As posted elsewhere on the internet:
As per the request of Southport job centre, I have been attending A4e Southport now for X weeks. In this time I have yet be given the training offered by Southport job centre or for that matter A4e themselves.
The influx of new clients especially on Mondays has lead to unorganised chaos, the overall lack of space at the centre leads to clients having to seek alternative places within the building. There is growing concern from fellow clients and myself over the level of health and safety in the building.
During this Time I have also noticed a great fall in staff moral, this has lead to abusive treatment of clients by certain staff members and especially those in a high level of authority. I have also had to witness a staff member being brought to tears by a person of management, this I feel is very inappropriate and totally UN professional.
I and many other clients at A4e, have at times been made to endure situations that have been frustrating, embarrassing and very humiliating. There was an instance when the centre had no printing supplies for a two week period, yet clients were harassed and badgered into writing applications they could not even print.
When clients asked when this problem is going to be resolved, the reply was a simple "at the end of the month".
The lack of basic supplies also has effect upon such commodities as Liquid soap, paper towels, refreshments and even postal stamps. This has lead to moments when a person could not keep a basic level of hygiene after visiting the toilet; refreshments are at times to the point where there is simply none available and if there are, the number of people requiring hot drinks vastly outweighs the amount available at any one time. Applications that are left in the office for posting to prospective employers have been found days later still not sent.
There is a obvious lack of I.T maintenance, this causes poor performance and reliability of the centres computers leading to clients having to wait to access the internet for job related activities.
The security level on the centres computer systems is set to a level that some job search sites are not allowed, this again is narrowing clients chances of finding suitable jobs to apply for.
The aforementioned is merely a small insight into the problems faced each day, and the severity changes in particular when the main Business manager for the region is in the centre.
The overall atmosphere at the A4e centre in Southport is volatile and at times aggressive, moral is very low and I along with a number of other clients am no longer willing to endure such a situation. Due to my present situation and that of the others, we seek help and guidance in building our moral and skills in pushing us forward to gaining employment; we are not receiving this and actually being driven into the wrong direction.
The A4e centre at Southport is now no more than a cauldron of despair, low morale and uncertainty. I no longer wish to endure this and unless steps are taken to change this and the overall running of the centre I will be forced to place in writing a letter of complaint to the local M.P or higher.
ALL BUT 1 SIGNED THIS COMPLAINT
complained to job center about my a4e this is some of the letter they sent (form 3rd party provision team merseyside district) me it is verry long and am not typing it all jcp refer customers to a4e with varing degrees of knowledge and ability they are required to tailor the delivery to meet the individual needs.
we apologise if this has not happened during your time with a4e. to ensure that customers are receiving training suitable to there needs jcp will monitor this via our internal process.( I and many others got no traning no work placement ) in relation to the it issues a4e have assured jcp that they have a good level of it equipment on site however on occasions this ,may run slowly. ( the computers are out the ark they must be 8 year old or more slow is not the word) we complained about health safety its long this part so I cut it as a4e is classed by health and safety executive as an educational and traning establishment there is no legal upper limit as to the numbers of customers in a traning room.
however both a4e and jcp would not consider it to be conducive to good traning delivery to have excessive numbers. as numbers on programme stand and as a4e southport currently have more than 45%(joke) of customers undertaking placement activities they feel that the premises and staffing(1staff) are adequate they have explained that the customers group can be split between the traning rooms on the ground floor and first floor should it be necessary, this situation will be reviewed on a regular basis via jcp contract management..
with regard to the office supplies a4e have informed jcp that these are purchased on a monthly basis however if they run out prior to the bulk delivery arriving alternative supplies can be purchesed locally this should be resolved by the local office staff. basic suplies should be kept up to date and stored in cupboards which staff on site are aware of, if these run out again they should be replaced punctually .
a4e have apologised if this has not always been the case and assured us that they will endeavour to ensure that in future supplies are kept in stock...we had no pens paper for cv no tolite roll soap tea milk newspapers we had to buy our own a4e have investigated the issue regarding delays in posting application forms ets. a4e agree that there have been delays in the past, a4e have assured us that they have put systems in place to ensure that this will not happen in the future, they will ensure that mail will be posted on a daily basis. a4e agree that this type of error is not acceptable.
jcp will monitor this process to ensure that appropriate action is being taken...we found job apps in the office not sent out from 4 weeks ago// the dole came in every day for a week in the morning to make sure they were posted, for 1 week only!!!! that is just some of the letter notice how they say a4e have assured usa4e have informed us etc etc it just shows the 3rd party provision team and the job center dont care they just take what a4e say as gospel truth they dont go and check.....
the health and safety is a very long part of my letter.. after the complaint an health and safety officer came to a4e it was a4e own health safety officer I pointed out our concerns he was having none of it all he did was put a few signs up( the wrong signs I might add)I have worked in the building trade for 26 years I am no expert but I no there were plenty of health and safety issues the did they care no, no 1 cares.
I went to a4e so I was told to get my cscs card forklift traning placement I got none of them all I dit was sit in front of a computer, o yes I forgot my first week there an agency phoned me so I took the job they said it was for a week on the friday the foreman came to me at 1030 and said are you ok for anougher 2 weeks I said yes fine 1 hour later gets a phone call from the firm that I was working for , they were acting as an agency, he said I have had some woman on the phone trying to make me sign a form to say you might be here for 13 weeks,(IF I WAS WORKING FOR 13 WEEKS A4E COULD CLAIM MONEY FOR ME THATS ALL THEY WANTED MONEY)
my boss said that he could not say that I would be there for 13 weeks he said they were harrasing him to say it..... after dinner the forman came to me he said got some bad news your sacked!!! now I can not prove it was coz of that phone call but it was....................back to a4e........