5 trains on the trot were cancelled and no bus for the 40 mile trip so not walkable.

Quite a lot of work from home or hybrid jobs.

Some jobs are live in.

People in rural areas have always faced these issues with transport.

mayisay

Ayse, my grandaughters are in a similar situation.
Also, job applications are all done on line, and maybe it's time to bring back employment agencies, where face to face interviews are the norm.
It must be so demoralizing and soul destroying when young people are trying hard to obtain employment, and not getting so much as an acknowledgement to their applications.
The Job Centre in my town appears to be less than useless, and when one grand daughter turned down work in a care home, no further help was given.
Obviously, there are young people who are playing the system, but there are many who aren't.

When I first worked for The Dept. of Employment, the state ran the Careers Service for young people, the Job Centre for skilled and unskilled work and an executive job agency (can’t remember the official name) The careers service has disappeared and we now have private training agencies that are supposed to be helping young people! My granddaughter’s agency was absolutely useless!

We need a fully functioning Careers and Training centres. They worked well and helped the unskilled become more qualified.

The Job Centre today is a far cry from Job Centres as they used to be. We ran recruitment for large companies and the selection of both skilled and unskilled jobs was far better than today.

Employment agencies exist but I think they are mainly online. A good idea is to use sites such as Linked In. I’ve spotted articles about CV writing etc. These days agencies and employers use computer programmes to sift CVS. Young people who want to work need to use every avenue open to them.

As I said there is a huge need for encouragement and advice, starting at a much younger age for all young people.

I wish your granddaughter all the best.

mayisay

Ayse, my grandaughters are in a similar situation.
Also, job applications are all done on line, and maybe it's time to bring back employment agencies, where face to face interviews are the norm.
It must be so demoralizing and soul destroying when young people are trying hard to obtain employment, and not getting so much as an acknowledgement to their applications.
The Job Centre in my town appears to be less than useless, and when one grand daughter turned down work in a care home, no further help was given.
Obviously, there are young people who are playing the system, but there are many who aren't.

I hate to state the obvious, but if your DGD was actually offered the job, ie attended and was successful the UC contract states very clearly that if someone is claiming out of work benefits and is offered a paid job they accept said job.

Ayse

Jobcentres still offer the service to companies, large or small, to interview and sift within the jobcentre.

The issue is many companies choose to recruit online, and as you rightly state, sift applications using computers.

I still remember the days when all local vacancies were on a job boards and you took one down and took it to your Jobcentre contact, who would ring up the company, selling the candidate and often arranging a same day interview!

In my experience the youngsters usually blame Covid or their mental health, however when you read about other countries they are not affected the same . The work I did had youngsters claiming benefit and our benefit system still pays well with added extras . Sadly I have also heard “ why should I work when immigrants don’t and they get money”

ruthiek

In my experience the youngsters usually blame Covid or their mental health, however when you read about other countries they are not affected the same . The work I did had youngsters claiming benefit and our benefit system still pays well with added extras . Sadly I have also heard “ why should I work when immigrants don’t and they get money”

I have a daughter with a serious mental health condition who ironically works for the DWP! Our other daughter is autistic and is a primary school teacher. Both are very sure working gives them a purpose and a focus and a salary!