Is the Department of Work and Pensions wasting taxpayers’ hard-earned money?
July 21, 2010
This week, I came to terms with the fact that I have to start claiming jobseeker’s allowance. It was a disheartening moment for my never-claimed-before self but I always said that if I was unemployed for more than six weeks, I would have to bite the bullet and get some help (and of course, stop scrounging from my parents.) Last Friday hit the six-week mark and so I attended a meeting at my local job centre on Tuesday.
I mentioned to the gentleman dealing with my claim that I have a job interview lined up and he proceeded to tell me about the Travel to Interview Scheme; a fantastic incentive offering jobseekers help with travel costs to attend interviews.
Having already booked my travel tickets – a single train journey from Cardiff to London and a single bus journey from London to Cardiff totalling £21.50, I took the confirmation details to the jobcentre the next day in order to be reimbursed.
The lady dealing with my request said she had never before seen tickets to and from London at such a cheap price (I personally thought £21.50 was quite expensive as in the past, I’ve had a return for £12 on megabus.com) She said that in order for me to be reimbursed, she had to check that the job centre’s ticket price was more expensive than mine (usually they provide the tickets for you and don’t deal with reimbursements). What proceeded to happen shocked me.
The lady called one rail enquiry phone number and priced a return rail ticket from Cardiff to London at £61.70. When I enquired about the cost of bus journeys, she said “Oh no, we only use rail.” No questions were asked about any railcards I hold in order to receive discount, and more surprisingly, she didn’t research the price further in order to find a cheaper cost. She took £61.70 as the gospel price for a return journey to London.
Basically, in buying my tickets in advance, I saved the jobcentre £40.20. But most jobseekers taking part in the Travel to Interview Scheme don’t pre-buy tickets and, understandably, wait for the jobcentre to provide the tickets for them. So, how much money is the Department of Work and Pensions wasting on buying full-price tickets and not shopping round for discounted rates on travel websites, such as Trainline, National Express and Megabus that regularly offer good deals on ticket prices?
Is the DWP wasting millions of taxpayers' money on the Travel to Interview Scheme?
Of course, in trying to find a contact address to write to somebody about the above, I was bombarded with email addresses for all types of benefit enquiries - but not one for the Travel to Interview Scheme and so in my frustration and utter disbelief, I have written to the Prime Minister!
Whilst the incentive is great, the way it is being handled needs to be addressed in order to put taxpayers’ hard-earned money to better use.
