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Originally Posted by Hugh
Are you seriously suggesting that if someone does not wish to uproot themselves to move over 240 miles with an employer, they would be seen as making themselves unemployed and thus refused benefits? Surely this would only be valid if one's contract contained a mobility clause?
As has been stated, employees are being made redundant, not being fired for refusing to move.
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Chris
I'm aware there are regulations that can prevent unemployment benefit payments if a reasonable job offer is turned down. However I would be immensely surprised if it were judged unreasonable to turn down a job offer requiring a displacement of some 250 miles (or 4 hours by car).
I think you're allowing your uncle's experience to skew your view of how this scenario might play out in other people's lives. Perhaps you place little value on community and extended family. It would appear your uncle's family saw things in that way (or else, perhaps the standard of living he pursued meant that getting back to visit was never a problem for them). That is not the situation most of the support personnel at VM are going to be in.
Incidentally, I never suggested you had held autism up as the only reason not to relocate. I asked if you thought only something as serious as autism was a good enough reason. Your alternative examples, of a terminal illness or a good career, suggest to me that my judgement of where you're coming from was not far off the mark. And I find that really rather sad.
My wife and I took the relocation option before we were even married and it took effect immediately after our honeymoon. We found the separation from friends and family very difficult but stuck with it for five years, moving back closer to family when our first child was pre-school age.
Ultimately I think a sense of community and extended family is infinitely more important than chasing money around the country. And in the absence of any empirical evidence I would also seriously doubt your assertion that your uncle's kids are confident individuals because they moved around so much. You could just as easily postulate that they may find it difficult to form deep relationships that mature beyond a few months due to lack of that experience. We simply don't know.
Those that are offered a move from Liverpool to Swansea will have all sorts of personal factors to weigh up. Whatever works for them is right for them, and implying that they are deficient in some way just because they may use a different measure than you or your uncle really isn't on.
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Measures are in place to prevent people claiming benefits instead of taking up the offer of a job. without "just cause", as is entirely reasonable.
In the modern world of work, many people have had to move to meet the needs of their employer or find another job instead, the latter being easier said than done in the current economic climate.
The current Government appear to agree with the view of Lord Tebbit that people should "get on their bike and look for work" and be prepared to move to where the work is. Changes to benefit and social housing rules have been/are planned to better facilitate this.
What "just cause" is depends upon an individuals circumstances. The rules, particularly in this redundancy/relocation situation, are complex, open to different interpretation and employment advisor discretion.
What is clear, however, is that people turning down work because they "didn't fancy it" or it "wasn't convenient" are likely to receive short thrift if they then turn to the benefits office for help.
Another thing to consider, is that any mortgage or credit card unemployment protection plans are unlikely to pay out if becoming jobless is viewed as a voluntary decision. All I will say on that is, in my experience, they often try to use anything they can to avoid paying out.
In relation to friends and family, I would say that providing for ones immediate family should be the major/deciding factor.
I find it "wet" to hear that people are prepared to limit themselves because they feel the need to be close to their family.
The world is growing ever smaller too, with contact through the internet/telephones having never been easier and the advent of modern transport.
I once had an 18 year old employee who was offered promotion. It involved him moving about two hours away by train. He started saying how he was close to his family etc.
I explained that one of the main roles of a parent is to bring up an individual to be an independent useful member of society. If his desire was to be forever attached to his mothers apron strings, then his parents had failed. I told him to man up, grow up and give me his decision the following morning.
He chose to relocate. As a result he made new friends, found a partner and moved out of the staff accommodation into his own home.
He keeps in regular contact with his family and travels down to one of our venues nearby to DJ once a fortnight. This allows him to see people and pays for his train fare.
That was two years ago, about five months ago, he wrote on facebook that he was really proud of what he had achieved for a 20 year old and thanked me, but not by name, one of those "you know who you are" scenarios. I couldn't help having a wry smile to myself as I read it...
I left home at 17, lived all over the UK and worked hard. I have had to move due to work in the past and still have to stay overnight in hotels to this day!
The days of being born in a town with everybody getting a 9-5 permanent job and living like the Walton family are long gone.