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Hi all,
I hope this is the right forum but I couldn't see any others that seemed more appropriate.
Anyway, this morning after signing on, I was told I needed to attend an interview. During this interview I was told that my jobseeker's agreement wasn't right and that it would have to be changed. I was told that the only real changes would be that I now have to apply for 5 jobs per week which I agreed to. However, when I was looking through it just before, I noticed that she had also changed the number of hours I am available for work from 16 to over 40 which I didn't notice at the time. The reason it was at 16 is because I'm a single parent with a 7 year old son and, to be honest, I seriously doubt my ability to be able to manage a full time job and to properly care for my son (although I am fairly desperate to find a part time job).
Previously I was always told that, because I'm a single parent, I can restrict the number of hours I'm available to part-time hours, and looking on the internet I cannot find anything that says this has changed. But, with the number of changes that seem to be constantly happening, I'm a bit worried that it's changed and I do now need to look for a full time job. So, does anyone know if it's still the same or if it has suddenly changed?
Thanks Louise, that's reassuring. I'll be contacting them today, I just wanted to be sure as I'm not too confident of being given the right information by the advisers there. It seems that with all the changes, there's quite a few advisers not keeping up with them too well themselves judging by the amount of times people are told different things by different advisers.
It definitley is a good thing I spotted it too. If I hadn't and only applied for part time work when I'd 'agreed' to look for full time work, I suspect that would be considered a good enough reason for a sanction now.
Also, while I'm here, are there any rules regarding appointments for single parents? When I signed on, and was told I would need to go for the second interview I was given a time an hour before I needed to pick my son up from school. Because I rely on public transport this was far too close and usually they'll just give me a more convenient time. This time, they refused and I was told if I wasn't at the appontment I would get a sanction. This left me with a few hours to find someone to pick him up instead. Luckily I did manage to find someone, but only because they were off work that day. If it wasn't for that I would have been forced to take my son out of school for the afternoon just to bring him along or be sanctioned for 4 weeks. I want to put in a complaint about this, but if they're allowed to do this then there doesn't seem much point. The worst thing is, my interview only took a few minutes. The amount of time they spent arguing with me about not being able to change it took ljust as long as the actual interview I had to go back for!
We have been having chats about this on on another thread. Here is a link to it, look at page 4, especially the posts from Tracey40 and the replies to her.... it seems bizarre to me that if single parents can restrict their work to during school hours, then why should appointments be any different?
Thanks Louise, I'll go and take a look at that thread. I phoned the Jobcentre earlier and I've got an appointment on monday. The lady I spoke to asked one of the lone parent advisors if I would be able to change it and she confirmed what you told me and says I shouldn't have any problems (although she did say to make sure I told the advisor about this rule so it seems I might have to explain to them what their own rules actually are!).
Yes, I am sure that is the case, unfortunately
Hi Louise, I wonder if you can help with my query:
I know the rules say that single parents are able to restrict the number of hours they are available to work to 16 hours per week, and the rules specifically mention that parents of children uner 12 are able to restrict the TIMES they are available for work to 'school hours', so that parents would not need to seek work outside these times, but...
do you know if restricting the number of hours you can work to 16, only applies to parents if they have children under 12, and does this mean that once their child is 13, a single parent will have to look for work of at least 40 hours per week?
In other words will they be treated like any other jobseeker with no children? or does it just mean that you can no longer restrict the TIMES you are available to school times but will still only be expected to seek work of 16 hours. Hope you can help as I've always found the wording around this very vaque. And Thank You for all your help and hard work on this site!
Hi cathy-marie
You can take a look at this article about Lone Parent Flexibilities for parents on JSA, do note that these are the current flexibilities that are available to lone parents and that these can/are changing as DWP bring in new changes/rules for job seekers.
Currently if you have children under 13 you can restrict the numbers of hours you are available to work to allow for your care responsibilities i.e the minimum of 16 hours. You are right about the guidelines being rather vague when it comes to having children over 13, and the amount of hours you would be expected to be working.
You could try to clarify this with your advisor.
Thank you Louise, yes the guidllines are rather vague, and bearing in mind that single parents are expected to spend up to 3 hours per day traveling to and from work, this means a 40 hour job could actually mean being away form home for 55 hours week, perhaps all of our caring responsibilities are expected to disappear once our children reach 13!
It would be helpful if we could clarify such things with Job Centre advisors but sadly I dont feel that Job Centre advice can be trusted, it was after all an 'advisor' who changed gabbaels' agreement from 16 hours to 40 knowing full well she has a 7 year old child. Personally I find the info from sites like this far more helpful. So thanks again for all your hard work in keeping us properly informed!
Oops sorry, Thank you Sally!
Hi cathy-marie and it really is Louise this time!
You're right when you say the advisors are not all singing from the same hymn sheet, however since it is the advisor that implements things for you locally, you need to consult them first and then if you think it is wrong, take it from there.
Hi gabbaell
Welcome to One Space.
Huh, that was a sneaky change in your agreement! Although there has been some talk of this concession changing in the future, at the moment there is no change and single parents with a child under 12 can restrict their working hours to school hours, but ar expected to find work of at least 16 hours a week. Please speak with your advisor and remind them of this and if there is any difficulty then complian up the chain of command.
Good job you spotted this!