Unemployment is a challenge. This blog looks at what is happening around the country and some solutions. You are not alone
These are personal thoughts-
Consultancy undertaken through benefits2work.com & http://jobsearchagent.co.uk/ 07963 137094
Introduction
I feature some views on the Unemployment situation News in the UK. We feature the latest on The U.K Unemployment News. The Youtube channel has a focus on UK Unemployment News with specially selected material
From 1 April 2013, working age tenants living in social housing and receiving housing benefit will be affected by changes to their benefits.
Housing benefit will provide support for the number of bedrooms that a household needs.
This type of support is currently in place for renters in the private sector claiming housing benefit and social renters will now be subject to the same size criteria.
The changes are expected to affect 660,000 claimants.
Claimants can choose whether they want to pay the difference to their rent – on average £14 a week – or if they want to move to more appropriately sized accommodation.
The Government has provided councils with £155m in 2013/14 to help people affected by Housing Benefit reforms. This includes an extra £30m funding for the under-occupancy measure to help disabled people who live in adapted properties to stay in their homes and foster carers living in social housing.
This reform will lead to a better use of housing stock at a time when:
Nearly one third of working-age social housing tenants on Housing Benefit are living in accommodation too big for their needs
There are approaching 1 million extra bedrooms that are paid for by Housing Benefit
It is estimated that this measure will save up to half-a-billion pounds a year
There are over 250,000 households living in overcrowded accommodation in the Social Rented Sector in England, who need more space
1.8 million households in England are on the housing waiting list.
Extra support and exceptions
Pensioners
The new rules will only apply to working age claimants.
People over the qualifying age for state pension credit or with a partner over that age will be exempt.
Current mixed aged couples will continue to be exempt.
Temporary accommodation
Homeless people living in certain types of temporary accommodation made available under specified legislation will not be affected.
Supported accommodation
People who receive care, support or supervision from their landlord in supported exempt accommodation will not be affected.
Parents of students
If a student’s main residency is their parents’ home, then their bedroom will not be considered as spare.
Bereaved families
Where under-occupancy arises due a death we allow a year’s grace so that bereaved families have some time to come to terms with their loss and are able to make the right decisions about their finances and size of accommodation.
Armed forces personnel
Wives or husbands of those serving in the armed forces will be unaffected by these changes.
Disabled People
£30m of the £155m in Discretionary Housing Payments will be specifically targeted at disabled people who live in significantly adapted properties as well as for foster carers.
Councils have discretion over whether disabled children are eligible for their own bedrooms.
Rooms for carers
Bedrooms for live-in carers are not affected. A bedroom is also allowed for an overnight carer.
WITH no food in the cupboard and minus £9 in the bank, Simon Mewse was a desperate man.
Having struggled to find a job since August, his hunt for employment had become so difficult he knew he had to do something drastic.
Simon Mewse, armed with a home-made A-board sign walked down the A63 in hope of finding a job.
So armed with a home-made A-board sign around his neck, he set off walking down the A63.
The cardboard and string sign simply read "I need a job".
"I had heard that someone else had tried something similar before and they were picked up by a multi-millionaire and given a job," said Simon, 27, from west Hull.
"So I made the placard myself and then walked down the hard shoulder of the A63.
"I thought I would pull out all the stops.
"It was getting to the point where I couldn't do anything more to get work."
Although it was one of the most unusual job applications, the sign certainly made its point.
Motorists beeped their horns as they passed Mr Mewse on Tuesday afternoon and eventually he was picked up by police.
He said: "I think they wanted to see if I was a lunatic.
"But when they realised I was okay they called a traffic officer who then took me to the JobShop at the BBC centre in Hull.
"The staff at the JobShop were really good and helpful.
"I got registered with them and a day later they said they had some possible leads for me."
Although on the hard shoulder, Mr Mewse was taking a big risk, walking alongside cars travelling at 60mph.
But he said he felt he had no other choice as his situation had become so dire.
The father-of-two had minus £9 in the bank and was due his weekly visit from his 11-month-old daughter Macie-Lea Fullard.
