Anyone about to start their indefinate sentence on the Work Program would do well to prepare themselves in advance. The all round assault on their independence, dignity and self respect that the poverty pimp providers use to take control of your life will start on the very first appointment. If not prepared you might find they have achieved many of their aims before you even realise what they are up to.
Because of the constant threat of them raising sanction doubts if you don't conform to their every command you will need to be very careful how you defend yourself. There are certain steps you can take to retain some degree of self determination and respect though. They won't like it but if you state your case firmly but reasonably they will just have to lump it. In fact the more control over your own life you can retain, the less they are likely or able to abuse you. As you will be on the Work Program until you find employment, retire, die, or the WP collapses this is very important.
You will have been unemployed for 12 months (3 months if kicked of ESA or other disability benefit by ATOS) when mandated onto the WP so you are likely to already be familiar with DWP/JCP dishonesty and trickery. Your pimp however has the added motive of financial gain and virtual immunity from complaint though so they are likely to be even more slippery.
1. Record every word of any meetings with your provider.
People have already had sanction doubts raised claiming they failed to attend an appointment. A recording would obviously protect you from this as well as the many other lies you will almost inevitably experience from them.
This can be done on via mobile phone, MP3 player, USB type recorder or an old fashioned dictaphone. Personally I would recommend not telling them. If you aren’t happy with this you can tell them but they won't like it and they certainly don't deserve such consideration. It's debatable if they can legally stop you but remember, we are second class citizens and many of the normal rights of a free individuals will be denied us. For example, ATOS are performing body searches of disabled people arriving for assessments due to too many of their lies being exposed.
2. Do not sign the consent for release of personal data forms.
This is very important and very effective. These forms give them permission to use your personal data that they have already illegally obtained from the DWP as they wish. They will not like this at all but the forms should clearly, by law, state that you don't have to consent if you don't want too. Despite the optional nature of this consent they did initially try to reject people off the program after a refusal. I think most pimps have now had their cards well and truly marked on this point though so don't be bullied into it.
The main reasons they want this consent is to be able to spam your details out to employees on the lookout for cheap, compliant labour and also to obtain their pay off from the DWP should they manage to pimp you out. They also need this consent to keep in touch with any employer (for 2 years if you last that long) and claim more cash for every month you remain employed. Apart from these monthly payments they also want to maintain contact with the employer and will intervene on your behalf (yea right!) if your employer suggests you are not likely to keep the job.
If they keep pestering for it, tell them that you are capable of applying for your own jobs and if they have any vacancies they should give you the details so you can make your own application.
3. Do not allow them to keep either a paper or digital copy of your CV.
Again, they will spam these out to any of their corporate accomplices looking for cheap labour. You should be able to reasonably justify this on the same grounds as for the data release forms. You are perfectly capable of applying for your own jobs and an application coming via a WP pimp is likely to be less successful than one from a free independent individual.
4. Do not give them you home or mobile telephone number.
They will harass you any time they feel like it if you do. If you have previously given a phone number to the DWP they will have been already been provided with it in the data protection breach already committed by the DWP. If it's a mobile, I would change the sim card (often available free) and tell them you no longer have one. If a land line I am not sure (I can't afford one myself!). I would also tell them that your preferred method of communication is via the post. This is unlikely to stop them calling you though. If you have caller id they usually call with their number withheld. I have made it clear that I never answer calls from withheld numbers as they are invariably scammers or conmen. Especially true in this case. Furthermore, the fact that they themselves are coy about revealing their phone number means they can hardly criticise you for doing the same. (Except of course, we no longer have the same rights as “normal” people!)
5. Do not let them know if you have internet access at home.
Again this would just allow them free access into your private life whenever they like. Tell them you have occasional access at a friends or the library. It's difficult to claim that you haven't got an email address these days but if you haven't got regular internet access you are free to respond or not as you see fit. Remind them that your preferred communication is via the post though.
6. Don't let them up your existing Job Seekers Agreement.
They will try to get you to apply for an increasing number of vacancies per week. Don't let them. Your Job Seekers Agreement is a negotiated agreed contract with the DWP. Fulfillment of which entitles you to benefits. I heard recently of a farcical situation were someone was being asked to make 40 applications a week! You may need to remind them that you have this contractual agreement with a proper professionals and will only negotiate it further with them.
There are other tactics which will help you to maintain some semblance of self respect and independence but I think the 6 above will lay out your ground rules and show them you are no ones pushover. They are likely to mark you down as “difficult” and park you. This means they will give the you the absolute minimum attention and input they can and leave you free to get on with the difficult task of finding a decent job.
One more thing. Don't believe for one second that they are your friend. It is fatal. They make great efforts at this but most of them will give themselves away regularly by allowing their mask to slip and their prejudice and contempt to show.
They are not your pal. Remember you are just their meal ticket.
Resist and survive!
