Dave: Here is the website that I use when I need to check benefits for clients as I do regularly:
http://www.dwp.gov.uk/directgov/
The very fact that there are people who have never worked and are happy and able to live on benefits shows they are too high. As we know there are families where 3 generations have never worked. Another demonstration of that is how many of these people can spend money on cigarettes...
Alexander. Agencies are essential for the efficient running of a business. Think about it for a minute. There are two of our larger local employers that I know of who need to respond to orders. orders do not come in 'evenly' throughout the year. In slow periods they cannot have staff standing around doing nothing while in peak periods they need to bring in many more staff. This is dealt with by agencies. This makes for a much more efficient business helping to keep costs down and ensuring the business is competitive.
You also need to understand more about the role of an agency. This is not just about the placing of temporary staff. A South African company is opening a business in Ashford so they have employed an agency to handle all the recruiting. The agency has the job of advertising, interviewing and employing staff at all levels for the business. The South African company have no local knowledge, know nothing about our procedures and would find this much harder if they could not use an agency.
No-one who wants a job should spend too much time at a jobcentre - far better to go round the private employment agencies as that will have much more chance of success. That has been the case for as long as I can remember.
