I LOVE this! "Search and work to keep the dole!" (I am not eligible for the dole either, boo.)

[MARYROSE02]

Search and work to keep the dole

 

• by:PATRICIA KARVELAS
  
• From:The Australian
  
• July 28, 201412:00AM
  

 

 

7

 

 

 

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7

[h=3]Patricia Karvelas[/h]

Victoria Editor

Melbourne

 

https://plus.google.com/106140687680516794384

 

 

 

 

JOB-seekers will be compelled to conduct 40 job searches a month and carry out up to 25 hours a week of community work to keep dole payments, in a radical extension of mutual oblig­ation to be unveiled by the federal government.

 

Extending work for the dole and the creation of new wage subsidies for the long-term unemployed will be a key part of the proposed $5.1 billion job placement system the government plans to role out next year.

The Abbott government’s draft model aims to cut red tape, reward job providers for finding jobs — rather than completing administration — and discourage training for training’s sake.

It will be imposed on current job providers such as Mission Australia, Sarina Russo and Ingeus from July next year as a prerequisite for funding.

Almost $900 million will be spent on extending the work-for- the-dole scheme over the three years from next July.

Jobseekers younger than 30 will be asked to do 25 hours’ work a week; those aged 30-49 will be asked to do 15 hours’ work a week; and people aged 50-60 will be asked to do 15 hours a week of an approved activity.The new system will create a“regional loading” for job providers, in recognition that labour-market conditions vary across the country.

Today marks the start of a month-long public consultation.

Mutual obligation has been extended to include jobseekers aged 50-59, while the new system will pool funds available for a new wage subsidy available for long-term unemployed.

Payments to job agencies will be changed to place greater emphasis on delivering employment rather than administration and process.

There will be four-, 12- and 26-week “outcome payments” to job providers, with higher levels of payments for achieving longer-term job outcomes for jobseekers with more complex needs, a move expected to generate wide support. Funding will be targeted to unemployed people who need the most support to find and keep a job. New wage subsidies will encourage employers to hire, train and retain jobseekers.

Work for the dole will be mandatory for all jobseekers younger than 50 unless they are working part-time or, in limited cases, undertaking training for a specific job that is in demand in their local area.

New subsidies are planned for mature-age workers and jobseekers younger than 30, as well as the long-term unemployed.

There are also myriad changes to improve the system, including a new employment-services contract that will be for five years, instead of the three previously offered.

In another break from the past, providers will be contracted to deliver the actual services they include in their tender.

Assistant Employment Minister Luke Hartsuyker told The Australian he has repeatedly been told by jobseekers, employers and service providers that the current model had lost focus.

“Under Labor, the system has become bogged down in red tape and administration,’’ he said. “Providers had become too reliant on being paid for filling in forms rather than achieving job outcomes.”

Payments will now be focused on outcomes — not service fees.

There will be greater reward for placing jobseekers in work, and additional payments for servicing post-placement of jobseekers.

The payments strengthen the focus on supporting disadvantaged jobseekers. That is where the biggest rewards are in the new system.

The service fee will now be paid six-monthly in advance, not every 13 weeks, as happens now. Mr Hartsuyker said the system needed to “reward performance over process”.

“Payments have been restructured so that providers have clearer incentives to help people find and keep a job.

“In order to succeed, providers will need to deliver higher-quality services to job seekers and supply candidates that better match the needs of employers.”

The new model and purchasing arrangements will be released in the formal tender in late September this year.

The mutual-obligation rules have been simplified so that there is “more consistency” in terms of what people are asked to do in return for their income support.

Most jobseekers will have to look for up to 40 jobs per month, but there will be flexibility for jobseekers with complex needs or special circumstances.

Jobseekers will be encouraged to look outside their immediate area for work and take advantage of funding that supports moving to take up a job.

The proposed system will vary obligation by age, with jobseekers up to 30 years of age with a full work capacity needing to work for the dole for 25 hours per week, for six months out of 12.

Those with partial work capacity in that age bracket will need to work 15 hours over the same period. This will be the same requirement for 30 to 49-year-olds. Jobseekers aged 50-60 will also have to do an approved activity for 15 hours per week for six months every 12 months. They can volunteer to do work for the dole, but it is not mandatory for this age group.

Those older than 60 do not have to do an approved activity but can volunteer if they wish to do work for the dole.

Co-ordinators will be contracted in each employment region to source work-for-the-dole places and work with host organisations and employment-service providers.

[Parley]

Yeah I'm not sure about this. Some benwfits for the young unemployed but I don't think olders folk should have to do it.

 

You wouldn't have to do it at 60 anyway.

Aren't you happy you are so rich you don't need the dole.

[Lynsey Nicolson]

Personally I would fully support an initiative like this in Scotland. Jobseeker Benefits is not a wage or a lifestyle choice. It is an aid to help you transition from on job to the next. This seperates the people who actually want to work from the people who choose not to work and see it as something they should be entitled too.

I'm sure an employer would look more favourably on a person that has been involved in a back to work scheme for x amount of hours a week than someone who is sitting on their backside doing nothing. Even volunteer/charity work goes in your favour and always looks good on a cv. Do that as well as looking to your 40 jobs a month.

The benedit system is bled dry in the uk from people who are not entitled to it and others suffer from it. There has been a reform on it years ago and another is under way and hopefully in years to come benefits are given to people that properly need it.

In Scotland at the moment a Jobseeker has to prove that they have applied for so many jobs every 2 weeks and I think that's right. It's not money for nothing.

[MARYROSE02]

Financially at least, I probably did make a mistake coming back to OZ at 54 when I could have stayed in my job with Royal Mail, got a better pension too.