But he said he'd been forced to call Macie-Lea's mother and say she couldn't come round, because there was no food in the cupboards at his home in St George's Road.
His job seekers allowance had been stopped and he was living off his army pension of £73 a month.
Mr Mewse said: "I had a job in a shop in Princes Quay but I was let go in August.
"I was a chef and driver in the army from 2002 to 2005 but I left on a medical discharge because I had a suspected case of narcolepsy.
"It isn't like I haven't been trying to get a job, I had tried everything, and walking along the A63 was the final straw.
"I'm a trained chef and had experience in retail but I was willing to do anything."
But it seems the gamble paid off and Mr Mewse has now been offered a trial at The Omelette restaurant in Albion Street, Hull.
Manager Simone Tambaros says Mr Mewse's crazy stunt proved he was willing to do anything to get a job.
Mr Mewse added: "I feel quite overwhelmed about the whole experience.
"Since people spotted me on Tuesday, they have been coming up to congratulate me.
"I am really excited about the future and hopefully the trial will lead to something permanent."
'Please give me a job!' Unemployed man bags job on the spot after standing in the rain for hours with sign
A jobless man who stood for hours in the pouring rain with a 'Please give me a job' sign was stunned when a passing businessman offered him one on the spot.
After spending the last two years out of work, 23-year-old Mark Wheeldon was fed up of living on benefits and concocted a plan to get him noticed on the job market.
He decided to stand on one of the busiest roundabouts in Stoke-on-Trent, Staffs, and advertise himself to passing motorists during the morning rush hour.
Lucky: Timber factory director Vince Champion, left, spotted jobless Mark Wheeldon, right, and gave him work after a 20 minute interview
So nervous was he about the job hunt mission that he lay awake all night before rising at 5am in the morning to create a sign from a piece of cardboard
But he was flabbergasted when, after nearly three hours spent standing in a torrential downpour, timber factory director Vince Champion came to his rescue.
He spotted Mark on his way to work and returned to collect him, giving him an interview straight away and offering him the job just 20 minutes later.
After a shower, Mark found himself making frames at the Smart Timber Frame Company by midday.
Mark, of Newcastle-under-Lyme, had failed to find work after spending the past two years caring for a former partner who suffers from rheumatoid arthritis.
Initiative: Fed up with being on benefits 23-year-old Wheeldon decided to do something different in his quest for work by standing on a busy roundabout in Stoke-on-Trent with his sign
The former mechanic, painter and decorator and butcher's assistant said: 'I was planning to stay until the evening rush hour and then keep coming back until someone gave me a job.
'I had been everywhere looking for work but I'd had no luck, so I thought I may as well as just go down to Basford Bank on the A500 and stand by the traffic.
'I had been out of work for so long, looking after my partner and doing all the little things for her like brushing her hair.
'All that time I had been looking for a job, but because I had been out of work for so long I had no current experience or references.
'One day, I decided to make a fresh start and get my life back on track. I stayed awake all night just thinking about what I was going to do.
'When I got up the next morning, I wasn't put off by the rain in the slightest. When you are desperate for work you will do anything to find a job.
'The whole time I was stood there I was just hoping that someone, anyone, would stop and ask for my number. It was all I could think about. I was freezing and soaked to the skin.
'When Vince pulled up I was over the moon that someone had finally stopped to speak to me.
'And when he offered me the job, I couldn't believe I had found one so quickly.
'Now that I'm here, it's a job I really enjoy. I get on with everyone and I get to work with my hands. My bosses are great and I'm really looking forward to building a career here.'
Vince explained how he had been driving to fetch bacon sandwiches for colleagues when he spotted Mark standing on the roundabout.
He said: 'I was on my way to work at about 8am and I saw Mark standing in the pouring rain, holding a placard which read: "Please give me a job".
'I thought if someone could stand there in that deluge - and it was absolutely torrential rain - then they must be determined to find a job. My attitude was the he would be an asset to any company.
'There are not many unemployed people who would have done that and I thought that anyone who wanted a job that much deserved a chance.
'When I brought him back to the office was so soaked through that a little puddle formed under his chair while I interviewed him.
