It’s been a quiet few months signing at the Charles St Jobcentre in Cardiff every fortnight.  On one occasion I had to attend a job club for around an hour on one of my signing days but apart from that nothing else to report.  I have been told by my work coach that I won’t be able to just do nothing apart from applying for jobs and the mention of volunteering was mentioned a number of times.  Of course we are talking compulsory volunteering under threat of benefit sanctions although those words have not been used.   I remember at my previous workfare at Tenovus Cancer Care where I was bullied by an employee who knew full well that if I complained to the Jobcentre then my placement would be stopped and I would have to justify why I should not face a sanction.  In the end I was kicked off my placement because according to them I put my experiences online.  If my comments had been complimentary then you could guarantee they would not have ended my placement.   I’m sure most charities that support workfare play the same game as Tenovus by pretending that they only take volunteers.  At Tenovus they took the payment from the provider and made a point of informing the forced volunteer that they would have to sign a form  stating that they are a volunteer.   Of course they knew full well that if the volunteer didn’t sign up then they would be sent back to the Jobcentre and face a rubber stamped sanction.   In my case I was allowed to give my reasons why I shouldn’t face a sanction before any sanction was imposed but Tenovus  didn’t bother to contest it so I wasn’t sanctioned.  I remember when I first started at Tenovus, they had to reduce the hours of genuine volunteers to give me the required hours for my placement.  That shows that all they were concerned with was making money out of the unemployed.  The one thing you can guarantee about charities, it doesn’t matter how bad they treat people, if you include the word cancer in the title of your charity then people will hate to criticise you for any wrong doing.

Just like most people who are unemployed, I have my attendance time changed on a regular basis. In the old days you had the same time every fortnight.  As work coaches have a certain number of claimants to deal with it doesn’t make sense that they alter them every time.  They are just switching our times for the sake of it unless you want to think naughty thoughts that just maybe they are hoping we will miss our appointments and face some form of sanction to our benefits.  The job club at the Jobcentre usually lasts for around forty five minutes or so and usually on my signing day.  I have had to attend that on three or four times over the last nine months. 

Although my neck is still swollen on my right side, well the glands are swollen,  I still expect to be sent on some form of workfare this year but it probably won’t be at Tenovus.  They wouldn’t like to see me again I’m sure.   I will report back on here what they do with me as I probably won’t have any say in the matter.  A refusal often leads to sanctions so that isn’t an option.