Microcom Training, not fit for purpose.

Ever since the Labour Government announced the "New Deal" programme for Long-Term Unemployed people the DWP (Department of Work and Pensions) in Scotland have worked with Microcom Training.

Microcom are a Glasgow Based "training provider", the training on offer is how to Create a CV (takes 2 weeks apparently), Enhanced Jobsearch (the same thing you have to do to claim Jobseekers Allowance but with staff observing) and Work Trials (in my case this included being worked like a dog for £10 on top of my Benefit for a 48hr week).

When you have been unemployed for 18 months regardless of situatation (i was kicked off of Incapacity Benefit which i was Receiving due to long term depression) you are sent to an Office so run down it has peeling paint on every wall, huge holes punched in the walls by other "Clients" and an unsanitary Tearoom. They have a series of computers to run jobsearches on, none of which have legitamate software licenses for their Windows XP installs or for the MS Office suites you use.

Also you get to mix with such community stars as Heroin Dealers who spend their breaks selling smack to kids, Denizens of the Sex Offenders Register and you get to see the aforementioned Sex Offenders getting beaten up at every opportunity.

Regarding the Stolen software you have to use, i made a complaint to Head Office saying i would contact Microsoft and notify them of their products being used without proper licenses, this got me kicked off the course and my benefit sanctioned for 2 weeks, i dont know what kind of message they were trying to put accross with that, it is certainly a bad idea to try and discuss their theft with them.

As i live in a small town halfway between Stranraer and Dumfries on the South Coast of Scotland i have to travel over 300 miles a week to attend this course and have yet to be reimbursed for my expenses, £27 a week from an income of £60 a week is unsustainable but if i do not show up i get nothing at all.

Is this the New Deal we were promised?
Is this a way for Employment Figures to be Massaged? to drive already poor people into poverty to keep their names off Jobseekers Allowance?
Have you had any experience with Microcom Training good or bad?
Were you employed by this company and left in disgust when you discovered how they operate?
Reply to this Post and we will see if this is an isolated incident local to Dumfries.
(story posted for a third party)