Back :)
Apr 22nd 2014, 5:46 am
#16
Lost in BE Cyberspace
Joined: Sep 2007
Location: Canberra
Posts: 8,378
Re: Back :)
Welcome home! Very interesting to hear your updates! I'm sure you will find your "own space" before too long, once you have got your feet firmly planted on the ground!
Apr 22nd 2014, 5:18 pm
#17
Forum Regular
Thread Starter
Joined: Oct 2013
Posts: 203
Re: Back :)
Just to say I opened a bank account with Nationwide today and had no problem at all! Also registered with the doctor, got a library card and sorted out a ton of other stuff. Still lots to do but am really enjoying walking around outside even when it rains!
Today in the high street I came across a market - they had just shut the cobbled road from traffic and all the stalls were lined up down the street. They do this every Wednesday - it's great! There really is something lovely about how people (not cars) are put first in this community.
Today in the high street I came across a market - they had just shut the cobbled road from traffic and all the stalls were lined up down the street. They do this every Wednesday - it's great! There really is something lovely about how people (not cars) are put first in this community.
Apr 22nd 2014, 5:54 pm
#18
BE Forum Addict
Joined: Sep 2009
Posts: 1,197
Re: Back :)
wow, you are really getting things done! So great to hear things are going smoothly and above all that you are even enjoying the rain!
Apr 22nd 2014, 9:28 pm
#19
BE Enthusiast
Joined: Oct 2006
Posts: 603
Re: Back :)
I can see your not letting that green grass grow under your feet 
Yay for crossing things off the "to do" list. Loving the posts!
Yay for crossing things off the "to do" list. Loving the posts!
Apr 22nd 2014, 11:15 pm
#20
Banned
Joined: Mar 2014
Posts: 73
Re: Back :)
Just curious as to what you needed to open bank account and register with doctor-I've heard so many conflicting stories on this.
Apr 23rd 2014, 8:51 pm
#21
Forum Regular
Thread Starter
Joined: Oct 2013
Posts: 203
Re: Back :)
The relative ease with which I could open an UK bank account surprised me because I have been out of the country for 12 years and I'd also heard different stories on this board about people opening UK bank accounts - so I do think it depends on the bank/building society you choose, your individual circumstances and the employee who you deal with!
In terms of doctors, I'm a UK national so I didn't anticipate any problems with that and I didn't have any except that they don't book you in for an appointment to see the doctor - you have to do it yourself once you are registered on the system - in Canada when I registered with a new doctor I was immediately subject to a battery of tests but they don't do that here. I am going to make an appointment to see my new doctor in 2 weeks so that I can meet them and also discuss my repetitive strain injury and see whether the NHS can offer anything better than the Canadian system to help me (couldn't be any worse!).
Re: id - for the doctors I used my passport and rental agreement. They needed proof of who I was and where I was living. I was given a great pack of information which had stuff I've not yet read through about what you could access depending upon your status (eg immigrant, uk national etc).
Last edited by Englishmaple; Apr 23rd 2014 at 9:18 pm.
Apr 23rd 2014, 9:11 pm
#22
Forum Regular
Thread Starter
Joined: Oct 2013
Posts: 203
Re: Back :)
Really see saw day today. Spent the morning at a job club in a community centre and heard some really sad stories - the benefits system is incredibly punitive now and people really seem to be suffering.
Its such a contrast to Canada. In Ontario I always had the sense that people had some compassion for people struggling and you weren't looked down upon simply for claiming benefits (although I seem to recall some negative press around single mothers on welfare).
But here in the UK, oh boy, there's a real cultural sense from the government and the employees that work within the benefits system that somehow just by accessing the benefits system, you are working the system. I wanted to sort out my NI today and it wasn't clear to me on the website whether I should submit a job seekers allowance claim in order to get NI credits (I can't get job seekers allowance or housing benefit because its means tested and my saving exceed the limits).
So I rang a number and the woman on the phone was so officious and everything was coupled with sentences like "if you do not make this appointment then you can have your benefits cut off" etc etc .. or, in my case, my eligibility for NI credits while I'm hunting for work. I also heard this message several times over on the phone while I was waiting to speak to someone.
