Flexible New Deal Scandal:
Flexible New Deal

A4e, Avanta (TNG) and Jobcentre Plus all amongst New Years Honours List

D is for Demotivation

New Deal without a doubt is very demotivating for participants. People generally on New Deal have a one week honeymoon period. This is called Induction. This is the best week of the course although some people criticise it for being stretched out for activities that could be completed in 2 days maximum.

This typically consists of everything done in Gateway 2 Work and job search. It gets worse for the following weeks after induction. View the rest on Flexible New Deal Scandal

An entire record of email communication between a New Deal participant and Emma Harrison A4e chair. Slightly modified for easier reading and correcting spelling mistakes etc. View the rest on Flexible New Deal Scandal

C is for Cherry picking!

Government contractors (those that deliver welfare schemes such as New Deal) are well known to “Cherry pick” (Also known as “creaming“) and to “park” clients. “Cherry picking” (or “creaming”) means selecting those that are easier to help (in the case of New Deal; those that are deemed closer to the labour market or simply put “job ready” – as highlighted by Benefit Busters Episode 2 where New Deal participants were segregated into rooms).

“Parking” is when clients are deemed too difficult to help (such as not being “job ready”; regardless of being paid to do so) and receive little or none help at all. View the rest on Flexible New Deal Scandal

B is for Boredom

Whether you are 18, 30 or 60 you will find the disorganised 13 Week New Deal courses very boring. Episode 2 of Benefit Busters clearly highlights sticking a pool of people into overcrowded rooms without a timetable doing 30 hours a week of “intensive job search”. View the rest on Flexible New Deal Scandal

A is for Abuse

Jobseekers are in receipt of continuous abuse, harassment and defamation from New Deal Providers and even Jobcentre Plus staff.

As highlighted on the Benefit Busters series, in particular the second Episode, not only is the environment for jobseekers extremely bad natured but the treatment by staff is. View the rest on Flexible New Deal Scandal

Articles and Discussion on A4e/Studio Lambert Benefit Busters Series 1: Episodes 1 & 2. View the rest on Flexible New Deal Scandal

New Deal Scandal can reveal that the Department for Work and Pensions has no intention for making any prosecutions for prime contractors deliberately defrauding the system. The Department for Work and Pensions currently has no plans of stopping Flexible New Deal contracts being awarded to prime contractors who have previously defrauded the system on numerous occassions for the New Deal contracts. View the rest on Flexible New Deal Scandal

If you have been on New Deal the chances are you had £4 unlawfully deducted weekly from travel reimbursements and expected to cover that from your training allowance.

New Deal Scandal and Ipswich Unemployed Action has confirmed this is in fact unlawful and New Deal participants may take action to recover the £52 deduction for the 13 weeks they attended. If participants have attended New Deal in the past they can still claim £52 for each 13 weeks they completed on New Deal. This could be £156 for some people.

Under 13 weeks? You can claim £4 per week for each deduction that occured.

You can also claim interest on outstanding amounts.

New Deal Scandal can reveal that Neil Watson resigned as a director in addition to dropping down to a less senior position while Mark Stanley took the position of Finance Director.  This is a very rare occurence in business. View the rest on Flexible New Deal Scandal

New Deal Scandal can reveal that A4e had tried to avoid paying tax. View the rest on Flexible New Deal Scandal

After the second A4e attempt to censor this blog we are back. Lets presume it wont be long before they try something else. The post in dispute is back again.

A4e should give up trying to censor blogs like this one. For one, this is hosted in America for an American company and thus under American law they are NOT liable for the content contained within – so please stop harrassing them. They are only the middleman/service provider, not the publisher, I am. Metropolitan International School recently lost a court case against search engine giant Google (who happens to contain a lot of content from this blog, I wouldn’t advise going after them…) and found this out. View the rest on Flexible New Deal Scandal

Just a brief overall of recent content on ”New Deal Scandal & Welfare Reform” blog. This might be easier to some then using WordPress pages as some sticky posts make normal ones difficult to see sometimes. View the rest on Flexible New Deal Scandal