'I spoke to him for about 20 minutes and then offered him the job on the spot. I was really impressed by his determination and he has the right kind of attitude that we want here.
'Now he's getting on brilliantly and fitting right in with all the other employees. I wish more people could show the same kind of determination to find work as he did.'
As thousands of recent graduates go into the New Year unemployed, one enterprising young hopeful has made his own desperation for paid work the centre of an advertising campaign that went viral yesterday.
Adam Pacitti, who graduated from the University of Winchester with a First Class degree in Media Studies, today unveiled a billboard in the London borough of Camden that reads “I spent my last £500 on this billboard. Please give me a job”, complete with a link to his website, employadam.com, and a 10 foot self-portrait.
Within 24-hours, almost 10,000 people had tweeted references to the billboard, and as many again visited his website for more information on the unconventional mass-job application.
The 24-year-old from the Isle of Wight is yet to be offered his much sought-after first job in television production, but he is optimistic that his off-the-wall approach will bring success.
“This is it for me,” he told The Independent. “I am just looking for a job, that what it’s all about. I’m getting enough attention now that I’m hoping someone will come along and offer me one soon, hopefully in production. I’ve had no formal job offers yet, but fingers crossed within a day or so I should have something.”
Adam said he launched the campaign after hundreds of failed job applications and a string of only moderately successful home-made documentaries left him without a clear career path.
“I’ve probably sent 200 CVs out, but it’s so difficult to stand out on paper,” he said, echoing the concerns of thousands of graduates who are forced to find interesting answers to questions like 'what would you say your weaknesses are in the workplace?'.
“This is my way of trying to stand out. I had a summer job in an arcade, which I have done every summer for the last three years, but I finished that in late September and I’ve been out of work since then.”
The billboard, which was actually £530 including VAT and genuinely did cost Adam every penny in his bank account, is accompanied by a 4-minute video CV, in which the unemployed student makes a series of humorous pleas for gainful employment.
“I am desperate, and I think I am showing that desperation,” he said. “I mean, all graduates are victims of the economic recession. People are willing to work for free, and that’s not easy. Their parents are able to fund them, but unfortunately I don’t have that luxury. It’s difficult to find a paid, entry-level job in media or anywhere.”
Though Adam's approach is original, the situation he has found himself is far from uncommon.
Update
‘Please give me a job’: Desperate teen, 18, takes to the streets with sandwich board begging for work after applying for 80 posts
An unemployed teenager is so desperate for work she has taken to the streets with a sandwich board begging: ‘Please give me a job’.
An unemployed teenager is so desperate for work she has taken to the streets with a sandwich board begging: ‘Please give me a job’.
Claire Fear, 18, was forced to ditch her dreams of becoming a dietician because of concern over building up huge debts at university and is now trying for any type of job.
The former health sciences student has applied for more than 80 jobs since finishing her college course in June.
She has now resorted to walking the streets of her home town of Bridgwater, Somerset, holding a sign pleading with employers to give her a chance.
Claire said: ‘There are no jobs and no prospects in this town so I’m having to take matters in my own hands.
‘I registered with an employment agency when I finished college, but I have only had a tiny bit of work since then. None of it is full-time.
‘I have applied for so many jobs. I did want to be a dietician, but I did not want to go to university – lots of people have told me it is not worth it because of the debts.
‘I am desperate for work and I will do pretty much anything.’
Claire left Bridgwater College with a Level 3 BTEC in health sciences this summer and has been searching for work ever since.
In one day alone she visited 50 shops in the town centre asking for a job – but none had any work.
Claire is baffled as to why she is repeatedly rejected but believes she is stuck in a ‘catch 22′ situation where she does not have sufficient experience for most jobs.
She now spends up to three hours a day walking the streets with her sandwich board.
The idea of using the board came from her mother.
Claire said: ‘My mum mentioned doing this as a joke a few weeks ago – I don’t think she thought I would take her seriously.
‘I have had mostly positive responses from people – one person even pulled over and said he hoped things work out for me. But there have been no job offers.’