So I now have an appointment with the job centre (which I visited yesterday but wasn't allowed to speak to any of the staff! - and had to talk to a security guard to try and get some information about what support was available locally which is how I found out about the job club). However, I have been told that the appointment is at 9.30, I must attend by 9 to complete paper work and if I don't attend then that will affect my claim. Its hard to convey in writing just the punitive way the whole thing was delivered - it was very unpleasant.
I've also contacted the NI people to see if I can do back payments for the years I was away - but that's going to take a few steps to sort out.
At the job club the facilitator said to me that it was really important that when I went for interviews, that I played down the fact that i had been self employed in Canada because people would think that I would want to do things my way rather than their way even though my self employment was a small side thing because I struggled to get work in Canada!
In addition, I was advised that I shouldn't appear too competent when I'm interviewed by people who will probably be younger than me as my experience will come across as too intimidating - that they will be worried that I will be after there job. When I expressed surprise at this, the facilitator said that everyone is worried about keeping their jobs. Oh dear.
The good thing is that I did get some advice about my CV - which I need to completely redo for the UK market! So that's on my to do list this week.
Culturally it just seemed so different from Canada but I guess UK folks are still getting used to North American hiring practices - i.e. working multiple p/t jobs with little security and there doesn't seem to be the same level of mentoring support for people job seeking here in the UK as compared to Canada. For example in Ontario there are multiple agencies who offer job counselling etc whereas here it doesn't really seem to exist much. The job club runs every other week and its one of the few resources where people can meet and get some help - but the only other type of "counselling" is what people undergo when they claim job seekers benefit (and are eligible for it). And judging by the stories I heard, it would see that this process really is just unkind - people are just told they have to apply for so many jobs, do x number of tasks and if they don't there benefits are cut off - its very nasty.
And then it was cold and wet and rainy today ... and I found myself missing the blue sky of Canada, the upbeatness of the culture, the can do attitude and even the buzz of busyness - I walked back from Sainsburys tonight at 9pm through the town centre and it was dead and quiet and dark and a bit creepy! And part of me was thinking - what have I done? Maybe I should have just come for a holiday!! But I recognise that this experience is different and if I had come for a holiday I would have experienced a different type of reality and probably missed the UK more on my return to Canada. This way I get the good things and the hard things - and hopefully by the end of the year I'll have a sense of where I belong.
Have been walking miles today though and have noticed the bus services have been cut back considerably. I will probably have to get a car once I start working if I stay in this part of the country - its quite challenging with the public transit. I thought London Ontario was bad but it's changed a lot in the UK since I got back - certainly in Hampshire.
The other thing of note is that so much of the UK government stuff is geared to being done on the web. And I don't know whether its just because I'm unfamiliar with the websites but I've found it challenging at times and just yearned to speak to some people rather than trying to found information online! I'm probably showing my age!
Its such a contrast to Canada. In Ontario I always had the sense that people had some compassion for people struggling and you weren't looked down upon simply for claiming benefits (although I seem to recall some negative press around single mothers on welfare).
But here in the UK, oh boy, there's a real cultural sense from the government and the employees that work within the benefits system that somehow just by accessing the benefits system, you are working the system. I wanted to sort out my NI today and it wasn't clear to me on the website whether I should submit a job seekers allowance claim in order to get NI credits (I can't get job seekers allowance or housing benefit because its means tested and my saving exceed the limits).
So I rang a number and the woman on the phone was so officious and everything was coupled with sentences like "if you do not make this appointment then you can have your benefits cut off" etc etc .. or, in my case, my eligibility for NI credits while I'm hunting for work. I also heard this message several times over on the phone while I was waiting to speak to someone.
So I now have an appointment with the job centre (which I visited yesterday but wasn't allowed to speak to any of the staff! - and had to talk to a security guard to try and get some information about what support was available locally which is how I found out about the job club). However, I have been told that the appointment is at 9.30, I must attend by 9 to complete paper work and if I don't attend then that will affect my claim. Its hard to convey in writing just the punitive way the whole thing was delivered - it was very unpleasant.
I've also contacted the NI people to see if I can do back payments for the years I was away - but that's going to take a few steps to sort out.
