I’ve posted below another video of another jobcentre security guard being an arse because he can be an arse. I have quite a collection of these videos and audios now – a gallery of petty incidents courtesy of the DWP.
I took this video earlier this year at Ashton Under Lyne jobcentre at one of Charlotte’s Thursday demonstrations.
The video shows the usual sour stuff.
In the video, the security guard said that an older disabled woman who was sitting in her wheelchair in a cold wind outside the jobcentre had to stay outside until the time of her jobcentre appointment. She was not allowed to wait for her meeting inside the jobcentre.
The guard said that people were only allowed to enter the jobcentre ten minutes before their appointment times. Before that, they had to wait outside. You’ll see that the guard left absolutely no room for argument. No exceptions would be made.
No exceptions would be made even when they could and should be made. The woman sitting outside in her wheelchair was elderly and she said that she felt cold. The weather wasn’t terrible that day, but there was a chill wind on the corner and the cold cut through if you weren’t moving about.
Not that the facts of the weather mattered. It turned out that the weather wasn’t actually relevant to the rule. The guard said that people had to wait outside even if the weather was terrible. You can hear me ask the security guard about this in the video. I asked if people could come inside when the weather was bad. He said No, people could only enter the jobcentre ten minutes before their appointments. That apparently included people who were older, unwell and/or not able to move around or to head elsewhere to keep warm. Probably, some people turn up to the jobcentre early, because they don’t want to be sanctioned for being late. Probably, some people want to wait inside the jobcentre, because outside is very cold some days. Not everyone can afford to wait in cafes and pay for coffees and so on.
But rules are rules, it seems. Blah blah blah. The guard would not be moved. The justification for the rule was that you’d get a bottleneck if you let everyone in.
I’m posting this to show you again how rigid and dismissive this bureaucracy can be. I think of these incidents as examples of a sort of pettiness in the extreme. Some may think these small episodes don’t mean much, but they do. They add up. They certainly add up for people who regularly use these bureaucracies and hit these brick walls as a matter of course. People are told No from the off. They are denied any chance at an adult conversation. They have no opportunity to negotiate. They are dismissed out of hand in a way that I rarely am in my everyday life.
So. There’s a great deal of discussion at the moment re: the reasons why so many people are so angry. Of course, I can’t speak for everyone, or even anyone, but I often wonder what role these malign bureaucracies play in that fury. We hear a lot about the ways that people have been abandoned by government and the elite. We hear less about the ways that people are cornered and bullied by the same government and elite. I realise that jobcentre and frontline staff are under pressure and I also know that they are not all bad. The systems they operate in are rotten, though. The elite’s contempt for everyone is everywhere.
There must be a deliberate policy behind the behaviour of the guards in Ashton jobcentre. Isn’t it unusually strict, even for the DWP ?
In contrast, at my local jobcentre in the southwest, people often come in early to sign-on. Because of course no-one wants to be late and risk a sanction. But the staff are quite happy for anyone to use the computer terminals or consult the job lists in the ‘Jobzone’ area, while they wait. Even general members of the public not actually signing can come in to use the jobsearch facilities. No-one bothers them, it’s just like the public library.
A couple of bored-looking G4S guards stand about in the background, but they never speak to the claimants. Unless there is an argument, or some sort of incident.
Ashton sounds like a prototype G4S jobcentre of the future.
Or else its just that things really are tougher up North.
It seems to me that the G4S security people are coming on a bit strong at Ashton Under Line, and as Jeff suggests above, maybe that’s a local policy decided upon by some particularly demagogic manager.
In Cardiff there are rather a lot of G4S guards, but they are generally all rather polite and helpful, though of course they are paid to look a little menacing.
I’ve only once ever been asked to move off DWP property, and that was somewhat sheepishly by a G4S guard when a small group of us were protesting and handing out leaflets informing claimants of their rights – the same guard later came out and asked for several copies of the leaflet, and was witnessed passing them out to colleagues. The next time I saw him was when I went into that same Jobcentre the next moring to sign on!
The funniest interaction I ever had with one of the G4S guards was when I was in there waiting one morning to sign on when he suggested I sign up to become a security guard at the Jobcentre. I was polite to him, and smiled at the absurd idea of me in that kind of role, whilst at the same time thinking that hell would have to freeze over first before I’d even begin to consider taking such a step. I assume by now that that particular guard has been disabused of ideas of making such sugestions to me.