 

Since I came back, I've found it hard to get regular work and when I'm not working, survive on an income of about $300 per week, hence the 'no dole for Dave'. I suppose I could have kept quiet about my UK income but I still would have had to dispose of all my assets here before I get any help. and someone might have dobbed me in to Centrelink.

 

It just irritates me seeing all these fit and healthy looking young people who are on disability benefits and still begging for yet more money to buy drugs and booze. Most of that 'disability' is alleged mental illness like depression and anxiety. Well, I suffer from anxiety, which I take medication for, yet I still push myself to work, 55 kilometres from home, enduring the public transport which heavily contributes to said anxiety. (The reason I first moved to Surry Hills was to avoid commuting long distances into the city.)

 

I hate the bloody panhandlers 'I need $2 to get home. I need $5 to buy some food.' They hang around the ticket office at Central hassling every person who buys a ticket, the same faces every bloody day. You see some who just kneel on the pavement holding a hat. Always seem to be smoking too, or reading the paper.

 

It's tough to be out of work. I've spent six months at a time, submitting endless applications, took me to well over 100 sometimes to get something, and I know there are many genuine people, like me! But I do hate the 'lowies', the ones for whom a disability pension is a lifestyle decision. Find a friendly doctor to sign the forms, or even bribe him to do it and you are set for life.

[Lynsey Nicolson]

 

It just irritates me seeing all these fit and healthy looking young people who are on disability benefits and still begging for yet more money to buy drugs and booze. Most of that 'disability' is alleged mental illness like depression and anxiety.

 

It's tough to be out of work. I've spent six months at a time, submitting endless applications, took me to well over 100 sometimes to get something, and I know there are many genuine people, like me! But I do hate the 'lowies', the ones for whom a disability pension is a lifestyle decision. Find a friendly doctor to sign the forms, or even bribe him to do it and you are set for life.

 

if I was to start on one my opinions would just keep spilling out and I might get into trouble.

 

Is alleged mental illness what I would call lazy?

My gran, mother and father have all worked for the benefits system over the years. My gran must have worked for over 40 years in it. My mother now works for the police force. In both of my mothers professions she has seen generation after generation following in family footsteps in collecting benefits. Families that my gran would have dealt with years ago!!

The reality of it is that it's easier to have a life on be benefits than to make one for yourself. I'm sickened by the amount of young girls who get pregnant for the benefits!! The above families even encouraged it!

 

I came home fro australia at the end of February this year and started looking for work. I was told that as I had been out of the country for more than two years I wouldn't be entitled to claim Jobseeker's Allowance until after 3 months and then have to take a residents test. I never signed on once after that 3 months was up. I applied for every job going. Took trial shifts. Part time work. But not once did I apply for dole. Why? Because after my first time travelling I came home and signed on and the attitude and disgust I recieved from the job centre and benefits officer made sure I never went back! She treated me like one of the ones who think they should be entitled to it for nothing. I have never felt so humiliated in my life. I can see why she had an attitude because of the ones she obviously sees on a day to day basis that claim disability when there is F all wrong with them. Or the ones who claim job seekers and have help getting interviews set up and never turn up!

[MARYROSE02]

I guess it can be a depressing experience in the dole offices, whether you are working there, or a 'customer?' I know I don't like going in them. Outside, I feel like I'm 'normal', inside, a 'loser.'

 

And I know there are many genuine cases. I have a friend on a disablity pension and she is often in deep pain, BUT, I also think that she would be better off doing a jog like mine 15 - 20 hours a week, although, again, if she took a job, she might lose her rights to the pension, if she had to drop out of work.

[starlight7]

Who is going to supervise these people? Will volunteer co-ordinators be expected to be policemen? The sector will be out on strike if they try that one.

[caramac]

I can see why it looks like an appealing option, but you wouldn't want to see what's happening the UK, happen there too. So called work experience/working to keep benefits is replacing real jobs as employers catch on to the free/extremely cheap labour idea. If there are real jobs out there, offer them as real jobs, not underpaid practise posts. No one needs 6 - 14 months training to work on checkouts, or shelf stacking at £2 an hour.

 

As for illness and disability, does the fact that you can't see it mean it doesn't exist? Of course not. My oh has to fight really hard on behalf of his patients who have severe mental health problems for them to keep their benefits. It's not easy.

 

My friend has severe depression and has to go through a gruelling interview every three months in order to keep hers. It does nothing to aid her recovery to have that stress so often. Three other friends have MS . You wouldn't necessarily be able to tell by looking at them, but they have to disclose it on job applications and guess what? They never get called for interviews. It must feel like everyone is against them - employers, government and society in general.

[MARYROSE02]

Yeah I'm not sure about this. Some benwfits for the young unemployed but I don't think olders folk should have to do it.

 

You wouldn't have to do it at 60 anyway.

Aren't you happy you are so rich you don't need the dole.

 

That's just NOT fair!

[Chortlepuss]

I've just spent a day's hard graft compiling selection criteria and tailoring my resume to fit a government job. It's a lot of work to apply for jobs properly. It takes 5 minutes to apply badly - and this is what the 40 a week ruling will entail, people applying for jobs randomly on Seek, safe in the knowledge that they'll rarely hear back. I wonder who, out of Abbot's mates from Ernst & Young, Deloitte etc.... got the big payout for documenting these recommendations? I've got a well paid job now, but spent 4 months or so out of work last year in Brisbane and it crushed me. My confidence only returned when I got offered a great temporary role in the UK whilst on holiday. It's hard to keep motivated, and I have never been eligible for any kind of dole/state support so we really suffered financially. I don't know what the answer is when so many highly qualified, motivated people with great skills can't get jobs. I do think that unemployment benefit should be paid for those that have been working however and have 'earned it', as opposed to those who have never worked.