25 signatures reached
To: DWP, Job Centre staff / The Government
Job Centre staff should have DBS cover
As an unemployed teacher I have had to find over 63 pounds to get a DBS check in place. When I spoke to the staff about help with this payment I was astonished and angry to find out that they themselves don't have DBS cover, The Job Centre these days does need at the very least something like an appropriate adult scheme in residence. As they have so many users who are vulnerable; many of whom cant read or write and don't understand what their rights are. People with special needs, mental health issues and drug and alcohol users too. DWP staff have access to clients files and names and addresses. One would have thought that this is the one place where people feel particularly vulnerable and threatened by bureaucracy and intimidated by staff threatening benefit cuts and imposing other penalties on them. I feel this is a cynical measure by the government (who employ this sector) to save themselves money whilst at the time insisting that the likes of me and you have to have a DBS even though we cant afford it and even though there are no facilities for help and financial support with the costs of it.
Why is this important?
It is important because everyone who works with vulnerable adults and children should have a DBS check and be vetted. Why should there be rules for us and rules for them. Surely if I as a teacher have to have a DBS check paid for and a certificate in my hand before I set foot in the building I am working in then so should they. If you have been to the job centre recently you will notice that it now looks and feels more like a drop in centre. It is full of despairing people , hopeless lives trying to get out from under. I feel it is paramount that the staff not only have DBS checks complete prior to working there but they also need extra training and to have regular skills up dates too. The job centre is a difficult environment to cope with for the best of us these days but particularly for the vulnerable in society more so. And ironically most of the vulnerable people in society are unemployed and they are on the verge of becoming homeless and suicidal as a consequence of these punitive and unreasonable cuts. This is why the staff need to be properly equipped and show a professional duty of care.
