Can I get more support from Job Centre as an unemployed autistic adult?

Dear iamspooked,

Thank you for sharing this with our community. 

Our employment pages include information and advice on looking for an applying for a job. We also have a webpage offering information and support on in your rights at work, dealing with bullying and interacting and coping at work.  

You can also find a free online ‘Finding Employment’ module on our website. This module is designed to help autistic job seekers entering the job market in understanding their strengths and what next steps they could take towards gaining meaningful employment or work. 

Our Spectrum Live online series also features an episode discussing employment, this can be found here. 

Evenbreak matches disabled job seekers with employers to build a diverse workforce. You can visit the Evenbreak website for listed job vacancies. 

The British Association of Supported Employment (BASE), have a database of supported employment agencies, so you can search for one in your local area. 

Maximus offer a range of employability programmes throughout the UK, including programmes for disabled people who are struggling to find work.

Our current employment and volunteering opportunities with The National Autistic Society are listed on our vacancies page.  We particularly welcome applications from autistic people. 

Thank you. I hope this helps!

Best wishes,

Eunice Mod  

Taltunes said:

And they all start with “ice-breaking” or “team-building” exercises

These situations send my anxiety level thru the roof.

And they all start with “ice-breaking” or “team-building” exercises

Oh the amount of silly courses I've been stuck on. Once they put me on a course and I told them I'm not super comfortable with courses it's just the environment and it feels too much like school it makes me too anxious... so they signed me up for an anxiety course. I told them the same thing and they said 'well if you aren't able to do a simple course you clearly aren't able to hold down a job' I was actually speechless

If you can find a local charity that helps support people getting back into work, the people there are more likely to have time to spend with you, or in some areas there are gardening, repairing things or other volunteering programs which help people gain skills for work. Our local Jobcentre sometimes recommends going to one of these. It may be worth asking them as I am guessing if they are happy for you to do something like that to gain skills they might agree to this as an alternative to their programs.

My local job centre had a specific autism/Neurodiversity/learning disability related program however I never actually tried it because just before it was about to start I got a job.

Caelus said:

as for supoort the jobcenter will readily send you on silly courses to private programmes that both sides make money off, but yet doesnt support you... often these courses just make you change your cv, and each one you get sent on criticises the last one and says their cv they did you was bad... but yet all of their cvs are equally bad lol

Spot on, that is my experience too.

The answer to your question about extra support is both yes and no.

No to the financial aspect.

Yes to 'practical support ',  if you have an actual autism diagnosis you will get extra help and practical support.  Such as more help in CV writing.  Maybe a limited time job placement with someone who gets a payment from the government to employ you for a time.

The days when the Job Centre were a job centre have long since gone. These days they would be better renamed as the how dare you not have a job centre or the jumping through hoops Centre I suspect it also only exists because of the number of people it employs, a lot of whom would struggle to find jobs elsewhere.

Also what are you interested in?

iamspooked said:

I'm really struggling to find work as I've only had two jobs before and I don't stand out at all to employers

Forget the Job Center - they are as much use as chocolate teapots from my (secondhand) experience of them helping anything but neurotypicals.

We may be able to give some advice however as we have an in depth understanding of autism and surviving in the world with it.

Lets start from basics - what do you struggle most with when working?

Then tell us what you struggle with in interviews.

Lastly, what areas do you want to work in? Be realistic.

Do you have any length of experience either in working or volunteering?

With some sort of profile of your challenges, direction and experience we can start to give advice to suit your needs.

I haven’t had dealings with the Jobcentre for a long time but my understanding is they should have disabilty advisors who if nothing else should have a better understandings of your problems. I wouldn’t hold out too much hope of additional support although if you are able to find a potential employer there are programs like.work trials and access to work which might help If you are not already aware of them I would ask for details the next time you have to attend the job centre.

I suspect if you are looking for support in finding work you are more likely to find it from your local council, the NHS or charities.

If you attend a local autism support group I would ask there what resources there are locally

the answer is nope.
you get the same amount of unemployment benefit as a regular person.

you can increase the amount you get in many ways, such as you get extra if you can prove you have some rent or service charge that they have to cover i think. i think after a while they also now cover mortgage repayments too. also if you have kids you get extra money for having kids.

as for supoort the jobcenter will readily send you on silly courses to private programmes that both sides make money off, but yet doesnt support you... often these courses just make you change your cv, and each one you get sent on criticises the last one and says their cv they did you was bad... but yet all of their cvs are equally bad lol