Jobcentre Plus Travel Discount Card - 50% off all Rail fares!

talbert

Pays not to work anymoreWhat next money off stamps?

Feel free to leave your job, become unable to pay your bills, potentially lose your home, not afford your family any decent christmas gifts and get the railcard discount

I'm sick to the **** teeth seeing blue collar **** posting about people on benefits as if it concerns them. Why the **** do you deify the **** masters of this country who shaft the people from all angles -- they're the reason people can't find a job. The money that goes to benefits is a **** pittance compared to the frivolous **** that the government **** our taxes away on year in, year out.

I just lost a job because it was a temporary contract and wasn't renewed. I sure as **** don't want to go back to the bloody jobcentre. I'm pretty sure almost no-one does. It's truly bleak and if you ever find yourself in that situation, you'll understand. I wouldn't be surprised if half of the people who whinge about job seekers are admin monkeys in jobs that you have to TRY to be fired from, full of whining, incompetent, disinterested dumb asses.

people on benefits (and i know quite a few) do not have loads of spare cash. in fact, most of them spend what they get in the first few days paying bills, buying food, etc. most people on benefits have no cash at all for the second week. but that money goes into local shops which employ mostly women part time who are trying to supplement the family income. many people are on minimum wage (not even living wage) and this is vital to them. the shopkeepers also make money which goes into things like the leisure industry and home improvements for their family , in turn creating jobs and on and up the money goes. or we could give the money to the banks so businesses can borrow just to keep going, get into more debt in the hope that things will get better which leads to failed businesses and more people on benefits. when all you nazis have finished with your ethnic cleansing, you may well find that you are now the lowest rung in society. I wish you well of it.

Pays not to work anymore

What next money off stamps?

london7117

I'm an Indian Citizen. Un-Employed. Please advice.

You can only get this if you are receiving one of the above mentioned benefits. To claim Jobseekers Allowance, you need to be a permanent resident of the UK, I believe. More info here: gov.uk/job…ity

sparklehedgehog

Foreigners that are unemployed get the Bank of England thrown at them … Foreigners that are unemployed get the Bank of England thrown at them especially if they're disabled, an ethnic minority and a pregnant lady! White, war hero male pensioner gets screwed and forgotten...Read lessRead more

Cool story bro, take your 'bah humbug' somewhere else (local MP would be a start...)

(edited)

I can't believe some of the moaning **** on here; I was unlucky enough to be out of work for six months; I got an interview for a job I knew I could do standing on my head - it was half the wages I normally work for but I thought... beggars can't be choosers.

Due to where the interview was it was going to cost me £25 to get there (Two buses and a taxi - I'd been forced to off-road the car three months earlier due to costs that my massive benefit payment wouldn't quite stretch to); I asked the job centre for help with the cost (If I got the job I wouldn't mind paying the money, but to pay it and not get it...). Did I get any help? No.

This would have made a pretty big difference.

As it was a friend lent me their car for the two interviews that I ended up having. I got the job.

So you see... the government helping people with little things like this can stop some of the self-righteous pricks on this forum from moaning about the unemployed by allowing them to get a job.

I'm unemployed, I have a disability, I have two children, I claim every benefit I can. I can't work normal hours in a normal job so there is very little help available to me in finding work. It's depressing how when I was serving in the RAF I was considered a "hero" but I'm now considered a layabout and a sponger. I hate it, but what am I supposed to do? If you're lucky enough to have a permanent job on decent pay then do me a favour and shut up about how the unemployed are all just too lazy to get up off their **** and find work.

Merry Christmas.

And a Happy New Year.

Foreigners that are unemployed get the Bank of England thrown at them especially if they're disabled, an ethnic minority and a pregnant lady! White, war hero male pensioner gets screwed and forgotten...

As someone that works in the charity sector, this is a good find. Some smaller charities are really struggling financially (like most people and organisations, of course) so this can be a good way of reducing expenses costs for some of their volunteers and, in turn, themselves.

sparklehedgehog - funny you should say this as on the site there are other cards for different groups, never knew they existed, but a good heads up

Veterans Oyster photocard - http://www.tfl.gov.uk/tickets/14424.aspx

Older or disabled Freedom Pass - http://www.tfl.gov.uk/tickets/14305.aspx

60+ oyster - http://www.tfl.gov.uk/tickets/25652.aspx

Never knew any of this existed - some great info.

