lessons learned

Following good English tradition, I signed on today. I was last unemployed in about 1965 or 6. Then the priority was to sign on indicating your availability for work, then you had the right to seek unemployment benefit (the dole money). I attended the office today for the first time and came away quite depressed. The priority would appear to be to meet the government targets. Number of people seen on time, paid on time etc. Yet the 'old' task of matching vacancies with people and their skills seems to have fallen by the board. I view that as odd, if not worse. All it seems to have done is enabled staff reductions at the job centres, which quite possibly was a part of the goal. I'm told this shift in emphasis has occurred over the last ten years (our labour governments time in office), which matches with the emphasis that Gordon Brown, our prime minister in waiting, seems to have made a global objective. Metrics rule, sod the service. This matches the recent newspaper stories about the police clocking up their stats by generating a crime report for each fraud enacted by a twelve year old boy, rather than simply creating one. When will they learn. When we are rewarded by the number of crosses in the box, then we go out to get more crosses in the box. Whether its a reduction in crime or more crime reports, people moved from benefits to work or people seen on time. Pavlovian or...?

The stick side is deferred for a few weeks until the individuals efforts aren't meeting the metrics, then advice is given, training is offered, other lines of investigation are offered etc. Then after six months the allowance is terminated, which is probably the reason that our numbers on extended sick pay is rising, that being an option for government funding when the job seekers allowance has timed out. Am I being too cynical? Perhaps.