You might be aware of A4e founder Emma Harrison’s involvement with the NSPCC. You might also be aware of the hub page regarding A4e supporting the British Heart Foundation by dumping its VSO clients there. We can report that A4e actually has done a U-turn on supporting charitable organisations such as the NSPCC, to which Emma Harrison is (or was) the Chairperson of the NSPCC’s Regional Full Stop Appeal and CEO Mark Lovell sits (or did sit) on the National Corporate Sponsorship Board of the NSPCC. View the rest on Flexible New Deal Scandal

Please see the exact 288b form used to terminate the directorship below. View the rest on Flexible New Deal Scandal

This is criticism against A4e and how they manage their business. This is relevant because they are the largest New Deal provider receiving money from, (guess who?) you, the taxpayer!

I couldn’t resist but to disclose how strange A4e operates being such a large company and all. I don’t know of anything like it. Please feel to continue reading (no its got nothing to do with the fraud investigation) View the rest on Flexible New Deal Scandal

New Deal Scandal is back!

Against the will of Action for Employment (a4e) we are not going away.

A4e may have successfully taken down watchingA4e as Webs (previously freewebs) bowed to the pressure but Wordpress had the sense and courtesy to consult with me first before taking removal action. I proved to Wordpress that this is nothing more than internet censorship as my source for that blog post was from the Government and is available to anyone who wishes to search the company register.

This makes it 1-1 on the score between A4e and Blogger!

This meant a little bit of downtime – well no new posts anyway and one being hidden (private) – but now we are back, and now have some more content on A4e that I am sure you will find interesting. View the rest on Flexible New Deal Scandal

Just a brief overall of recent content on ”New Deal Scandal & Welfare Reform” and “Ipswich Unemployed Action” blogs.  This might be easier to some then using Wordpress pages as some sticky posts make normal ones difficult to see sometimes.  View the rest on Flexible New Deal Scandal

In the last financial year, 2008-09, Action for Employment (a4e), the largest welfare to work provider who has 47 active welfare to work provisions only resulted in 20% of their clients securing employment. This is quite short of the 45% target.

What is the REAL story behind a4e?

every woman article states:

Emma set up her company A4e in 1991 initially to provide skills and employment training for workers made unemployed by the decline in Sheffield’s steel industry. She has since built A4e into a competitive public services company that delivers a range of services to, amongst others, the financially excluded and long-term unemployed. Today A4E turns over in excess of £100 million.

and

women speakers says:

ACTION FOR EMPLOYMENT

Action for Employment (A4e) was founded by top female entrepreneur, Emma Harrison, in 1991. It is a privately owned organisation offering employment, welfare, education, training and business support services to the public and private sectors.

Or

In the 1980s a small engineering training company was set up in Sheffield to take advantage of the Conservative government’s willingness to pour money into such companies for uncertain returns. The owner, Harrison, took his daughter, Emma, into the company, then quickly skipped to Germany. This part of A4e’s history has acquired the aura of legend. Emma Harrison was a young graduate, suddenly landed with a company to run, and an absent father who was busy draining it of money. In 1991 Emma renamed the outfit Action for Employment (quickly abbreviated) and set about making money. She remains almost the sole owner.

The breakthrough came with the Labour government’s New Deal programme. A4e rapidly became the “preferred bidder” for contracts to provide back-to-work training. Their success baffled their competitors, who knew they were putting in equally good bids. This led to rumours that it was Emma’s connections who were responsible. Someone high up in government, perhaps? A Sheffield MP name of Blunkett, maybe? But there was no evidence for this, and rival training companies went out of business as A4e prospered.

Thanks watching a4e! View the rest on Flexible New Deal Scandal

Action for Employment, the main New Deal prime contractor caught up in fraud allegations has recently requested a host to take down the Watching a4e website.

We are proud to announce, that the owners of Watching a4e has kept us up to date with the new web address.

Watching a4e!

