Thurso Job Centre

[linzy222]

Is closed as from tomorrow

I only found this out today and i couldn't believe it

:eek: :eek: :eek:

[Mr P Cannop]

something came into the red croos today about it

[Tugmistress]

what, on a permanent basis?

[EDDIE]

But remember the jobcentre has a website with all the jobs in the uk and put in the area your searching and the jobs come up. its called jobcentreplus you find easy if you do a google search and once u see the job your wanting you phone up the call centre and quote the reference number and they will tell you what to do.but you have to give them ure national insurance number so they no who u are.Try it

[concerned resident]

Thurso jobcentre and SSO caller office close on the 30th April 2005.
so if you have to sign on, you you will have to pay i believe £3-40 for the round trip to Wick,, if you live in Thurso.
Any benifit claims you will have to do on internet, phone or letter, or take a trip to Wick.
Anybody signing on in Thurso is going to be £3-40 worse
off, than some one from Wick.

[johnl]

Have any of you tried the jobcentre website.I have and put in a 30 mile radius of Thurso the nearest job vacency was Warrington???? :roll:

[Fifi]

I'm sure this news was reported a while back in the Groat but I didn't realise that those signing on would need to travel to Wick. That's ridiculous!

I also tried the jobcentre website and after asking for permananent admin jobs in a 30 mile radius of 16-30hrs per week I ended up with results showing jobs all over Britain, including temporary, full time ones! The search does not seem very refined! Or do they just bring up all the admin jobs to give you the impression that there is a lot out there? Out of 60 results there were 2 that actually fitted the search criteria...... I was quite amused to see jobs offered in Orkney! Ok, it may fit the distance request but I think this is where local knowledge of the area comes in!!! I am all for the expansion of computer use but not everyone prefers that medium and there is still NO replacement for a human contact for this type of task in my opinion.

[The Pepsi Challenge]

Thurso is the largest town within the highlands. Inverness is now a city, obviously. However, it's indeed ridiculous that a town with such a high population and catchment area doesn't have its own Job Centre. I can only assume the emplyment rate is so high they seen no reason to keep it open. No?

[Zael]

Will signing on not be done by post now?

[squidge]

Postal signing is only available where it is more than one hour to the nearest jobcentre - it isnt - so people will have to travel from thurso to wick to sign on.

This is a cost cutting exercise nothing more - DWP has to reduce staffing and costs and Thurso Jobcentre is closing for cost reasons and thats the bottom line.

The caller office in Thurso for Social security was the busiest caller office in the highlands and provided a servoice for those on other benefits its a shame it had to close.

Unemployment is low in Thurso but considering that Jobcentreplus is supposed to offer a service to all people in receipt of all benefits then i would have thought there was potential to do something really exciting- oops forgot - that would cost MONEY

[The Pepsi Challenge]

I'm sure Thurso's unemployed will have their travel fares (by cheapest means possible) to Wick reimbursed. People in Edinburgh can have their bus fares returned to them when taking public transport into their nearest Job Centre to sign on, so I doubt the government would impose such double standards. Or would they?

[jings00]

I was told by staff in the Thurso job centre that it was being closed due to the fact it was too expensive to refurbish to allow disabled access and that the current Thurso staff would be working through in Wick, but for how long they don't know as their jobs have not been confirmed for the future. (Instills confidence, huh?) I was advised also that there are no reimbursement of travel costs and that some people will have to be paying upwards of seven quid to get through to Wick. I have been advised also that signing on by post is not an option either. "They" (not the actual Thurso Job Centre) can, however, afford to pay window cleaners from down the line to clean their windows instead of supporting the local economy and getting local window cleaners to do the job. There is a petition in Jim Bews regarding the closure also.
I don't know how people with kids or disabled people, if they have to sign on in Wick, are going to get on, especially when it is freezing weather. Write to your MP maybe. I have done this via http://www.writetothem.com

[squidge]

I'm sure Thurso's unemployed will have their travel fares (by cheapest means possible) to Wick reimbursed. People in Edinburgh can have their bus fares returned to them when taking public transport into their nearest Job Centre to sign on, so I doubt the government would impose such double standards. Or would they?

No they wont - they will have them reimbursed for attending an interview at the request of the jobcentre and sometimes if they have to go in for something else but not for signing on every fortnight.

There were initial discussions about a new build and about refurbishment but the cost of this combined with the fact that DWP are reducing staff across the whole of its network meant that it was not an option for Thurso to keep a Jobcentre. Freezing weather or not they will have to travel through if they need to sign on or they will not get paid

[jings00]

O aye, ya gotta do what ya gotta do, but still no great is it??

[The Pepsi Challenge]

Contact Grampian Television News and get them to run a story. But they'll be probably too lazy to travel all the way to Caithness: a county inching its way ever closer to social and geographical Siberia.

[Mr P Cannop]

there is a man in wick who does the news for Caithness for Grampian Television News