The Student Room Group

Jobseekers - The 90 minute rule?

Thankfully I'm off jobseekers now, but one thing that struck me was the expectation that you should be expected to take a job 90 minutes away. Whilst in theory commuting 3 hours a day for a job seems reasonable, when you look at the costs of travel these days how is this expected.

It costs as much as £10 for a single 30 minute journey in my area, if you were expected to take a minimum wage job 90minutes away you'd more than likely be earning less than jobseekers allowance.

Is this an arbitrary requirement imposed on job seekers or do you agree with it?
Original post by RJ555
Thankfully I'm off jobseekers now, but one thing that struck me was the expectation that you should be expected to take a job 90 minutes away. Whilst in theory commuting 3 hours a day for a job seems reasonable, when you look at the costs of travel these days how is this expected.

It costs as much as £10 for a single 30 minute journey in my area, if you were expected to take a minimum wage job 90minutes away you'd more than likely be earning less than jobseekers allowance.

Is this an arbitrary requirement imposed on job seekers or do you agree with it?


Abolish JSA and the minimum wage and replace it with a negative income tax. Get rid of all of these insane rules and perverse incentives that the current system creates.

Just give people a modest amount money to live on if they are unemployed (and don't take it all away if they actually get a job but slowly reduce the payment) and otherwise do not bind them down with arbitrary regulations.
Reply 2
this is one of the many reasons i told them to shove it all up their ********s.

And they increase the 'able to commute' time after three months as well- is it an hour and a half to begin with or is that the increased time?

yes- and i suppose the cost of it is actually the main issue, something i didnt really think of at the time. The bus and train fares are also exorbitant here too- £8.50 for a 10 minute train journey for e.g.
(edited 12 years ago)
Reply 3
Taking a job in the nearest city (Liverpool) would cripple my finances, as would taking taxis to work each morning because no buses run - to Haydock, for example - before 8am. Moreover, to get to Haydock I would have to take two buses from where I live. That's impossible for most jobs from this area (factory work mostly) are 6am start.
Reply 4
It's a game. Just pretend to go along with it. Big deal...

Some of you wouldn't know realpolitik if it smacked you in the face. You probably talk yourselves down on your own CVs lol!
I didn't have this when I was signing on the year before last. I was just asked where I could feasibly get to and we looked at jobs from there...
Reply 6
The 90 minutes is a maximum but, as far as all my advisors go, they don't expect you to go somewhere you can't.

- If you can get to the city 10 miles away in half an hour by bus, you're expected to.

- If buses don't go to a place 7 miles away, they consider that area not an option.

- If you reveal you've looked at Birmingham jobs, because while 60 miles away you can get there in an hour by train, they're surprised and impressed.

It's all irrelevant though, because if you're a lazy chav you can just make up what you looked for, where, and what you applied for, and when. They can't check every supposed application, so don't check any. Sometimes they don't even bother to look at your log, you're just there for the signature.

P.S. A4e - if there is a God, smite them down. They are the ironic scum of Britain. Contracted to find jobs for people, all they do is sit there and do nothing, attack everyone else, abuse, stalk, discriminate, and leech off of the economy - taxpayers' money ('our' money).

Apparently, that's what us unemployed do. So it's funny that the Labour and especially Conservative governments are throwing millions at a company to do it as well.
Reply 7
I know people who commute this ammount of time, but clearly not for a minimum wage job.

Public transport is pretty stupid, for example it was cheaper for me to hire a car than get a train home. wtf?
Reply 8
Original post by RJ555
Thankfully I'm off jobseekers now, but one thing that struck me was the expectation that you should be expected to take a job 90 minutes away. Whilst in theory commuting 3 hours a day for a job seems reasonable, when you look at the costs of travel these days how is this expected.

It costs as much as £10 for a single 30 minute journey in my area, if you were expected to take a minimum wage job 90minutes away you'd more than likely be earning less than jobseekers allowance.

Is this an arbitrary requirement imposed on job seekers or do you agree with it?


Yeah, I think it is especially unjust as the prospective job gets closer to minimum-wage (and I believe that after a while people on JSA are increasingly pushed to take anything over 16 hours - which for the purposes of the welfare system the state treats as 'full-time').

It's one of the paradoxes of capitalism. The capitalist class provide welfare to prevent your more costly (for them) fall into petty-crime to avoid starvation, and to prevent you from becoming too radically politicised by your alienation, but at the same time they really, really would like to sicken you into signing-off because welfare is expensive.
Surely you could write really awful CVs to avoid getting the jobs far away?

Not that I'm adovacting such sneakery of course.
(edited 12 years ago)
In theory all JSA recipients should be willing to travel up to 90 minutes for work. In reality though you're only really expected to travel that far if it's financially and physically possible. Most of the time you're only really required to travel to anywhere public transport can take you at a reasonable cost.

The only time JCP staff will whip out the 90 minute rule as a requirement is if they have some idiot who refuses to take a half hour bus journey because they think it's too far or just because they don't like a certain place.
Reply 11
Get a bike?

It's all this great sense of entitlement, I'm sure a polish worker would walk 3 hours through the snow to get to these minimum wage jobs you turn your nose up at.
(edited 12 years ago)
Reply 12
Original post by Square
Get a bike?

It's all this great sense of entitlement, I'm sure a polish worker would walk 3 hours through the snow to get to these minimum wage jobs you turn your nose up at.


I'm sure you know that being on JSA now means you have the choice whether to eat or put on the heating. Forget the bike. It's all about survival now.
Reply 13
Original post by PendulumBoB
Surely you could write really awful CVs to avoid getting the jobs far away?

Not that I'm adovacting such sneakery of course.


No need. Jobs aren't forced on jobseekers (not for me anyway), and even if they were there's no need to apply because it isn't checked.
Reply 14
I always used to go straight to the bookies when my benefit money came in, sometimes good win would set me up straight for a few weeks, other times I'd be struggling.

Always worth a punt though.

Jobcentre staff don't really give a **** about getting people work to be honest. I didn't apply for a single job in the 4 months I was on JSA.
Reply 15
Original post by nonotrly
No need. Jobs aren't forced on jobseekers (not for me anyway), and even if they were there's no need to apply because it isn't checked.


They are on the Work Programme. And it is sanctions if you refuse. I got offered a minimum wage factory job in Liverpool. I would need to catch a train and a bus to get there. After working out the in-work calculation totalling up the cost of transport faires and meals at work each week including rent because Hosuing Benefit is stopped, I would be £30 per week worse off taking the job. The tax credits wouldn't make any difference.

I had to tweak my CV into failing the interview. They would not have given me the job anyway. Theyr'e not going to give the job to someone living 20 or more miles away when there's people wanting the job who live right on the doorstep.
Do they calculate this taking into account rush houir traffic as if not I feel sorry for you guys as that could easily turn into a 3hr commute

Original post by Martyn*
I had to tweak my CV into failing the interview. They would not have given me the job anyway. Theyr'e not going to give the job to someone living 20 or more miles away when there's people wanting the job who live right on the doorstep.


I got a job offer 40miles away from home (thankfully got one nearer)
Reply 17
If you live in London, then you're screwed. Especially when you consider the fares will go up in January again.
Original post by JiminyCricket
I wish all public transport was free for those working.

Going to work shouldn't cost anything.


So public transport workers should take people to places where they can make money ... for free?

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