Published on 12, July, 2020
The job centre have now referred me to the government RESTART scheme, run by a private company called Maximus.
Yesterday I had my induction, phone appointment. As part of this induction they asked about my health and disabilities and the women on the line often repeated what I said, to double check the accuracy. I mentioned autism, she repeated, ' you suffer from the mental illness autism.'
An update on my job search.
I have been offered a temporary job through an employment agency with a provisional start date of 10 January 2022. However, this is subject to a DBS check and three satisfactory references from recent employers.
These referees have turned out to be unexpected hurdles. I was told by employment advisors that these days a reference is just confirmation that one has been employed somewhere and nothing more, because giving out personal details would be a breach of confidentiality. But, this employment agency has sent out a questionnaire about my performance to my referees. One referee has refused to fill it out because my original manager has gone to a different company and the new manager didn't work with me personally. The other two referees have not replied because places are closed over Christmas/ new year.
Job centre appointments and harassment is continuing. I had an unexpected telephone call from the DWP on Dec 24, which I missed, will I be sanctioned for this? I had a face to face job centre appointment on Dec 30. I have further face to face appointments on Jan 7. In the morning it's the job centre and in the afternoon at Maximus. At each job centre appointment I still have to go through two security questions, despite the advisor knowing me personally because I've seen him a dozen times. What will happen if I get pissed off and intentionally fail the security questions?
I should think in the case of the one who refused, they should try again to the HR dept, who can from record state your employment dates.
It been some years since I worked for the MET but that's what would happen now. HR sends a letter saying x date to x date with good conduct. They just do a quick check for dates and discipline. I can however ask people I worked with to write personal references commenting on skills etc, but they don't do that "on behalf of" the Met.