Are cigarettes free whilst on benefits??? I am assuming they are, as it appears the majority I see entering the buildings with no intention of getting a job are puffing away madly!!! Don't even get me started on the discount there must be available on 'Bench' Burberry' Helly Hansen' 'Lager' 'Strongbow' and all of lifes other necessities
No I am not on benefits I earn just above the minimum wage, don't smoke, (couldn't afford too even if I wanted) have 3 kids and pay through the nose for everything which others on benfits get either free or discounted........and yes I feel better after that rant

Evidence!!!!! I suggest you go to any Job centre you like, do some people watching I promise you will very soon see enough Evidence to fill your boots !!
Oh and before some one comments on 'Bet he's never been in that Position' 'He doesn't know what hes talking about'
Yes I have, Yes I do.
Some of the people turning up made the name 'job seeker' was a complete misnomer...I trawled the web and got a job interview within a couple of weeks and a job a month later.

Plenty of people on benefits have more surplus cash than people that pay their way in life so talberts point is relevant in thousands of families situations!

Governments fault for allowing it, bottom feeders then take it

mumtozm

Maybe some people should spend more time applying for jobs rather then … Maybe some people should spend more time applying for jobs rather then spend their time applying for things like this.Read lessRead more

There is definitely no maybe about people with jobs spending time on here during working hours. They should be fired.

london7117

I'm an Indian Citizen. Un-Employed. Please advice.

Get a job and pay your own way, only a suggestion

Fair play to people on benefits actiely looking for a job because that's what it's their for however there are people who abuse the system and are far more happy sitting on their backside and that's why we have The Jeremy Kyle Show.

please come and swap with me

gone from having a good wage a good job a good career progression to

dla allowance and can barely live day to day

mumtozm

Maybe some people should spend more time applying for jobs rather then … Maybe some people should spend more time applying for jobs rather then spend their time applying for things like this.Read lessRead more

That's a bit of a ridiculous statement to make. You've obviously never had the misfortune of being unemployed or had to struggle it appears. A scheme like this could be very beneficial to those who genuinely want to work but struggle with the cost of transport, good luck to anyone who gets it.

(edited)

mumtozm

Maybe some people should spend more time applying for jobs rather then … Maybe some people should spend more time applying for jobs rather then spend their time applying for things like this.Read lessRead more

The reason this is a good scheme is because you could use this money off travel card to get out, travel a little further and look for a job.
I am starting to look for work further afield but it still costs too much to travel, even with a half price London bus pass.

I'm fed up of hearing employed office robots talking about people who are unemployed like they are cut from the same cloth. We are individual people with individual stories.
I was temping too and there was no more work for me as the company were downsizing.

It's not fun being on benefits. I do a lot of voluntary work, scrimp and scrap and look for work on a daily basis, it's a full time job looking for a job.

Stop judging please.

So Billyburke, if you lose your job, what are you supposed to do with the children you already have? Sell them? Smother them? There are lots of places in this world, many with better weather, that let their poor and sick die on the street, where orphans or unaffordable children live on the streets begging or prostituting themselves. Why don't you take your sanctimonious, bandwagon twaddle and live in one of those. I believe their taxes are lower too. btw billy, berk is apparently cockney rhyming slang, something to do with hunting
(edited)

As someone who is working part time, with my hours going down now for the second time (and being forced to not work for a couple of weeks over xmas, unpaid) I have to sign on to make up the difference and I get all the stress and threats of sanctions. Is it my fault my work hours went down because we're in a recession that's about to triple dip?

This half price train card thing is rubbish to me. The cost of a train to london (return) is going to be about £120 from where I am. I need to get down for a medical and hand in some docs to get a working visa to get work abroad (not coming back) and tbh, I'd rather get the Megabus, which is £9 each way if I time it right, and get a mate to put me up. Hell, even a cheap hotel for the night would be cheaper all in than £60 train fare after this 50% off rubbish. The trains aren't affordable by the common man anymore since privatisation and the ridiculous increases on them.