At the job club the facilitator said to me that it was really important that when I went for interviews, that I played down the fact that i had been self employed in Canada because people would think that I would want to do things my way rather than their way even though my self employment was a small side thing because I struggled to get work in Canada!
In addition, I was advised that I shouldn't appear too competent when I'm interviewed by people who will probably be younger than me as my experience will come across as too intimidating - that they will be worried that I will be after there job. When I expressed surprise at this, the facilitator said that everyone is worried about keeping their jobs. Oh dear.
The good thing is that I did get some advice about my CV - which I need to completely redo for the UK market! So that's on my to do list this week.
Culturally it just seemed so different from Canada but I guess UK folks are still getting used to North American hiring practices - i.e. working multiple p/t jobs with little security and there doesn't seem to be the same level of mentoring support for people job seeking here in the UK as compared to Canada. For example in Ontario there are multiple agencies who offer job counselling etc whereas here it doesn't really seem to exist much. The job club runs every other week and its one of the few resources where people can meet and get some help - but the only other type of "counselling" is what people undergo when they claim job seekers benefit (and are eligible for it). And judging by the stories I heard, it would see that this process really is just unkind - people are just told they have to apply for so many jobs, do x number of tasks and if they don't there benefits are cut off - its very nasty.
And then it was cold and wet and rainy today ... and I found myself missing the blue sky of Canada, the upbeatness of the culture, the can do attitude and even the buzz of busyness - I walked back from Sainsburys tonight at 9pm through the town centre and it was dead and quiet and dark and a bit creepy! And part of me was thinking - what have I done? Maybe I should have just come for a holiday!! But I recognise that this experience is different and if I had come for a holiday I would have experienced a different type of reality and probably missed the UK more on my return to Canada. This way I get the good things and the hard things - and hopefully by the end of the year I'll have a sense of where I belong.
Have been walking miles today though and have noticed the bus services have been cut back considerably. I will probably have to get a car once I start working if I stay in this part of the country - its quite challenging with the public transit. I thought London Ontario was bad but it's changed a lot in the UK since I got back - certainly in Hampshire.
The other thing of note is that so much of the UK government stuff is geared to being done on the web. And I don't know whether its just because I'm unfamiliar with the websites but I've found it challenging at times and just yearned to speak to some people rather than trying to found information online! I'm probably showing my age!
Last edited by Englishmaple; Apr 23rd 2014 at 9:27 pm.
Apr 23rd 2014, 9:24 pm
#23
Just Joined
Joined: Nov 2013
Location: Vancouver, Canada
Posts: 25
Re: Back :)
Really see saw day today. Spent the morning at a job club in a community centre and heard some really sad stories - the benefits system is incredibly punitive now and people really seem to be suffering.
Its such a contrast to Canada. In Ontario I always had the sense that people had some compassion for people struggling and you weren't looked down upon simply for claiming benefits (although I seem to recall some negative press around single mothers on welfare).
But here in the UK, oh boy, there's a real cultural sense from the government and the employees that work within the benefits system that somehow just by accessing the benefits system, you are working the system. I wanted to sort out my NI today and it wasn't clear to me on the website whether I should submit a job seekers allowance claim in order to get NI credits (I can't get job seekers allowance or housing benefit because its means tested and my saving exceed the limits).
So I rang a number and the woman on the phone was so officious and everything was coupled with sentences like "if you do not make this appointment then you can have your benefits cut off" etc etc .. or, in my case, my eligibility for NI credits while I'm hunting for work. I also heard this message several times over on the phone while I was waiting to speak to someone.
So I now have an appointment with the job centre (which I visited yesterday but wasn't allowed to speak to any of the staff! - and had to talk to a security guard to try and get some information about what support was available locally which is how I found out about the job club). However, I have been told that the appointment is at 9.30, I must attend by 9 to complete paper work and if I don't attend then that will affect my claim. Its hard to convey in writing just the punitive way the whole thing was delivered - it was very unpleasant.
I've also contacted the NI people to see if I can do back payments for the years I was away - but that's going to take a few steps to sort out.