An Essex man has come up with an unusual way of finding his next job. Armed with only a 40mph scooter and a billboard, John Fairest is pounding the main roads offering his services to all and sundry. Mr Fairest's quest began last week when he lost his insurance job after six months. Initially, he placed adverts for his skills at the A12-M25 junction and along the A1, A4, and A40. But feeling a "certain amount of desperation" he decided it was literally time to get on his bike. "I decided that I would set off to London on my little Honda C90 - which can only go to 40 mph - with a billboard on my back, advertising my quest for employment," he told BBC News online. Motorists give idea thumbs-up He did not have to wait long for his first offer of employment. This was cash-in-hand labour on a building site - but his long drive also brought hope for the future through "leads" with Sun Life and Abbey Life. Mr Fairest said the response from his fellow motorist had inspired him to keep up his scooter search for work. "All through the six-hour round trip someone was waving and cheering me on. "It is encouraging to me that this country is 100% behind those who get on the road to pursue the quest to move on. "The most encouraging thing is when you're travelling down the round and people are giving you thumbs up. One person even slowed down and took my details and then phoned up my wife up at home." Quest goes on On Monday, Mr Fairest plans to hit the roads again, driving to London where he will distribute copies of his updated CV to insurance companies. He admits to being slightly more daunted by this prospect, as he is still learning his way around the city's streets. But he remains optimistic and committed to his own brand of self-promotion. It has worked before - in January he found a week's work in an insurance office through the same method. "It was originally used a year back by a semi-retired person looking for part-time work and somebody in Warwickshire area," Mr Fairest added. "But it's the first time it's been used with quite as much courage and in such a big area. I drove from Ipswich right through to north London.
"There's a lot to be said for people going out there and doing it on their own."
Its not an easy task and Youth Entrepeneurs need more mentoring because of limited life experience However their energy and determination can be the key to their success. They understand their own peer market
Groups which help young people to start their own businesses say they've seen a rise in interest in the last 12 months.
StartUp Britain, Rockstar Youth and the government's own Start-Up Loans scheme say that increasing numbers of 16 to 30-year-olds are asking for help.
More ways to get funding along with high levels of unemployment are said to be behind the rise.
The Prince's Trust says in the 12 months from October 2011 calls to its start-up helpline rose by 75%.
If you want the economy to change we need more people to stand up, be bold and brave and create the jobs that are not there right now
Kieza De Sousa
They went up from just under 800 to nearly 1,400.
Kieza De Sousa, 19, has been given a small government loan to help him run his T-shirt printing business.
He says after leaving school aged 16 he struggled to get a job, but used skills that he developed at a community project to start his company.
"If you're coming home and your fridge is not full and you're not able to get support from your parents the only person you can rely on is you," he said.
"Eventually before I knew it people knew me as the T-shirt guy."
The government's start-up loan scheme says as of this month it has handed out more than £2 million in small loans.
Kieza designs prints for clothes and sells his own T-shirts
The average number of applications it is assessing each week has gone up.
The government's scheme, which started last year, has been criticised though.
The Federation of Small Businesses (FSB) has raised concerns that average loan amounts are too low.
Others have warned that most new companies go bust within the first few years.
Kieza admits he is now under pressure to make sure he earns enough to pay back the money, but he says getting his loan means he can buy his own equipment.
"If you want the economy to change we need more people to stand up, be bold and brave and create the jobs that are not there right now," he said.
"Being an entrepreneur sounds cool. Although it is difficult, it's very rewarding,"
The figures released on February
This video is the longer video
There is a clear positive sign
There is information in this months stats about the EU8 figures. That is the East Auropean member states
Full time figures are looking better
More than 1,700 people applied for eight jobs at a new coffee shop, in an indication of how tough the jobs market remains.
The next time you listen to the dole scrounger issue pumped out by certain politicians consider the challenge of the Job Seeker and the odds on getting a job...Read this article and reflect on how we can all help............
Its easy to feel down and lack enthusiasm...the odds seem to stacked against applicants
Coffee shop chain Costa said it received 1,701 applications for the posts at their new branch in Mapperley, Nottingham, after advertising in early December.
It comes ahead of new unemployment figures published by the Office for National Statistics tomorrow.