When I was studying to get to uni about 6 or 7 years ago I looked at statistical figures for the birth/death rate in this country, it was before mass immigration really made an impact on figures. Those figures showed that without single mothers we'd be a barren nation within two generations! Anyone who spouts nonsense about 'not having a kid you can't afford' needs to put their head on something solid whilst the rest of us take turns with a sledgehammer trying to beat some sense into you, because your way, we'd not exist as a nation, as a people. Might I also remind you even the PM was claiming for things, using the NHS for things for his child, universal things that we as a society have as a safety net. Now he doesn't need them anymore, it appears he doesn't think the rest of the country does either and they've managed to take an apathetic nation, with a crumbling education system designed to create grey worker drones and used buzz words to set you all off attacking each other. There is no Us and Them amongst us. It's Us (the citizens with the vote) and Them (the rich toffs and tax avoiding scum who are taking us down economically)

Over 400 families live in my area of my city who are working and claiming benefits and the council tax devolving to local governments in April means a lot are going to charge the first 30% to all, no matter what you earn, or don't. The housing benefit caps are going to be averaged over large regions, and when you live in a city where the housing is a spike, the welfare minister thinks we should give up our homes and move 15 miles away to cheaper areas. I call this Transportation of the worst kind, others call it economic and social cleansing. The government just passed an infastructure bill which is going to turn the A1 in to a motorway and give us super fast broadband in the city. This was to attract businesses up to increase wealth here. What it is going to do is attract southerners to come up and buy our housing stock and commute back down on that shiny new motorway. Those selling and their estate agents, will increase the price of housing here, so our kids will never be able to live here. The cost of housing of those towns 15 miles away will go up too and shoot through the cap ceilings. These are working families we're talking about, not doleys,

Some people spout complete and utter rubbish and hate about their fellow man and still manage to turn their pc's on and get online. I'm completely and utterly surprised they didn't win a Darwin award before getting to this point in their lives. Maybe it's Stockholm syndrome or something, brainwashed past the point of saving.

sparklehedgehog

Plenty of people on benefits have more surplus cash than people that pay … Plenty of people on benefits have more surplus cash than people that pay their way in life so talberts point is relevant in thousands of families situations!Governments fault for allowing it, bottom feeders then take itRead lessRead more

Have you statistical evidence to support this idea?

sparklehedgehog

Foreigners that are unemployed get the Bank of England thrown at them … Foreigners that are unemployed get the Bank of England thrown at them especially if they're disabled, an ethnic minority and a pregnant lady! White, war hero male pensioner gets screwed and forgotten...Read lessRead more

Any statistical evidence to support this idea also?

talbert

I think everyone who has been unemployed for over 2 years should get an … I think everyone who has been unemployed for over 2 years should get an IPad Mini!!!!Don't know why though.....Plus if your unemployed you should be able to have as many children as you like... And the tax payer should foot the bill!!!Read lessRead more

surely it should not matter if you are employed, self-employed, or unemployed?? The number of children you choose to have is a matter of personal decision and biology? That's the joy of living within a free society.

Maybe some people should spend more time applying for jobs rather then spend their time applying for things like this.

johnstalvern

I'm sick to the **** teeth seeing blue collar **** posting about people … I'm sick to the **** teeth seeing blue collar **** posting about people on benefits as if it concerns them. Why the **** do you deify the **** masters of this country who shaft the people from all angles -- they're the reason people can't find a job. The money that goes to benefits is a **** pittance compared to the frivolous **** that the government **** our taxes away on year in, year out.I just lost a job because it was a temporary contract and wasn't renewed. I sure as **** don't want to go back to the bloody jobcentre. I'm pretty sure almost no-one does. It's truly bleak and if you ever find yourself in that situation, you'll understand. I wouldn't be surprised if half of the people who whinge about job seekers are admin monkeys in jobs that you have to TRY to be fired from, full of whining, incompetent, disinterested dumb asses.Read lessRead more

These 'admin monkeys' are the ones who keep the country ticking over and pay to keep your household afloat while your between jobs so how about some gratitude mate.

Also, noone wants to be a job seeker. This shows how out of touch you are with modern society with your head firmly in the sand. On my lunch break everyday especially over the summer I saw untold amounts that were very glad of it and their extended brood that they cant support. Sorry that other posters arent as delusional as you.

Now didnt JSA already pay for money to reach job interviews which was all that was necessary. This is just a slap in the face to the rest of this hardworking nation and allows resentment to breed.