At the job club the facilitator said to me that it was really important that when I went for interviews, that I played down the fact that i had been self employed in Canada because people would think that I would want to do things my way rather than their way even though my self employment was a small side thing because I struggled to get work in Canada!
In addition, I was advised that I shouldn't appear too competent when I'm interviewed by people who will probably be younger than me as my experience will come across as too intimidating - that they will be worried that I will be after there job. When I expressed surprise at this, the facilitator said that everyone is worried about keeping their jobs. Oh dear.
The good thing is that I did get some advice about my CV - which I need to completely redo for the UK market! So that's on my to do list this week.
Culturally it just seemed so different from Canada but I guess UK folks are still getting used to North American hiring practices - i.e. working multiple p/t jobs with little security.
And then it was cold and wet and rainy today ... and I found myself missing the blue sky of Canada, the upbeatness of the culture, can do attitude and even the buzz of busyness - I walked back from Sainsburys tonight at 9pm through the town centre and it was dead and quiet and dark and a bit creepy! And part of me was thinking - what have I done? Maybe I should have just come for a holiday!! But I recognise that this is different and if I had come for a holiday I would have experienced a different type of reality and probably missed the UK more on my return to Canada. This way I get the good things and the hard things - and hopefully by the end of the year I'll have a sense of where I belong.
Have been walking miles today though and have noticed the bus services have been cut back considerably. I will probably have to get a car once I start working if I stay in this part of the country - its quite challenging with the public transit. I thought London Ontario was bad but it's changed a lot in the UK since I got back - certainly in Hampshire.
The other thing of note is that so much of the UK government stuff is geared to being done on the web. And I don't know whether its just because I'm unfamiliar with the websites but I've found it challenging at times and just yearned to speak to some people rather than trying to found information online! I'm probably showing my age!
Its such a contrast to Canada. In Ontario I always had the sense that people had some compassion for people struggling and you weren't looked down upon simply for claiming benefits (although I seem to recall some negative press around single mothers on welfare).
But here in the UK, oh boy, there's a real cultural sense from the government and the employees that work within the benefits system that somehow just by accessing the benefits system, you are working the system. I wanted to sort out my NI today and it wasn't clear to me on the website whether I should submit a job seekers allowance claim in order to get NI credits (I can't get job seekers allowance or housing benefit because its means tested and my saving exceed the limits).
So I rang a number and the woman on the phone was so officious and everything was coupled with sentences like "if you do not make this appointment then you can have your benefits cut off" etc etc .. or, in my case, my eligibility for NI credits while I'm hunting for work. I also heard this message several times over on the phone while I was waiting to speak to someone.
So I now have an appointment with the job centre (which I visited yesterday but wasn't allowed to speak to any of the staff! - and had to talk to a security guard to try and get some information about what support was available locally which is how I found out about the job club). However, I have been told that the appointment is at 9.30, I must attend by 9 to complete paper work and if I don't attend then that will affect my claim. Its hard to convey in writing just the punitive way the whole thing was delivered - it was very unpleasant.
I've also contacted the NI people to see if I can do back payments for the years I was away - but that's going to take a few steps to sort out.
At the job club the facilitator said to me that it was really important that when I went for interviews, that I played down the fact that i had been self employed in Canada because people would think that I would want to do things my way rather than their way even though my self employment was a small side thing because I struggled to get work in Canada!
In addition, I was advised that I shouldn't appear too competent when I'm interviewed by people who will probably be younger than me as my experience will come across as too intimidating - that they will be worried that I will be after there job. When I expressed surprise at this, the facilitator said that everyone is worried about keeping their jobs. Oh dear.
The good thing is that I did get some advice about my CV - which I need to completely redo for the UK market! So that's on my to do list this week.
Culturally it just seemed so different from Canada but I guess UK folks are still getting used to North American hiring practices - i.e. working multiple p/t jobs with little security.
And then it was cold and wet and rainy today ... and I found myself missing the blue sky of Canada, the upbeatness of the culture, can do attitude and even the buzz of busyness - I walked back from Sainsburys tonight at 9pm through the town centre and it was dead and quiet and dark and a bit creepy! And part of me was thinking - what have I done? Maybe I should have just come for a holiday!! But I recognise that this is different and if I had come for a holiday I would have experienced a different type of reality and probably missed the UK more on my return to Canada. This way I get the good things and the hard things - and hopefully by the end of the year I'll have a sense of where I belong.
