100 signatures reached
To: The Rt Hon. Damian Green MP
Stop the closure of Clay Cross Jobcentre
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We are asking that the Department for work and pensions reconsider their plan to close Clay Cross Jobcentre Plus.
Why is this important?
The closure of Clay Cross Jobcentre will cause extra hardship to those who currently use it. Local people are already struggling under the burden of many cuts and loss of support.
If Clay Cross Jobcentre was to close then claimants would have to attend either Markham Jobcentre in Chesterfield or Alfreton Jobcentre for their normal appointment once a fortnight.
It will cost claimants £4.20 to travel to Chesterfield and back by bus or £6 to and from Alfreton. Single JSA/UC claimants are receiving £73.10 a week and this extra cost is equivalent to a 4% cut in benefits not to mention the extra time it takes. Single Mums and Dads and new families will incur extra inconvenience when children have to travel as well.
While travel will be funded for claimants needing to sign on more than once a fortnight, the travel time for claimants signing each day (as is common at the start of a claim) will be more than 5 hours a week which is time that could be spent looking for work, or doing an activity that would help them increase their employability.
A local mum said “My children will suffer if I had to spend more time traveling and I can’t see how we can make ends meet if we had to pay out another £6 a fortnight.”
On the closure of Jobcentres the DWP states in its own proposal that:
“…it is a reasonable expectation that claimants travel to an office within 3 miles or 20 minutes by public transport of their existing jobcentre.” According to the DWP own information the shortest distance is 5 miles and a minimum of 35 minutes travel by public transport to the two stated Jobcentre offices.
All claimants who are job searching need somewhere to get online and our local library has only a few public terminals with limited opening hours. Several claimants we spoke to would be unable to meet their Claimant Commitment Agreement if the jobcentre was to close.
These claimants are being set up to fail and the resulting sanctions will only make a bad situation worse.
Clay Cross Jobcentre is a vital link to those claiming benefit locally and the closure of this office would only create more suffering in an already deprived community.
If Clay Cross Jobcentre was to close then claimants would have to attend either Markham Jobcentre in Chesterfield or Alfreton Jobcentre for their normal appointment once a fortnight.
It will cost claimants £4.20 to travel to Chesterfield and back by bus or £6 to and from Alfreton. Single JSA/UC claimants are receiving £73.10 a week and this extra cost is equivalent to a 4% cut in benefits not to mention the extra time it takes. Single Mums and Dads and new families will incur extra inconvenience when children have to travel as well.
While travel will be funded for claimants needing to sign on more than once a fortnight, the travel time for claimants signing each day (as is common at the start of a claim) will be more than 5 hours a week which is time that could be spent looking for work, or doing an activity that would help them increase their employability.
A local mum said “My children will suffer if I had to spend more time traveling and I can’t see how we can make ends meet if we had to pay out another £6 a fortnight.”
On the closure of Jobcentres the DWP states in its own proposal that:
“…it is a reasonable expectation that claimants travel to an office within 3 miles or 20 minutes by public transport of their existing jobcentre.” According to the DWP own information the shortest distance is 5 miles and a minimum of 35 minutes travel by public transport to the two stated Jobcentre offices.
All claimants who are job searching need somewhere to get online and our local library has only a few public terminals with limited opening hours. Several claimants we spoke to would be unable to meet their Claimant Commitment Agreement if the jobcentre was to close.
These claimants are being set up to fail and the resulting sanctions will only make a bad situation worse.
Clay Cross Jobcentre is a vital link to those claiming benefit locally and the closure of this office would only create more suffering in an already deprived community.
