Forums Forums National News Poundland Graduate Cait Reilly Wins Appeal

Is there anywhere I can find a list of the companies who get free labour from this scheme?

will try and find you a link. i know that several charities jibbed it as they were losing custom.

Thank you. I'm going to try not to use these companies.

I will also be avoiding these companies

Wow.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2013/mar/15/dwp-law-change-jobseekers-poundland

Government is quite used to getting its own way and changes laws to suit on a periodic basis. Quite a slap in the face for the judicial system, but anyway..hey ho!..Onwards and upwards

The thing which bothered me about this case was that she brought it about because it was hindering her volunteer work at a Pen Museum.

She was doing this volunteer work not at evenings or weekends, but at the times she was supposed to be available and willing to work.

The way that I would see the volunteering angle is that "The Pen Museum is operated entirely by volunteers" in any case. One would assume that the other volunteers have all the same calls on their time as she does, except that she didn't have any work to go to.

She's really pushing it to claim that she should have been at The Pen Musuem instead of Poundland (or somewhere else).

Whether she should have been sent to Poundland is another thing altogether. If she genuinely picked up valuable work skills there, then she should appreciate that. Whether she would pick up any valuable work skills by doing extra volunteering at The Pen Museum is very much open for debate.

When I was unemployed and did volunteer work I had to jump through all kinds of hoops to prove I wasn't doing this during the times I was supposed to be seeking and available for any work. If I did any volunteer work during what's regarded as a normal working day (9-5 Mon to Friday) then part of my benefit would be stopped.

That's more than a little disturbing.

Nobody, from beggar to prince, is supposed to be above the law. The fact that our unelected government can change the law retrospectively to suit itself is deeply worrying.