Jobs Action Network campaigning meeting
23rd May, 2011
People at the meeting:
Tracey Tear (Milton Keynes)
Philip Stapleton (Milton Keynes)
Nigel Brown (Milton Keynes)
Judy Elsmore (Milton Keynes)
David Griffiths (Reading)
Sue Pigott (Buckinghamshire)
Paul Andrews (Buckinghamshire)
John Rylance (Wokingham)
Sarah Griffiths (Wokingham)
Janine Sewell (Wokingham)
Nicholas Anthony (Windsor and Maidenhead)
Norma Machray (Windsor and Maidenhead)
Debra Cole (Reading)
Terrie Withers (Reading)
Steven Chapman (Kent)
Laura Maude (Kent)
Michelle Huggins (Kent)
Ann-Marie Eighteen (Kent)
Louise Allen (Kent)
Which areas where there?
Kent, Reading, Milton Keynes, Wokingham,
Windsor, Maidenhead and Buckinghamshire
Everyone looked through the last minutes.
Skillnet Group Training Team
 We did a presentation about how
people are treated in work in
other countries.
 People were asked to think about:
Where do the things that we buy
come from?
What will working conditions be like?
 Training team talked about the sort of training that
they can offer to Job Centre Plus.
 Everyone watched One Vision DVD (The Job Centre
Sketch).
 People talked about how you should act when training
people, you should:
- Be knowledgeable
- Have good eye contact
- Listen to each other
- Polite
- Find unique ways of sharing information
- Be flexible
- Sensitive and tactful
- Encouraging
- Be professional
- Dress smartly
- Friendly and Kind
 Everyone talked about how they
like to learn.
People went into groups and discussed:
What might the barriers be to Job Centre Plus staff
learning from the training?
- Thinking that they do this already
- Having to fill in lots of forms
- Not understanding that some people
might need more support than
others
- Targets are more important
- People need to think about what you are able to do and
not what you cannot do
- Time and money
- Too many rules
- Cutbacks and staffing
What training do you think that Job Centre Plus staff
need and why?
- They need repect
- Job Carving
- Knowledge of what support is out there for people
- Disability awareness
- Communication
- Treat everyone as an individual
- To learn through people’s
actual experiences
- Phone system needs to be
more accessible
- Official letters can make people feel anxious and
stressed
Why?
- No respect
- They don’t understand job carving
- Feel under pressure to meet targets
What is the main message that you
want to give Job Centre Plus?
People said:
- We are people and not targets
- Talk to the person, not the
disability
- Be friendly and respectful
- People may agree to things and not understand-people
need to check
- Concentrate on what we can do
- Find out about local support
- Give people extra time
- Don’t go through support workers, talk to the person
- We are all individuals
- Welcome extra supporters to the interview
- Make things accessible
The quotes highlighted in red were most important to
people.
What next?
People talked about what would happen next:
 Laura and Steve were going to meet with Janine Hobbs
(manager from Job Centre Plus) to feedback to her
about how people were feeling in the South East.
 Skillnet Group training team will arrange some training
sessions with DEA’s in the South East, people who are
part of the Campaigning Group will asked to be involved.
 We will invite someone from Job Centre Plus to come
and talk to us at the next meeting.
 We will link in with other campaigns that re happening
in the UK including, Community Links and The
Partnership Board.
 People to link locally with their managers in the Job
Centre, Laura and Steve will send out contacts. People
will feedback how this has gone at the next meeting.
Social Media
People were reminded about the Facebook and Twitter page
http://www.facebook.com/home.php?#!/pages/JobsAction-Network-Campaigning-Group
http://twitter.com/#!/JobsActionNet
For More information please contact:
Steven Chapman: 07903 534634
[email protected]
Laura Maude: 07584 286924
[email protected]
Date of next meeting:
Tuesday 6th September, 2011, 11am-3pm in
Buckinghamshire-venue to be confirmed