As to the deal, it might help some who are genuinely looking for work. As far as I know, Jobcentre might help in other ways as well - they might pay for a new suit for job interviews. Jobcentre staff is mostly unaware of this, so best to speak with supervisor or central office.

In my personal opinion, there is no involuntary unemployment here. If there are people coming here from Eastern Europe or Africa and finding work, this means that there is only lack of will. Last week my friend managed to find work within three hours of landing at Stansted.

elthorno

I was made redundant recently. Out of work. It was ridiculously easy to … I was made redundant recently. Out of work. It was ridiculously easy to find work so I dont buy all that rubbish.Read lessRead more

I'M GLAD YOUR EXPERIENCE IS THE SAME AS EVERYONE'S EXPERIENCE. SOUNDS LIKE SOMEONE IS ONLY JUST SLIGHTLY IN HIS OWN LITTLE WORLD.

confused at why people have to put down the very poor in society, what would you have the government do , let people starve to death, have no home? let children suffer?

Then what next we all get our homes robbed by the very poor? because they have nothing to lose.

I do believe though that people who just arrive into this country should not get any benefit's what so ever.

Don't judge others as who knows you may one day lose your home, get cancer or serious illness then what? take your pride and starve i guess.

Do people honestly enjoy being on benefit's i doubt they do, i actually feel sorry for people on it, i wouldn't like going through life struggling for money, going cold, not having anything to look forward too.

People i do get annoyed at though is i see loads of people parked in disabled bays and i look at them thinking your fit as a fiddle with disabled badges, even saw a girl who looked about 18 but not up to me to judge so mind my own business and believe government have cracked down hard on this happening now anyway.

i say this as an unemployed person, there are people out there who are genuinely seeking work but the amount of people abusing the benefit system is a disgrace. l know alot of people where i used to live that are claiming sickness benefits and going out doing a day job and a night job on the fiddle. those 2 jobs could have given 2 people employment if the person was legitimately sick. i also know alot of under 25 year olds that have claimed sickness benefit due to being depressed but when they get there benefit cashed they go partying drinking and taking drugs. people that need the help dont get it. my brother has took a job for 4 hours a week as that is what was available at the time and he constantly gets his housing benefit stopped. he would work for more hours if it was available but its not.
we do live in a society where people dont want to work and like to abuse the benefit system for anything they can get. it is about time it stopped but those in need should get the help

ljopling

i say this as an unemployed person, there are people out there who are … i say this as an unemployed person, there are people out there who are genuinely seeking work but the amount of people abusing the benefit system is a disgrace. l know alot of people where i used to live that are claiming sickness benefits and going out doing a day job and a night job on the fiddle. those 2 jobs could have given 2 people employment if the person was legitimately sick. i also know alot of under 25 year olds that have claimed sickness benefit due to being depressed but when they get there benefit cashed they go partying drinking and taking drugs. people that need the help dont get it. my brother has took a job for 4 hours a week as that is what was available at the time and he constantly gets his housing benefit stopped. he would work for more hours if it was available but its not. we do live in a society where people dont want to work and like to abuse the benefit system for anything they can get. it is about time it stopped but those in need should get the helpRead lessRead more

Maybe they just more wise then you and play the system, but either way the Government has gone tough on people who claim depression or simple back problems, plus you are not a doctor, some people could not be stable mental wise do we really want these sort of people in work place? mind is complex matter, depression comes in many forms.Not a good idea to send someone who is suicidal or someone who may harm others into a work place is it.

So its not so easy and doubt its as easy as ringing up saying yes im depressed sign me off sick. also what do they do come tell you that they are depressed and claiming of the state as well as well working 2 jobs?? lol

If some of my tax didn't go towards the unemployed I'm sure the Government would use it in other ways that's just how it goes.

So i don't really care to be honest, rather have a life doing doing then sitting at home all day. and who could afford to even go out drinking on what people get, really think people need a wake up call or stop taking everything the papers says so seriously.

(edited)

A-n-d-y

really think people need a wake up call or stop taking everything the … really think people need a wake up call or stop taking everything the papers says so seriously.Read lessRead more

THIS!!! Our society has constricted to the point where people commute to and fro their jobs and when they get home they lock the doors, close the curtains, don't know their neighbours, don't have a community feel and suck up the media that enters their home and hands through TV, newspapers and websites, the majority of which are owned by those who have a reason to control us so that they can get what they want done, whilst manoeuvring us into buying their products.