Have been walking miles today though and have noticed the bus services have been cut back considerably. I will probably have to get a car once I start working if I stay in this part of the country - its quite challenging with the public transit. I thought London Ontario was bad but it's changed a lot in the UK since I got back - certainly in Hampshire.
The other thing of note is that so much of the UK government stuff is geared to being done on the web. And I don't know whether its just because I'm unfamiliar with the websites but I've found it challenging at times and just yearned to speak to some people rather than trying to found information online! I'm probably showing my age!
I am really enjoying reading your updates. I am heading back to the UK in June after 22 years away in Vancouver. So many mixed emotions and I am sure there will be lots of ups and downs to come. I am looking forward to the move but will miss Vancouver, it is such a great place. Moving back to be closer to family. Keep the updates coming, it is great to have an idea of how things are going in preparation for my move. Thanks.
Apr 23rd 2014, 11:58 pm
#24
Banned
Joined: Mar 2014
Posts: 73
Re: Back :)
So sad to read your post today, I'm not very good at giving advice but hang in there and hopefully tomorrow will be a better day-you do have friends and family there right?
Apr 24th 2014, 1:50 am
#25
.
Joined: Jun 2010
Location: Peterborough, Cambridgeshire
Posts: 2,744
Re: Back :)
Really see saw day today. Spent the morning at a job club in a community centre and heard some really sad stories - the benefits system is incredibly punitive now and people really seem to be suffering.
Its such a contrast to Canada. In Ontario I always had the sense that people had some compassion for people struggling and you weren't looked down upon simply for claiming benefits (although I seem to recall some negative press around single mothers on welfare).
But here in the UK, oh boy, there's a real cultural sense from the government and the employees that work within the benefits system that somehow just by accessing the benefits system, you are working the system. I wanted to sort out my NI today and it wasn't clear to me on the website whether I should submit a job seekers allowance claim in order to get NI credits (I can't get job seekers allowance or housing benefit because its means tested and my saving exceed the limits).
So I rang a number and the woman on the phone was so officious and everything was coupled with sentences like "if you do not make this appointment then you can have your benefits cut off" etc etc .. or, in my case, my eligibility for NI credits while I'm hunting for work. I also heard this message several times over on the phone while I was waiting to speak to someone.
So I now have an appointment with the job centre (which I visited yesterday but wasn't allowed to speak to any of the staff! - and had to talk to a security guard to try and get some information about what support was available locally which is how I found out about the job club). However, I have been told that the appointment is at 9.30, I must attend by 9 to complete paper work and if I don't attend then that will affect my claim. Its hard to convey in writing just the punitive way the whole thing was delivered - it was very unpleasant.
I've also contacted the NI people to see if I can do back payments for the years I was away - but that's going to take a few steps to sort out.
At the job club the facilitator said to me that it was really important that when I went for interviews, that I played down the fact that i had been self employed in Canada because people would think that I would want to do things my way rather than their way even though my self employment was a small side thing because I struggled to get work in Canada!
In addition, I was advised that I shouldn't appear too competent when I'm interviewed by people who will probably be younger than me as my experience will come across as too intimidating - that they will be worried that I will be after there job. When I expressed surprise at this, the facilitator said that everyone is worried about keeping their jobs. Oh dear.
The good thing is that I did get some advice about my CV - which I need to completely redo for the UK market! So that's on my to do list this week.
Culturally it just seemed so different from Canada but I guess UK folks are still getting used to North American hiring practices - i.e. working multiple p/t jobs with little security and there doesn't seem to be the same level of mentoring support for people job seeking here in the UK as compared to Canada. For example in Ontario there are multiple agencies who offer job counselling etc whereas here it doesn't really seem to exist much. The job club runs every other week and its one of the few resources where people can meet and get some help - but the only other type of "counselling" is what people undergo when they claim job seekers benefit (and are eligible for it). And judging by the stories I heard, it would see that this process really is just unkind - people are just told they have to apply for so many jobs, do x number of tasks and if they don't there benefits are cut off - its very nasty.
