Britannia Radio

20 February 2010 Job Centres Still A Disaster Area Letter to the Daily Telegraph (unpublished) Sir You report today (17 February) the DWP's own condemnation of its Job Centres to cope with the influx of white-collar workers when the recession hit early last year. They can have no excuses. I had harrowing personal experience of the woeful lack of understanding and training of Job Centre staff when a similar invasion of middle and senior management hit their offices in the early 1990s, the consequences of which have lasted for many of us to this day. That was why I wrote to Mel Groves, then CEO of the DWP's Job Centre Plus, in January last year and invited him to accompany me, incognito, first as a pair of workmen, and then as a pair of senior managers to different Job Centres to experience his service at first hand. He refused. He claimed everything was under control and targets were being met. His was a bureaucrat's reply from an ivory tower. Plainly everything was not under control. This prompted me to post a warning on YouTube to disabuse newly redundant managers who might naively imagine Job Centres would actually be able to help them. The DWP's latest appalling admissions regrettably confirm that I was right. It seems nothing has changed in 20 years. Ashley Mote To respond to, or comment on this Email, please email ashley.mote@btconnect.com Click www.ashleymote.co.uk to visit the site now.