Signing on

Last week I went to the local JobCentre to sign on. This means that, in the eyes of the state, I am officially unemployed and available for work. For the next six months I will be required to attend the same Job Centre every couple of weeks to give an account of the activities I have undertaken to seek a job or to make myself more employable. In return I receive a payment of £90 per week as a living allowance.

At one level, there is nothing unusual here, because it goes on, unnoticed, by countless others every day. On the other hand, this is the first time in my working life that I have sought state help. I've written before about my father's experience of unemployment and invalidity, and my feelings about being brought up on benefits. The embarrassment and shame are still so vivid in my memory, along with the anxieties of Christmas or the start of a new school year when presents or new uniforms would need to be bought. Even at a young age I sensed the humiliation my parents felt at not being able to provide beyond the very basics, though neither they nor I ever voiced those feelings.

Now it's my turn to feel some of that sense of failure and anxiety. Thank God my son is grown up and providing for himself, but I am still aware of not pulling my weight in terms of the family budget. I remember listening to President Mary Robinson thirty years ago speak about the dignity that work gives to people and I feel that loss acutely at the moment. Thankfully I have strong support around me to help me cope and to get me back up and running again, because I doubt the Job Centre will offer much more than form-filling and a general air of disdain.

Obviously the coverage of the recent Spring Statement by the Chancellor took on an added significance for me this year, especially the decision to cut benefits aimed at the unemployed and disabled. Of course I'm deeply disappointed in a Labour government choosing to inflict greater hardship on some of the poorest and most vulnerable for fear of upsetting those who control the markets. But even if I thought the intentions were honourable, I still fail to see any evidence that such an approach has ever actually worked in practice. The theory, I'm supposing, is that somehow people are too comfortable on benefits to contemplate finding work and so need to be 'incentivized' off their sofas and into a job. Somehow the rumbling stomachs of their hungry children will stimulate a new found desire for gainful employment perhaps?

The reality is that far too many employers are simply not prepared to make even minor adjustments to make it possible for disabled people to work. This results in workplaces being unsafe and unhealthy, leaving disabled people with the choice of taking a job that risks their health or prioritising their wellbeing and remaining out of the workplace. It saddens me that a Labour government is taking the easy option of punishing the vulnerable rather than tackling employment practices that continue to exclude and demean.

It doesn't take long before unemployment chips away at personal self-confidence, and as applications are rejected, the negativity piles on. All this makes the road back to employment complex and those who take it need skillful support and expert advice. From what I've experienced so far, the likelihood of being provided by that level of support seems pretty slim. It's early days, of course, and I could be proved utterly wrong. Let's hope so.