The majority of misinformed ideas on people in our society come from buzzwords and shock headlines from media that are made, without full honesty, to sell their papers in the first place and then with an ulterior motive in mind.

Of course, we have to be part of the society around us and this means we have to input this information, whilst making our own opinion on it, or get shunned by the 'rest'. The 'rest' doesn't have to be sucked in though, but perhaps they see it easier, much like parents sending their kids to school telling them to bully others to avoid getting bullied themselves, it's all a form of peer pressure.

Then there's the spectrum of trolls we find online. But once we realise who they are, and of course they can recognise their peers easier than we can this side of the fence, they can more easily identify those amongst our society in the gene pool that does need removing.

We live in a consumerist society, that is what this website exists as part of, and it sometimes aids the 'evils' of consumerism. Can you imagine if the admin here suddenly banned all posts from particularly bad employers/companies in the UK on moral grounds? The message that would send out would insinuate itself in the users (of which the base are massive) but it would be biting the hand that feeds it. One could say that the Tesco deals we all love to hate upon being presented with them, and the 'till errors' are nothing more than a form of social control using websites like this, that they very well knew it would appear here, disseminate and gain notoriety in the papers bringing up this websites name, therefore increasing the member base and allowing the full consumerist cycle to accelerate the next round.

and if you read all these long posts that people have been making, you're a free thinker and liable to be capable of opening your eyes and minds, or already have. Those that don't, the 'tl:dr' brigade, they perhaps are the ones who need decisions making for them.

I'l end this with a little leaked factoid. There are x number of jobs in this country and x number of unemployed (official figures that suggest 25-40% number of jobs for unemployed people.) There are 2-2.5x that unemployed figure of people without jobs that could potentially work I suppose. A worker in a job centre in the West Midlands leaked out the jobs on their board were in the ratio of 4:1 part time:full time. Some people have to take 2-3 part time jobs to survive. Those that have one and claim benefits to top up are getting slated by people for some odd reason, told to go find full time jobs. There are many people in full time jobs claiming working tax credits because they are on minimum wage with no training or job opportunities. Even Newsnight vets people it brings on to speak out in audiences but they mess up sometimes. I remember when a youth party member of the socialist party got on and waited and waited and near the end of the episode his hand was registered and he made comment on these jobs figures. The truth came out, but was skipped over fast without a credible response. No one focuses on these things because they don't want you discussing it, they want you steered away to other things, like hating your neighbours and anyone else in the "us vs them" battle that has been raging since forever.

All those of you who go to work and think that benefits are a doddle to get and let one live in the lap of luxury, I have a top tip to help you wake up and join the real world. Next time you are due to go to work, look around your workplace carefully. If you look hard enough it is likely you will be able to see something that is happening and shouldn't be - a disabled person who has not been given their legal entitlement to reasonable adjustments, a pregnant woman who has not had a risk assessment since telling the employer she was pregnant. Or maybe something much bigger, some breach of employment law or good practice that is so significant that it is a matter of public interest that you make this malpractice known.

Stand up and make it known. Then stand back and watch as your career disappears under a heap of lies, backstabbing and corruption that makes The Godfather look like bedtime reading for a small child. Believe that your union will help you - WRONG. Believe that the Equality and Human Rights Commission will help you (because you have more than one protected characteristic including a disability) - WRONG. Believe that the law will protect you - WRONG. Then sit back and watch a lifetime of being honest and decent and fair come to count for nothing and lose your job as well as all the people you thought were friends because they have been told you are a liar and you have no means of telling the truth because those who were supposed to protect you stitched you up like a kipper.

I bet you think none of this could ever happen to you, that you are safe at work, that the law protects you, that you can go to ACAS, go to an employment tribunal. Try it and see. Or, you are too much of a coward to stand up and say anything about the wrong doing of others so you keep your head down and your mouth shut and hope to God that they never come after you, which is fine, but it doesn't give you the right to sit and say that life is easy for those people who worked 20 years and paid into a system that now doesn't even tell them about everything they are entitled to have out of it and certainly doesn't employ anyone to tell you how you are supposed to live off the pittance they do pay you. My house isn't free, it's £710 a month, the gas bill is £116, the electricity £40, oo oo I get council tax benefit and the nice lady at the council tax place told me I was entitled to child tax credits (my benefits advisor didn't) I'm still not quite sure how the £280 a month JSA is goibng to cover the above bills though. So, while i frantically apply for jobs and try not to feel sick about the prospect of mortgage arrears for the first time in my life, those of you who know how the heck you are going to pay for your child's Christmas present should perhaps keep your totally ignorant thoughts to yourselves. I wish you a Merry Christmas and bet you still put less than me into the Salvation Army collection tin despite everything.

