I'm a dole scrounger now

In all honesty I plan to be back at work in weeks rather than months so anything major like council tax reductions will be more paperwork and complication that they are worth. If I end up on the dole for more than a couple of months I'll reconsider though!
 
it sucks when you have a morgage to pay and you loose you're job, you can get a flat from the council if you're on jsa.
 
Never been unemployed before whilst needing to take benefits but it could be on the cards so not really sure what to expect.

How did you find the procedure/dealing with them to get it sorted?

Part of me really wouldn't want to take benefits but then I think why the hell not I've worked since leaving college at 17 so have paid enough in tax to at least get something if I need it.
 
R5Rich said:
Never been unemployed before whilst needing to take benefits but it could be on the cards so not really sure what to expect.

How did you find the procedure/dealing with them to get it sorted.
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The first day I was at home I completed the online application which was pretty simple. I then received a phone call the same day giving me an appointment at the local job centre.
Looking good at that point!

I attended but as my last official day at work had not yet passed they couldn't start my claim. Sadly it took them absolutely ages to work this out even though I alerted them to it at the start of the interview.
I was then told I needed to wait until after the end of my employment and phone up for a new appointment. I then had to battle with them to make me an appointment whilst I was there. It was unnecessarily difficult to get them to do this and I found it very annoying. I can see why there is the need for a security guard there, as I was nearing the level of frustration where I wanted to throw something!

The 2nd interview/assessment was a lot easier although they made me attend half an hour in advance in order to complete a tickbox questionairre which had only 18 questions. Again, massively frustrating.

Their systems cannot cope with people like me who use the internet for job hunting and many tick boxes were totally irrelevant in this day and age. Even the interviewer agreed they were archaic.

I thought that was it but then I had to attend the following day to sign on.
This clashed with an interview so I asked if I could come in earlier. Apparently not. I needed to phone in on the morning of the following day to see if they could accommodate me.

I did so and they asked me to come straight in.
Signing on was a repeat of the previous interview, which given it happened only 24 hours earlier was a bit of a farce.
Now I will need to do that every 2 weeks but I hope not to have to do it at all!

Not a positive experience, but mainly due to their lack of competence than the process that needed to be followed.

Hope this helps and that you don't have to find out 1st hand.
 
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I certainly will. If I develop a heroin habit I'll toast you personally every time I shoot up;)
 
I've never been on JSA because I can't stand dealing with job centre workers, they should all be shot.

Congratulations on having the patience for dealing with them, you must be a nice person
 
Deadbeat said:
You signed on and went to Cyprus? On a whim?
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Why not? Got family out there so it only cost £100 for the plane tickets.

Anyway the claim is only dated from after I got back to the UK. Just had my first session today with them, took 5 minutes. Get £60 a week off them for upto 6 months. Should be back in work or have got my company up and running before then.

They do seem to insist on showing you their useless database of jobs and asking if you want to be a Seibel Project Manager or something else random that came up when they put the word IT into it.
 
R5Rich said:
Never been unemployed before whilst needing to take benefits but it could be on the cards so not really sure what to expect.

How did you find the procedure/dealing with them to get it sorted?

Part of me really wouldn't want to take benefits but then I think why the hell not I've worked since leaving college at 17 so have paid enough in tax to at least get something if I need it.
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I filled in the form online the day after I was made redundant, and got a letter through the post saying they had tried to call twice with no answer. This wasn't true as no missed calls on my mobile. The letter came through on the Saturday and said I should call an 0800 during office hours to arrange a meeting, but I was on a flight out of the country at 7am on Monday and you can't dial 0800 numbers from outside the UK so sorted that when I got back. Got called into an interview the first day which took 20 minutes or so, a form filling process primarily. Then today and every fortnight I go in for a 5 minute chat with the lady.

I have no problem claiming benefits, £250 a month is £250 a month and I've paid enough bloody taxes through my working life to not feel in the slightest bit guilty. I don't particularly need the money, mainly signing on to get my NI contributions paid but not going to turn down what they offer either.
 
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