A spokeswoman for Costa said the firm was shocked at the response for the three full-time and five part-time posts at the shop, which is due to open on Woodborough Road on Friday.
She said applicants for the posts, with wages between £6.10 and £10 an hour, ranged from new graduates to former managers who were clearly overqualified for the positions.
The applicants included employees of music chain HMV and Clinton Cards, which have both been among a number of high street stores forced to call in the administrators due to the tough economic climate.
More than 1,000 jobs are to be lost at HMV as administrators announced it is to close 66 of the music chain's 220 UK stores over the next two months. Hundreds of jobs were also lost when Clinton went into administration last year but many were saved when the brand was bought by a US firm.
The spokeswoman for Costa said: "We were shocked at the response - I don't think we expected anything like the number of applications we received. Applicants ranged from new graduates to ex-shop managers among others, and we've been really encouraged to see so many people wanting to work at their local Costa store."
The government's back-to-work schemes have suffered a setback after Appeal Court judges agreed with a university graduate's claim that unpaid schemes were legally flawed.....
Clearly the Government has a problem. The problem for us as a country is sadly we pick up the bill
Assessing the suitability of placements is one issue here the other is unpaid work and exploitation
Where you have educated people with work experience there is a fundamental issue with this programme
You only have to look at the select committee material featured through this Network of sites the see the issue
Look at this BBC article
"Cait Reilly, 24, claimed that requiring her to work for nothing at a Poundland store breached laws on forced labour.
Judges quashed the regulations underpinning the work schemes.
But Miss Reilly's solicitors and the government have clashed on the implications of the ruling.
The judges' decision effectively prevents the government continuing with the programme in its current form. However, ministers are bringing new, more precise, regulations to Parliament later in the day to allow these schemes to carry on.
Yet, the case will be seen as a setback for the Department of Work and Pensions' (DWP's) flagship back-to-work schemes.
Meanwhile, the government said it was seeking permission to appeal to the Supreme Court.
Benefit withdrawal
Miss Reilly, a University of Birmingham geology graduate, and 40-year-old unemployed HGV driver Jamie Wilson, from Nottingham, both succeeded in their claims that the unpaid schemes were legally flawed. This was because the regulations behind the schemes did not comply with the Act of Parliament that gave the DWP the power to introduce the programme.
They had lost their original case, but part of this decision has now been reversed by the Appeal Court.
Continue reading the main story
Analysis
Kevin Peachey
Personal finance reporter, BBC News
Solicitors acting for Cait Reilly bounded out of court to declare that anyone stripped of their benefits for failing to take part in back-to-work schemes can now claim the money back.
But, as ever with legal battles, it won't be as simple as that.
The government says it has no intention of making retrospective benefit payments.
Why? Firstly, because it is appealing against the court's decision. Secondly, because it is trying to find some alternative legal wriggle room.
So, there will be certainly be no immediate windfall for jobseekers who were unwilling to take part in these schemes.
The government knows it needs to rewrite its unlawful regulations quickly. Only then will jobseekers told, from now, to take part in back-to-work programmes still face the threat of losing their benefit if they refuse.
Miss Reilly said that in November 2011 she had to leave her voluntary work at a local museum and work unpaid at the Poundland store in Kings Heath, Birmingham, under a scheme known as the "sector-based work academy".
She was told that if she did not carry out the work placement - which, she said, involved stacking shelves and cleaning floors - she would lose her Jobseeker's Allowance.
Mr Wilson was told that his Jobseeker's Allowance would be stopped after he refused to take part in the Community Action Programme, which his lawyers said would have involved him working unpaid for 30 hours per week for six months.
Solicitor Tessa Gregory, of Public Interest Lawyers, which represented the duo, said: "This judgment sends Iain Duncan Smith back to the drawing board to make fresh regulations which are fair and comply with the court's ruling.
"Until that time, nobody can be lawfully forced to participate in schemes affected such as the Work Programme and the Community Action Programme.
"All of those who have been stripped of their benefits have a right to claim the money back that has been unlawfully taken away from them."
