Boycott Workfare call for sanction stories
Posted: June 12th, 2013 | Author: boycottworkfare | Filed under: Uncategorized | 2 Comments »
Boycott Workfare outside Policy Exchange after “ruining” their event
In return for supporting the passage of a retrospective law to steal £130 million from claimants who were illegally sanctioned, the Labour party were promised by the government that there would be an independent investigation into the sanction process. Of course, we expect little from an investigation that came at the price of justice for claimants. With no space for claimants to actually submit their concerns and experiences, the views of claimants will be not be represented.
With your help, Boycott Workfare would like to highlight the devastating impact that benefit sanctions are having on people’s lives. Collecting together your experiences of benefit sanctions we will be putting together a sanctions zine. Email us your words, however many or few you want to use. Things you may want to include may be:
– the length of the sanction
– the ‘reason’ the Job Centre gave for imposing the sanction and how they told you this ‘reason’
– how it affected your life, including its impact on your physical and mental health, your family and friendships
– how you coped during this time
– and how you are doing now e.g. still claiming JSA, stopped signing on, signing on to a different benefit, stress/worry about further sanctions etc.
– perhaps you have not been sanctioned, but have been bullied and threatened with sanctions
Email us at info@boycottworkfare.org
Feel free also to submit drawings and get in touch if you have any other ideas or suggestions. We also welcome submissions from those who are indirectly affected by benefit sanctions, such as welfare activists, welfare advisors and those involved in the Civil Service Rank and File Network.
We look forward to reading your submissions!
You’re right it is slave labour, last year 2012 I was forced to do a voluntary job under the pretense it was work experience. Before 2011 I was self employed but following an accident I needed spinal surgery. As you know following any large operation you need time to recover. So being Self employed they put me on contribution based ESA. At the start of 2012 the jobcentre “ENCOURAGED” me to attend one of these SERICO subcontracted ENGAGED WORK PROGRAMMES. In May the government decided that you could only get contribution based ESA for 12 months. I asked numerous times my ENGAGED WORK PROGRAMME Mentor what is going to happen to my benefits and I was told that if you are on this programme they won’t stop your ESA. (YEAH RIGHT) .
SO the time came that my ESA stopped, So I stopped my so called voluntary work, without notice. Within 2 hours I was receiving constant phone calls from the WORK PROGRAMME Mentor and over the next few weeks threatening letters saying they were going to notify the Jobcentre and get my ESA stopped. Also they would come round my house knocking on the door in pairs. I just didnt answer the door. I also report the number to my phone supplier and changed my mobile number.
This voluntary work is slavery. Voluntary work or volunteering should be done as a hobby in your own time with an organisation that interests you. I.E. volunteering with ST Johns Ambulance or a Steam Railway not treated as an unpaid employee.
If its £6+ an hour min wage haw come the gov can get away with forcing claimants to work for 30 hours for their benefits which is less than £2 an hour. Sounds like slave labour. Thought slavery was abolished
Count me in Linda, I’ve also heard some distubing whispers that certain JCP managers are actually incentivising sanctions by creating a bonus system!!!! have you heard anything similar?