Hi,

I thought I would like to add my comments in, give the previous "discussion" going on. I am 51 years old. I have been continuously employed since I was 18. Last March I was dispensed with by a large Plc in the financial services sector. I was "managed out" after being diagnosed with work related stress and depression. This was the seaport I got after 12 years with them.

I delayed claiming JSA through pride until January. I spend almost all of every day applying for jobs. I have O levels, A levels, three degrees (one a Mastares) professional qualifications. I a a volunteer reservist and do charity work locally.

I have had few interviews, although I have applied for post all over the UK and abroad. I am constantly told that other "more suited candidates" we're given the job. I was on £55k when I left my last post and I have applied for jobs paying as little as £16k, even though my mortgage is more than that alone.

I would swap my "freebie handout" life for anyone on here who thinks JSA claimants are all scroungers. I have paid far more in than I will ever get out. Unless I get a job in the next two months I will lose my house. I already lost my wife over all this as well.

What is wrong with the country I have supported all my life helping me out in my hour of need? Even if it is not enough to tide me over. Careful planning had seen me accumulate life savings that have dwindled away to nothing. So don't lecture me on being a scrounger and being idle.

As someone said in here already, if the put a tenth of the effort chasing tax evaders as they did benefit cheats the welfare budget would be more than compensated for!

talbert

Pays not to work anymoreWhat next money off stamps?

Yup ....... Money off stamps were offered this Christmas to those on benefit !!

I think everyone who has been unemployed for over 2 years should get an IPad Mini!!!!

Don't know why though.....

Plus if your unemployed you should be able to have as many children as you like... And the tax payer should foot the bill!!!

royals

no free housing, 25K tax free (so really nearer 35K for us that work!!), … no free housing, 25K tax free (so really nearer 35K for us that work!!), no council tax, etc....oh!Read lessRead more

sentence, convoluted, words....string together. cannot.

This is a good deal for those who can get it especially any drivers, in my experience jobseekers can only run a car for so long before the petrol/insurance becomes too much so this would provide cheaper transport for some to actually get to a job at least before they could earn something.
The amount of jobs that prefer/require you to have your own transport is ridiculous, I once got turned down from a job even though I was taking my tests because they were worried about how I would get there, umm if you don't have a car there is something called a bus and a train oO -bringing me back to the point of this train card, it's helpful :).

this card is to help people look for work. £71 a week (and housing benefit/council tax) is not an awful lot but enough to live on if u strip everything back but when u add on the cost of travel to and from interviews or even just to hand c.v's out it does add up. I think it's a great thing as it helps people help themselves and it's important not to misuse this scheme or it my get pulled.

Hi, just had a google and it came up with this on 'whatdotheyknow.com', for anyone interested?

"Please can you tell me what the eligibility requirements for the job
centre plus travel discount card are?

Also is it true I have to be living in or just be about to start a job
in London to be able to get a card?"

In England and Wales, the Jobcentre Plus Travel Discount Card is
available to:
* people who have been claiming Jobseeker's Allowance for 6 months
up until referral to the Work Programme, which is typically at 9 months
for 18-24 year olds and 12 months for 25 year olds and over; and
* people who are claiming Incapacity Benefit, Employment & Support
Allowance or Income Support claimants and are actively engaged with an
adviser about returning to employment.

In Scotland, the Jobcentre Plus Travel Discount Card is available to:
* people who have been claiming Jobseeker's Allowance claimants
for 13 weeks;
* people who are claiming Incapacity Benefit, Employment & Support
Allowance or Income Support claimants and are actively engaged with an
adviser about returning to employment;
* Work Programme participants for two periods of no more than 13
weeks each, during the two-year period on the programme.
* Stage one Work Choice participants.
Turning to your second point, you do not have to live in or be about to
start a job in London to be eligible for the Travel Discount Card.