Continue reading the main story
“
Start Quote
Ultimately, the judgment confirms that it is right that we expect people to take getting into work seriously if they want to claim benefits”
Mark Hoban
Employment Minister
This could not happen until the end of the legal process. The solicitor said she was confident this case would ultimately be won, but the government said there would be no compensation.
"We have no intention of giving back money to anyone who has had their benefits removed because they refused to take getting into work seriously. We are currently considering a range of options to ensure this does not happen," said a spokesman for the DWP.
The government also pointed out that the Appeal Court judges backed the High Court's view that requiring jobseekers to participate in the scheme did not breach their human rights.
It said that it would bring new regulations forward straight away, allowing these schemes to continue.
"The court has backed our right to require people to take part in programmes which will help get them into work. It is ridiculous to say this is forced labour. This ruling ensures we can continue with these important schemes," said Employment Minister Mark Hoban.
Continue reading the main story
“
Start Quote
Those two weeks were a complete waste of my time as the experience did not help me get a job”
Cait Reilly
Government work schemes explained
"We are, however, disappointed and surprised at the court's decision on our regulations. There needed to be flexibility, so we could give people the right support to meet their needs and get them into a job. We do not agree with the court's judgement and are seeking permission to appeal, but new regulations will be tabled to avoid any uncertainty.
"Ultimately, the judgement confirms that it is right that we expect people to take getting into work seriously if they want to claim benefits."
'Rethink needed'
Miss Reilly said she was delighted with the ruling, claiming that making her give up her voluntary work and sending her to Poundland was wrong.
"Those two weeks were a complete waste of my time, as the experience did not help me get a job," she said.
"I was not given any training and I was left with no time to do my voluntary work or search for other jobs.
"The only beneficiary was Poundland, a multimillion-pound company. Later I found out that I should never have been told the placement was compulsory.
"I don't think I am above working in shops like Poundland. I now work part-time in a supermarket. It is just that I expect to get paid for working."
She said she hoped the government would "rethink" how it tackled long-term unemployment.
"I agree we need to get people back to work, but the best way of doing that is by helping them, not punishing them."
A number of union leaders and campaigners called on the government to ditch schemes requiring people to work for no pay or lose benefits.
Nicola Smith, of the TUC, said this was a good time to take a step back and look again at mandatory back-to-work schemes.
Tom Walker, employment law partner at law firm Manches, said: "This judgment upholds what is perhaps the key tenet of employment, namely the 'work wage bargain'.
"If someone gives their labour to a company, they should be paid for it. However well intentioned a workplace scheme may be, it is very dangerous to introduce compulsory unpaid labour into the UK employment market."
Dame Anne Begg, who chairs the Work and Pensions Select Committee, said the court ruled that the regulations were not clear or specific enough.
But she also suggested that the government should look at why Miss Reilly was sent to a retailer to do a work placement when she was already doing voluntary work in a museum - the kind of activity that this scheme was aimed at encouraging."
'Huge setback' for DWP
We have no intention of giving back money to anyone who has had their benefits removed because they refused to take getting into work seriously.DWP spokesman
You turn A legal battle now looms over whether jobless people who had benefits stopped because they refused to take part in the schemes are entitled to a refund.
Claiments solicitors said later the ruling means "all those people who have been sanctioned by having their jobseeker's allowance withdrawn for non-compliance with the back-to-work schemes affected will be entitled to reclaim their benefits".
Solicitors acting for Cait Reilly bounded out of court to declare that anyone stripped of their benefits for failing to take part in back-to-work schemes can now claim the money back.
But, as ever with legal battles, it won't be as simple as that.
The government says it has no intention of making retrospective benefit payments.
Why? Firstly, because it is appealing against the court's decision. Secondly, because it is trying to find some alternative legal wriggle room.
So, there will be certainly be no immediate windfall for jobseekers who were unwilling to take part in these schemes.
The government knows it needs to rewrite its unlawful regulations quickly. Only then will jobseekers told, from now, to take part in back-to-work programmes still face the threat of losing their benefit if they refuse.
The next stage
The regulations may involve the payback of Sanctions . With comments from TUC's Nicola Smith
Kieza designs prints for clothes and sells his own T-shirts