After a recent short term job I signed on again. On Monday I had an appointment in the Jobcentre followed by a back to work meeting with an advisor. This turned out to  be a mini lecture by an advisor on the changes being made to the sanctions regime. I think it says it all that the first thing you get told about when you become unemployed is sanctions. It’s as if they’re saying “Oh you’ve become unemployed? How unfortunate. This is how we’re going to punish you.”

15 minutes after our appointment was due to start (of course, because being unemployed we had nothing better to do with our time) six of us were taken into a room by two advisors one of which then outlined our responsibilities and the potential sanctions for not meeting those responsibilities. Nothing was said about their responsibilities. I didn’t record what the advisor said and there were no handouts…