Archived on 6/5/2022

Jobcentre closing in Forest Hill?

anon5422159
18 Aug '16

Perhaps we don’t need so many Jobcentres now there are record high levels of employment?

I think the Tories should rebrand themselves “Labour” …as ensuring people have the dignity and security of a job seems to be a Tory phenomenon these days. :wink:

starman
18 Aug '16

Or perhaps the recent Job Centre closures are more indicative of a Tory wish to move this type of service into the private and charitable sector. IDS fought against this pre 2015 election. Now in the long grass it may be easier to achieve this Conservative goal.

anon5422159
18 Aug '16

I’ve never heard anyone say anything positive about the current Jobcentres and the way they operate. We may see some efficiency and service improvements if this is privatised. Fingers crossed for more Tory reforms.

armadillo
18 Aug '16

Without wanting to be too pedantic - what you actually mean is “record lows in number of people claiming Jobseekers Allowance”, which will be continue to be the general trend if there are no local Job Centers for people to get to to attend their fortnightly review meetings, which is mandatory in order to be able to continue claiming Jobseekers Allowance.

Could be a bit of a self fulfilling prophecy :wink:

anon5422159
18 Aug '16

If I understand correctly, are you suggesting that the 2.5M extra jobs created under the Tories (leading to the high employment rate I mentioned earlier) was inspired by Jobcentres being inconveniently far away to attend?

armadillo
18 Aug '16

Fair enough - I went a little off the cuff there. I didn’t appreciate that the chart you were referring to was based on the Labour Force Survey (a voluntary household survey) rather than just comparing those eligible to claim JSA against those that actually do (related to the other big employment news of yesterday - the unexpected drop in new claimants).