Kate is correct, the system is increasingly rotten, but there are still some decent people working in it. My experience at the jobecentre I go it is largely neutral, if not mildy positive, and I have found the two advisors I see to be both professional and helpful, though one of them isn’t often as clued up as he could be, (tried to tell me that I had to agree to use the electronic pad, when it’s a free choice – but fair play, he seemed quite jubilant when I told him one morning that there was an FoI out about it, and he eagerly asked me to send him the link – I think he was quite gleeful at the prospect of putting his line manager in place, who’d told him that it was ‘compulsory’ that everyone use the electronic pad) However, I feel sometimes that I have something of a charmed existence, as I hear from people who use the library jobclub, where I volunteer, that some of the avdisors in that jobcentre are really nasty pieces of work – I’ve only experienced one really nasty advisor, who, without informing me, decided unlaterally, and rather spitefully to put me on the Work Programme after I had had the audacity to ask her if she was ready to see me, after I’d been sat waiting for about 15 minutes – I guess she wasn’t the most popular member of staff, as whilst I was waiting a completely different advisor came over to me and asked if I was being seen, to which I replied that I was, and that it was the person sat at the desk, to which the advisor rolled her eyes – at this point, I hadn’t managed to get a Welsh language advisor, despite applying for JSA in Welsh, and supplying my jobsearch in Welsh every two weeks – which was just signed off, as none of the advisors I saw at the time understood or spoke the language. It was only a while later, when I caused some consternation at the preliminary interview to go on the WP where I presented a letter withdrawing my consent to share information – which terminated that interview, and I was informed that I’d hear back within 28 days about it, and that I should report to sign on as usual in the interim – the next time I arrived at the jobcentre I was met at the door by a Welsh speaking advisor, I guess the message had finally gotten through that me being a Welsh speaking claimant needed a Welsh speaking advisor. This new advisor had heard about my interview, and asked, (and continued to ask) whether I’d heard anything, (and eventually even suggesting that I didn’t pursue it, but wait for them to get back to me!). Eventually, some 11 months later, my advisor somewhat reluctantly informed me that he’d been e-mailed by his line manager suggesting that it was time I went on the WP, (he even showed me the e-mail). Again, it threw a bit of a spanner in the works, as I insisted I did it all in Welsh, (JCP advisor said it was my right!) which was quite fun, as, after a bit of an initial confrontation, my work coach at Interserve started to give me the low down about the company he was working for, as, even though it was an open plan office, no-one else in the room understood Welsh! He eventually left, (he told me that he was actively seeking a new job quite some time before he left) which meant that Interserve had to find me a new Welsh speaking work coach… They initially tried to forget their legal obligation to provide services in Welsh, and pass me on to another, non Welsh speaking work coach in the same office, but I specifically asked, (i.e. politely demanded) that I have a Welsh speaking person, which they agreed to do, and found someone in a different office in a different town a train ride away. I didn’t mind, as it was Interserve who were picking up the cost of the train fare, and it was quite pleasant to get out of the city on an expenses paid trip every fortnight! The Welsh ‘speaker’ turned out to be a very pleasant person who’d had their entire education in the medium of Welsh, but who hadn’t spoken the language since leaving school, so had lost the confidence to speak the language, (very common in South East Wales) so I was speaking Welsh to him, and he was replying in English!
I think that whilst there are the inevitable rotten apples in every barrel, we need to remember that all those who work in JCP are workers, and fellow human beings who deserve to be treated with politeness and respect – even though that is extremely hard sometimes. If we do that, at least we inhabit the higher moral ground, and makes it a little harder for them to be obnoxious to us. Basically, don’t give them any excuse to make our lives harder than they already are. There will always be those who, no matter what, will want to flay us alive, simply because we are claimants, but they are in the minority. I don’t think anyone should be sanctioned, for anything, but there are some claimants who seem to bring sanctions upon themselves through being complete and utter prats. Stick to the rules, and you won’t get a sanction that will stick – it’s still pretty easy to avoid a sanction if you’re on JSA, even if it’s not so easy if you’re on UC with it’s completely insane demands.
… unless everyone with your adviser sticks to the rules – they have to sanction enough people to meet their targets. Sometimes it’s just your turn. Because it’s your fault that two buses in a row didn’t turn up and the third sailed past you because it was full – making you five minutes late. Because you deliberately gave the other advisors the flu – if they’re running late, you get the sanction. Because it’s your fault that someone you applied to scheduled the interview on the same day as your sign-on – go to the interview and get sanctioned for missing a JC appt, go to the appt and get sanctioned for turning down the interview.
Yes, keep thinking along those lines, that if you do as the bouncers and probation officers at the JobCentre say, then everything will be just fine and life wonderfully sanction free .
What could possibly go wrong ….
”Stick to the rules, and you won’t get a sanction that will stick…”
Are you in for a surprise….
I’m super careful and almost got one this year.
When claiming UC they keep changing the signing day, time and even frequency, to try to trip the claimant up .
Arranging my next signing on appointment.
Job ‘Coach'(All friendly):
”Is next Friday the 4th good ?”
Me:
”Sure !”
Jc: Friday morning ok?
Me :
”Yes”
Jc: Friday at 11 am ?
Me: Ok
. JC: ok see you next Friday
So I have to go next Friday at 11 am , haha I won’t forget to do that .
But when I got home I decided to mark it on my calendar , what ?
Friday is the 5th, it’s Thursday that is the 4th
I check the the tiny little. appointment card, no day mentioned
just 4th of … at 11am
So i went on the following Thursday at 11am, and signed on ok with nothing said .
Had I gone on Friday as instructed ….
it would have been , I, Eddie Booth .
without a leg to stand on as the card clearly says the 4th …
be careful