Wednesday 29 April 2009

Chocolate Teapot

The Jobcentrerplus Job Bus finally appeared in Tenbury today.

The bus is scheduled to spend just 5 hours a month in Tenbury, on the fourth Wednesday after the first Monday of each month. (Except when it doesn't)

The March visit was cancelled as the staff were in London getting a "Customer Service" award, and the bus will not be here in May due to staff holidays.

It can also be cancelled at short notice if any company makes or threatens to make a number of staff redundant elsewhere in the County. Or as the "Bus Boss put it".....


In terms of the outreach programme the mobile office undertakes the week numbers are calculated using the monday as the first day, where the monday falls in the previous month the first week of the month will be the first full week of the new month, in this case week commencing 6.4.09, therefore the mobile office is due in Tenbury week commencing 27.4.09.

However, as I am sure you will appreciate, the current economic climate has had an impact on the availability of the mobile office, we are increasingly being called into service to deal with large scale redundancies and companies undertaking short time working, in these instances, as has always been the case, the outreach programme will be suspended, often at very short notice, and priority given to the needs of these customers

Although very knowledgeable, all the staff can offer is access to the list of jobs already available on the Internet. The bus cannot be used for either signing on initially or subsequently. This has to be done by phone in the first instance and in person at either Leominster, Kidderminster, or Ludlow.

So, if it doesn't arrive does anyone miss it? Well blink and you might!

Yet another example of how the people of Tenbury miss out?

The next visit? By my calculations 24th June, but don't hold your breath.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

So let's get this clear:
1) The jobs bus comes monthly
2) In a four month period it comes twice
3) Adult numeracy has reached a new nadir: the people who run the jobs bus think that twice in four months is monthly.
4) If people are out of work, the bus doesn't come, because it is busy
5) If 'they' are receiving an award, the bus doesn't come, because self-gratification comes above doing what you are paid for by the likes of you and me.
6) If the staff are on holiday, the bus doesn't come, because there are no relief staff.
7) Clearly if the staff are ill, (6) above applies
8) Equally clearly, if the bus breaks down, (6) applies.
9) What happens in Feb 2011? Feb 2011 starts on a Tuesday, so their first week of Feb (on their daft system) starts on Feb 7, so their 1st Weds is Feb 9, their 2nd Weds is 16th, their 3rd Weds is 23rd and - guess what - there is no 4th Weds - so no bus!
10) It is obvious that the bus is there to give the staff something to do, not to help people get a job.
11) Why not use the Library or Cafe 27 as a job-shop. It could have a weekly session, where people could sign on as well