And then it was cold and wet and rainy today ... and I found myself missing the blue sky of Canada, the upbeatness of the culture, the can do attitude and even the buzz of busyness - I walked back from Sainsburys tonight at 9pm through the town centre and it was dead and quiet and dark and a bit creepy! And part of me was thinking - what have I done? Maybe I should have just come for a holiday!! But I recognise that this experience is different and if I had come for a holiday I would have experienced a different type of reality and probably missed the UK more on my return to Canada. This way I get the good things and the hard things - and hopefully by the end of the year I'll have a sense of where I belong.
Have been walking miles today though and have noticed the bus services have been cut back considerably. I will probably have to get a car once I start working if I stay in this part of the country - its quite challenging with the public transit. I thought London Ontario was bad but it's changed a lot in the UK since I got back - certainly in Hampshire.
The other thing of note is that so much of the UK government stuff is geared to being done on the web. And I don't know whether its just because I'm unfamiliar with the websites but I've found it challenging at times and just yearned to speak to some people rather than trying to found information online! I'm probably showing my age!
Its such a contrast to Canada. In Ontario I always had the sense that people had some compassion for people struggling and you weren't looked down upon simply for claiming benefits (although I seem to recall some negative press around single mothers on welfare).
But here in the UK, oh boy, there's a real cultural sense from the government and the employees that work within the benefits system that somehow just by accessing the benefits system, you are working the system. I wanted to sort out my NI today and it wasn't clear to me on the website whether I should submit a job seekers allowance claim in order to get NI credits (I can't get job seekers allowance or housing benefit because its means tested and my saving exceed the limits).
So I rang a number and the woman on the phone was so officious and everything was coupled with sentences like "if you do not make this appointment then you can have your benefits cut off" etc etc .. or, in my case, my eligibility for NI credits while I'm hunting for work. I also heard this message several times over on the phone while I was waiting to speak to someone.
So I now have an appointment with the job centre (which I visited yesterday but wasn't allowed to speak to any of the staff! - and had to talk to a security guard to try and get some information about what support was available locally which is how I found out about the job club). However, I have been told that the appointment is at 9.30, I must attend by 9 to complete paper work and if I don't attend then that will affect my claim. Its hard to convey in writing just the punitive way the whole thing was delivered - it was very unpleasant.
I've also contacted the NI people to see if I can do back payments for the years I was away - but that's going to take a few steps to sort out.
At the job club the facilitator said to me that it was really important that when I went for interviews, that I played down the fact that i had been self employed in Canada because people would think that I would want to do things my way rather than their way even though my self employment was a small side thing because I struggled to get work in Canada!
In addition, I was advised that I shouldn't appear too competent when I'm interviewed by people who will probably be younger than me as my experience will come across as too intimidating - that they will be worried that I will be after there job. When I expressed surprise at this, the facilitator said that everyone is worried about keeping their jobs. Oh dear.
The good thing is that I did get some advice about my CV - which I need to completely redo for the UK market! So that's on my to do list this week.
Culturally it just seemed so different from Canada but I guess UK folks are still getting used to North American hiring practices - i.e. working multiple p/t jobs with little security and there doesn't seem to be the same level of mentoring support for people job seeking here in the UK as compared to Canada. For example in Ontario there are multiple agencies who offer job counselling etc whereas here it doesn't really seem to exist much. The job club runs every other week and its one of the few resources where people can meet and get some help - but the only other type of "counselling" is what people undergo when they claim job seekers benefit (and are eligible for it). And judging by the stories I heard, it would see that this process really is just unkind - people are just told they have to apply for so many jobs, do x number of tasks and if they don't there benefits are cut off - its very nasty.
And then it was cold and wet and rainy today ... and I found myself missing the blue sky of Canada, the upbeatness of the culture, the can do attitude and even the buzz of busyness - I walked back from Sainsburys tonight at 9pm through the town centre and it was dead and quiet and dark and a bit creepy! And part of me was thinking - what have I done? Maybe I should have just come for a holiday!! But I recognise that this experience is different and if I had come for a holiday I would have experienced a different type of reality and probably missed the UK more on my return to Canada. This way I get the good things and the hard things - and hopefully by the end of the year I'll have a sense of where I belong.
