Working Links - a raw deal

Working Stinks | 24.08.2006 09:52

Working Links - a pilot scheme in Nottingham. Avoid it like the Plague!

Having heard many peoples experences of Working Links, I feel the need to write a little something about them here.

Working Links is a private company that you can be refered to from the Dole office when you have been unemployed for 6 months or more. They then take over your signing on and set up a plan for you getting back to work. The Dole office will sell them up to you telling you that they will help you with a CV, buy you stuff such as interview clothes, mobile phone etc.

Working Links make money from getting you back in to work, and are Draconian. Were you aiming for a particular type of work that you find fulfilling? scrap that, Working Links will make you take any shitty job that is out there.

They often sit you at a desk watching over you for an hour at a time making you phone loads of bars, factories from out of the Yellow Pages to see if they have any vacancies , they also tell you that you must phone these places up and offer you services for free for a shift in order to get your foot in the door, That's right unpayed work!

Everyone I have spoken to has said that they really regret going with Working Links, and if they could go back they would take the signing on weekly over it.

Working Stinks

Comments

Hide the following 6 comments

Nottingham Clamants Action website

24.08.2006 10:55

A Nottingham-based site has all manner of stuff about benefits, including a link to the Brighton paper, 'Dolescroungers' who have written loads about Working Links:

http://www.dolescroungers.org.uk/

Nottingham Clamants Action
AKA Nottingham Campaign Against the Job Seekers Allowance (NCAJSA) website is:

http://www.geocities.com/ncajsa/
Don't think there's Nottingham claimants group at the moment but one could easily be relaunched.

Workslave
Homepage: http://www.geocities.com/ncajsa/

Correction

24.08.2006 12:06

AWoL bulletin is called Missing Links. Website is called Dolescroungers.

Workslave
Homepage: http://www.geocities.com/ncajsa

Update and correction

26.08.2006 22:18

Work Directions, not Working Links (but it's the same beast)

The Nottingham Employment Zone is or was run by Nottingham Links, a partnership of Working Links and Nottingham City Council.

Going back a few years your signing on would have been transfered to Nottingham Links after 6 months.

Then came Work Directions In Nottingham, Birmingham and London which are the group that now take over your signing on after 6 months, However Work directions are Largely owned by The Ingeus Group, Also called Mission Work Directions Australia, Also called Mission Australia

Working Links is largely owned by Mission Australia.

http://www.dolescroungers.org.uk/ez/variant.htm

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mission_Australia

working stinks

discussion

26.08.2006 23:29

I have posted the above article on the Leftlion forum

http://www.nottinghamculture.co.uk.

There is a good discussion going on, with a worker from working links joining in.

working stinks

There are more of them

27.08.2006 11:38

There are quite a few of these work things around Nottingham, They try and force you in to full time work because they get paid more than if you were in part time.

badall
mail e-mail: dj.badall@gmail.com

Long term unemployed erection

08.03.2008 21:01

Here's a good one from Left Lion, issue 10 (April 2006)

http://www.leftlion.co.uk/issue10/leftlion_issue_10_web.pdf

about an art exhibition by Architects of Air:

"We were lucky enough to walk through the ‘Arcazaar’,
when it was exhibited as the main attraction at an arts
and environment day held at Nottingham Castle. Working
alongside staff from Architects of Air, a group of long term
unemployed people, supported by employment specialists
Working Links, were given the chance to erect the
structure."

"given the chance" indeed.

In need of a chance