il_bastardo
meh
Single parent attends the Jobcentre and gets referred to social services as a troubled family:
https://thepoorsideoflife.wordpress...roubled-family-new-trial-at-ashton-jobcentre/
The criteria for classification as a 'troubled family' is especially worrying:
"They are classing single parents and couples with children who aren’t in full time employment as troubled families if they fall into two categories on the list. This is very easy to do. For instance one category is being unemployed another category is having an illness or your child having an illness. If they agree [in the trial phase, it's 'optional'] to comply with this scheme they will be watched and monitored by social services and a social services case worker until they find employment."
This is being trialled at Ashton Jobcentre in Tameside - population 45,000. Considering the population size, the trial has a very large compulsory target* figure - 1,750 families:
"The council have approved a new investment agreement approach to working with *a minimum of 1,750 families. This won’t only affect single parents it will affect couples with children as well. Here’s their target figure, they have to reach this target. The government provides a fee called the attachment fee £1000 per family.Encouraging the local authority to engage with families, it then provides a result fee which is £800 per family, which is provided by the government to an agency who are working with that family. This agency it has been decided will be a local housing trust. New Charter Housing. They did not allow any other outside agency to apply and they made a special exemption for this.
And given how far up the agenda of the government's street this is, I'd expect to see this rolled out across the country eventually. Currently optional but that fact is unlikely to be made obvious to claimants - a tactic seen all too regularly before now.
https://thepoorsideoflife.wordpress...roubled-family-new-trial-at-ashton-jobcentre/
The criteria for classification as a 'troubled family' is especially worrying:
"They are classing single parents and couples with children who aren’t in full time employment as troubled families if they fall into two categories on the list. This is very easy to do. For instance one category is being unemployed another category is having an illness or your child having an illness. If they agree [in the trial phase, it's 'optional'] to comply with this scheme they will be watched and monitored by social services and a social services case worker until they find employment."
This is being trialled at Ashton Jobcentre in Tameside - population 45,000. Considering the population size, the trial has a very large compulsory target* figure - 1,750 families:
"The council have approved a new investment agreement approach to working with *a minimum of 1,750 families. This won’t only affect single parents it will affect couples with children as well. Here’s their target figure, they have to reach this target. The government provides a fee called the attachment fee £1000 per family.Encouraging the local authority to engage with families, it then provides a result fee which is £800 per family, which is provided by the government to an agency who are working with that family. This agency it has been decided will be a local housing trust. New Charter Housing. They did not allow any other outside agency to apply and they made a special exemption for this.
And given how far up the agenda of the government's street this is, I'd expect to see this rolled out across the country eventually. Currently optional but that fact is unlikely to be made obvious to claimants - a tactic seen all too regularly before now.
I seriously earn my child tax credits and family allowance in the pain and anxiety that my teenager is causing me right now. In fact I'd go as far to say that they're not paying me enough for it 