Have been walking miles today though and have noticed the bus services have been cut back considerably. I will probably have to get a car once I start working if I stay in this part of the country - its quite challenging with the public transit. I thought London Ontario was bad but it's changed a lot in the UK since I got back - certainly in Hampshire.
The other thing of note is that so much of the UK government stuff is geared to being done on the web. And I don't know whether its just because I'm unfamiliar with the websites but I've found it challenging at times and just yearned to speak to some people rather than trying to found information online! I'm probably showing my age!
Thanks for all the detail. I accept it's easier for me reading what you've experienced rather than actually having to do it.
The current Conservative Government in Britain is punitive to the unemployed. (Rather than creating jobs, but hey.) Some are unemployed for a living, ok, I get that. (Benefit scroungers and the like.) A lot of people, including yourself, aren't. I have a problem with people having to work for their benefits i.e. work in a shop etc or forfeit their benefit. They're not getting the minimum wage, just their benefit. How is that fair ? So the store gets free labour ! As a benefit claimant does that same person get any employment rights whilst they are at, 'work' ? One of life's imponderables and you've kinda got enough on your plate right now.
Yet claiming benefits and doing voluntary work (for more than 16 hours per week, I think) is frowned upon, even if the voluntary work gives experience for paid employment. I don't like Prime Minister Cameron's Victorian Workhouse attitude to people who do not have an income and are actively seeking work.
I accept I'll get a chewed up and spat out dependant on who is in government in Britain upon our return when it comes to making claims on any British Government funds. My attitude is, 'bring it on'. I've got a National Insurance number and I'm not afraid to use it ! (Only been gone since 2011, I've got a fairly recent history to refer to. I'll need to catch up with my N.I. payments should we return which I can pay back up to 6 years absence. For me, that's a whole other story. Yes, I understand I could start paying N.I. contributions from overseas but we can't afford to do that.)
I used to live in Woking, near Camberley. I've a friend that lives in Camberley. Have you been to the Meadows shopping centre yet ? Happy days.....
Last edited by Snap Shot; Apr 24th 2014 at 2:08 am. Reason: Woking, near Camberley
Apr 24th 2014, 3:17 am
#26
BE Enthusiast
Joined: May 2011
Location: USA
Posts: 709
Re: Back :)
Englishmaple.
I have found your posts to be informative and quite honest. I love reading them. It really helps me get a feel of the country that I left as a child. Good luck with everything and I look forward to reading more..
I have found your posts to be informative and quite honest. I love reading them. It really helps me get a feel of the country that I left as a child. Good luck with everything and I look forward to reading more..
Apr 24th 2014, 9:14 am
#27
BE Forum Addict
Joined: Sep 2009
Posts: 1,197
Re: Back :)
Sorry to hear you've been having a bit of a hard time....I too hope today is a better day (it's a bit sunnier, anyway, at least where I am!).
Re your feelings about the town being dead at night, and there not being enough public transport, it may eventually turn out that you are not in the best place for you--this takes a while to assess and isn't a decision to be made right away bit only after living there for a while.....we've seen other returnees go through similar things and found a move to a place that suited them more was the answer....
again, it's early days yet. For now, I'm really impressed how you're already finding your way round the system and the complicated bureaucracy (I agree govt websites are often very confusing!) as well as soaking up (!ha! i didn't mean this literally but I guess some days it does apply!) the atmosphere.
Keep us posted!
Re your feelings about the town being dead at night, and there not being enough public transport, it may eventually turn out that you are not in the best place for you--this takes a while to assess and isn't a decision to be made right away bit only after living there for a while.....we've seen other returnees go through similar things and found a move to a place that suited them more was the answer....
again, it's early days yet. For now, I'm really impressed how you're already finding your way round the system and the complicated bureaucracy (I agree govt websites are often very confusing!) as well as soaking up (!ha! i didn't mean this literally but I guess some days it does apply!) the atmosphere.
Keep us posted!
Apr 24th 2014, 12:16 pm
#28
BE Enthusiast
Joined: Oct 2006
Posts: 603
Re: Back :)
Englishmaple,
I really appreciate your posts, its like "on the spot live reports".