View the rest on Flexible New Deal Scandal

We can reveal that on the 20th April 2009, Mr Neil Watson the Finance Director for Action 4 Employment resigned from a4e Ltd as a director. View the rest on Flexible New Deal Scandal

We can reveal that on the 20th April 2009, Mr Neil Watson the Finance Director for Action 4 Employment resigned from a4e Ltd as a director. View the rest on Flexible New Deal Scandal

We can reveal that on the 20th April 2009, Mr Neil Watson the Finance Director for Action 4 Employment resigned from a4e Ltd as a director. View the rest on Flexible New Deal Scandal

I would like to welcome Action 4 Employment who have recently visited this blog; it would look better if you commented on some of the A4e fraud issues mentioned on the site. View the rest on Flexible New Deal Scandal

Former Action 4 Employment (A4e) employee Elizabeth Orsman has been jailed for fraud with a total value of £15,833. View the rest on Flexible New Deal Scandal

Both Action 4 Employment and Working Links publicly release a statement on the Channel 4 News report broadcast on the 30th June 2009, dated 28/06/2009 (A4e) and 29/06/2009 (Working Links) up to 2 days before the public were aware of their fraudulent activities. View the rest on Flexible New Deal Scandal

Action for Employment founder and chairperson Emma Harrison discussion regarding scams: with video! View the rest on Flexible New Deal Scandal

The illegal forging act of:

1. Creating a photocopy of a document with the signature you wish to use (thus to prevent marks created from the top of the pen making an impression on the original sheet which enables detection of fraud easier)
2. Placing the photocopy against a window (hence where the name comes from) or a light box/overhead projector (which gives artificial light if not enough light from a window is available)
3. Cover the photocopy with the document you wish to have the signature on (the light enables the content of the photocopy to be seen through that document)
4. Trace the signature (and if you have a steady hand you have a good copy, doesn’t have to be perfect: signatures typically vary slightly)

… is known as “Windowing“. View the rest on Flexible New Deal Scandal

All New Deal training providers, past and present should be subject to an investigation by the Serious Fraud Office.  The fraud investigation can’t be conducted by the Department for Work and Pensions as they also fall under the suspicion of fraudulent activity and other acts of unlawful misconduct and requires an outside independent investigation. View the rest on Flexible New Deal Scandal

At only 19:55 BST the record number of unique visitors on this blog today has beaten the previous record a week ago (22nd June 2009) by 2 times and has tripled the daily average number of unique visitors. It seems everyone is very interested in the A4E fraud so we will bring more revelations on Action 4 Employment in the future.

The Department for Work and Pensions has been investigating Action 4 Employment and at least 2 other undisclosed training providers for fraud over the last 13 months – this comes after Maatwerk had their contract terminated for fraud.

This means that even though they weren’t restricted or blacklisted from bidding for Flexible New Deal contracts: they will now lose the Flexible New Deal contracts after at least 20 cases of fraud have been discovered in May 2008 at A4e in Hull where two staff members falsified forms meant for the employer and also forged signatures on the forms in order to receive job outcome bonuses from DWP.

Action 4 Employment was also involved in a temporary job recruitment agency scam – thus forcing New Deal participants into temporary work which resulted in more job outcome bonuses from DWP.

Another New Deal provider has been forced to repay £48,000 for fraud – the name of the provider hasn’t been disclosed.

The DWP was happy to pay Pertemps PDG over 2 million when a report clearly stated fraud – in this instance no concerns other than as a report were raised.

Also, so far all fraud cases were consisting of forged signatures on forms and such like – the DWP have not yet picked up on timesheet abuses (paid to be there for x hours, as shown on timesheets, but participants are there for significantly less i.e. 10 hours instead of 30), dismissal abuses (dismissing participants for false or trivial reasons to receive full 13 weeks amount without them being there for even half that time), guaranteed jobs bonuses abuse (some participants have received a job offer before having to do the course starting 2-6 weeks after the course starts, providers still get job outcome payments intended as a bonus if they get the participant work, even if they had nothing to do with it) and future job outcome bonuses abuse (getting participants to enter an agreement where the provider has “permission” to contact any future employer after the course has ended to get job outcome bonus even though you got the job after the course unaided by them) to name a few.

It has came to our attention that the Department for Work and Pensions’ Executive Agency Jobcentre Plus is trying to push as many people in to the New Deal courses before it ends and become replaced with Flexible New Deal.

This is NOT legit and you CAN get out of it. Read on. View the rest on Flexible New Deal Scandal