I'm so sorry yesterday was such a bummer of a day. I realize that the harsh attitude from the benefits system is to try to deter those who are fraudlelantly claiming/working the system but the vast majority of claimers are actually genuine and its horrible that everyone gets painted with the same brush.
Its always so upsetting when you receive hostility, judgement and unkindness when you are totally genuine, I think the trick is to remember not to take it personally, its the same attitude that is metered out to everyone, which is horrible but its not personal - does that make sense?
I agree with Snap Shot "The current Conservative Government in Britain is punitive to the unemployed. (Rather than creating jobs, but hey.)" I think they use it as a tactic to divert scrutiny of what they are doing/not doing "look at those terrible benefit scroungers (so you don't look at what a crap job we are doing"
What kind of work are you hoping to get? Is there any additional training you could get that would help? Depending on what you are looking for you might find one of the employment agencies like Reed Employment might be helpful with advice etc.
Sending hugs, there will be bad days but you have a great attitude and everything is always so much harder at the start but bit by bit things get easier.
I really appreciate your posts, its like "on the spot live reports".
I'm so sorry yesterday was such a bummer of a day. I realize that the harsh attitude from the benefits system is to try to deter those who are fraudlelantly claiming/working the system but the vast majority of claimers are actually genuine and its horrible that everyone gets painted with the same brush.
Its always so upsetting when you receive hostility, judgement and unkindness when you are totally genuine, I think the trick is to remember not to take it personally, its the same attitude that is metered out to everyone, which is horrible but its not personal - does that make sense?
I agree with Snap Shot "The current Conservative Government in Britain is punitive to the unemployed. (Rather than creating jobs, but hey.)" I think they use it as a tactic to divert scrutiny of what they are doing/not doing "look at those terrible benefit scroungers (so you don't look at what a crap job we are doing"
What kind of work are you hoping to get? Is there any additional training you could get that would help? Depending on what you are looking for you might find one of the employment agencies like Reed Employment might be helpful with advice etc.
Sending hugs, there will be bad days but you have a great attitude and everything is always so much harder at the start but bit by bit things get easier.
Apr 24th 2014, 12:36 pm
#29
Ping-ponger
Joined: Jul 2002
Location: Dreich Alba
Posts: 12,006
Re: Back :)
It's an awkward situation - when you see the way that some benefits claimants talk to staff, you realise why they maybe have to be so formal and clarify the consequences of not turning up on time.
It doesn't make it any easier for "genuine" claimants but then the workplace can be a pretty unpleasant place to be, too. We get all sorts of communications with veiled "consequences" of doing or not doing this and that.
I think some members of the current government are using the "encouragement to work" argument as a justification for the "make claiming benefits unpleasant" approach, but TBH as a tax-payer of many years I would rather claiming benefits was uncomfortable for people than that it was a cake-walk.
It is really interesting to read Englishmaple's accounts of her experiences in what we used to call the "dole office" and I appreciate her being willing to share this information. It's a very telling blow-by-blow account of what being back can be like - one minute on top of the world, the next in the pits.
It doesn't make it any easier for "genuine" claimants but then the workplace can be a pretty unpleasant place to be, too. We get all sorts of communications with veiled "consequences" of doing or not doing this and that.
I think some members of the current government are using the "encouragement to work" argument as a justification for the "make claiming benefits unpleasant" approach, but TBH as a tax-payer of many years I would rather claiming benefits was uncomfortable for people than that it was a cake-walk.
It is really interesting to read Englishmaple's accounts of her experiences in what we used to call the "dole office" and I appreciate her being willing to share this information. It's a very telling blow-by-blow account of what being back can be like - one minute on top of the world, the next in the pits.
Apr 24th 2014, 3:47 pm
#30
Lost in BE Cyberspace
Joined: Jan 2008
Posts: 41,518
Re: Back :)
Being asked to attend at 9 for a 9.30 appointment doesn't seem too punitive really, from afar. You have to get to the doctor's early here to fill in paperwork.
I think they are damned for being too soft on claimants and then damned if they tighten up.
I think they are damned for being too soft on claimants and then damned if they tighten up.