Thank you Beatrice for going above and beyond to help me out here. =) This is all very confusing, though. From what I understand I'm going to have to talk to my advisor about my caring responsibilities, I'm not looking forward to it. I remember you mentioned in an earlier post in this thread(#5) about doing your own voluntary work excludes you from being selected for mandatory work. Does this still hold true for this particular placement? I keep mentioning doing local work because I stand to be using at least 2 hours per day for travel to this placement.

Hey everyone, a bit of an update. I went in for my weekly interview today with my adviser,but I didn't get to see her long, though because I don't think I was set up for this appointment properly the last time I left (I was upset last time and I may I left without signing the next appointment sheet). Anyway, It was quick, so I didn't go over the details you told me to mention, but she did ask my again if I had looked over the leaflet and how I thought of it, and threw the word 'mandatory' in somewhere. I told her the same thing I said last week and basically left straight away. Though I had to go back though because for 'forgot' to reimburse my bus fare, thinking it was my sign in day today. Anyway, in all honest, and I know this is completely stupid of me, I didn't actually look over the leaflet she gave me. At the time I was dead set on not going, so I didn't care about it. However, I pulled it out of my bag today and to my horror it does say mandatory on it. More specifically it says "Derbyshire Mandatory Youth Activity Programme". It is provided with TBG Learning. So now that it seems there may be a spanner in the works (sorry, guys) what do I now? Do I go out there and look for some voluntary work so I can at least be more local? I plan on explaining my caring situation next time with my adviser when I have more time, but would that be sufficient to let me stay with my fiancee?

Thank you Beatrice, that's what I was looking for. I know it's not mandated, because like I said, she would have done it by now, and she actually asked me if I wanted to proceed (even though she immediately told me I had no choice and she also handed me a leaflet and told me to give it a look over and see what I think). I just didn't know what to say, I was afraid of being sanctioned.

That's the problem. I briefly talked a little bit about that subject with my advisor last week, but she responded with if I was not looking for, or not able to look for work for ~40 hours a week then I shouldn't be in receipt of JSA. I didn't know what to say at that point because I was worried that if I did say that I was looking after her quite a lot then I might have gotten into a bit of trouble, so I kept my mouth shut. Like I said though the main problem here is this work experience thing that she's determined to sign me up for. I'm pretty sure it's not mandatory, because if it were then I'm sure she would have pinned me up to it by now. It just seems like she has to get me to agree to doing it myself first. Which is why I'm asking if there's anything out there I could refer to to say that I don't have to go to this place and that I don't have to be pushed around. I feel as though I'm getting bullied into doing something I don't want to do. All because she said that "it's best for me".

Yeah, that's right. I have JSA and attend weekly appointments at my local JC. I'm not technically a carer yet, so to speak. I'm looking after my fiancee right now, but I'm not her carer yet. She needs to sort out her sideof the benefits and then afterwards I'm going to be applying for carers allowance. About her justifications for this work placement, it does seem fair, but right now I can't afford to take it up. I've been out of work for a while and she's dead set that this is what I NEED right now, when I've told her it clearly isn't.

I'm aware of the changes in April and I'm not too bothered about them in a sense of I shouldn't be on JSA in the coming months. The place she's trying to make to attend is from a partner place, it's called Acorn Training. I've told her myself that I could volunteer somewhere local for a bit, so it's not venturing too far out, but she wouldn't have any of it, she's determined to get me on this placement. Also, thank you for the attachment. If it does come to that time, which it probably will knowing DWP, I'll be able to hopefully work locally for a while. Btw, what did you mean about the "time to prepare" for voluntary work?

I was kinda vague in my opening post and after reading it again myself it doesn't really nail the question I was trying to ask... I know that in April the JC is going to clamp down a lot and make people do work placements and full time job searching, and I was getting quite stressed thinking about that. So when she told me that I had to go do a full time placement RIGHT after my current course (about 4 weeks) my anxiety went through the roof. The main point I was getting at is that it seems like she's trying to twist my arm into agreeing to this so she can sign me up. If it was mandatory it would have been done by now. I'm just wondering is there's anything I can say so she can give me some room to sort out other things. Anything I say to her goes right over her head and she doesn't seem to care that I have a life outside of the job centre.

Not yet. She's been on ESA for a while now and we've only just discovered not long ago that she's meant to be on DLA/PIP. We're currently waiting for the form to show up.

Hey guys, first time posting, so apologies if I've doing something wrong. I'm here to ask for some advice about how to deal with my adviser. She's been pushing me to do thing lately for no reason what so ever, and it's not the most ideal time for me to do pointless courses and programmes right now. Recently she put me on a course for employability skills which I don't need. It's only once a week, so it's not too bad, but even the guy there that gave me the induction told me that it's a waste of time. This isn't why I'm here though, I'm just trying to explain that she's doing things for no particular reason. She told me after this course I've been on that I'm going to have to go do some work experience for 8 weeks for 40 hours. Normally this wouldn't be a big deal, but lately I've got enough on my plate that I'm getting plenty stressed without it. I've tried telling her that it won't help me and that it's only going to cause problems for me, in turn making it harder for me to get my life together. The thing is when I last saw her she was very reluctant to let me leave without signing me up for it. She tells me that it's mandatory, that she's talked with here line manager(?) and that they've both decided this is what needs to be done. But during my time with her she actually asked me if I would agree to sign up for it. I was confused and asked her if she was really asking me this after all I've said to her, telling her it would hurt me more then help me, but then she turned around and told me I have no choice anyway. Me and my fiancee are trying to sort out her disability benefits (she's been on the wrong thing for quite some months) and I'm going to be looking at being her carer as we live together and she doesn't have anyone else that can help her. She's really not well and many people we've talked to have agreed that I should be there for her. So my problem is I don't want to be away for something that is completely unnecessary and leave my fiancee behind on her own. I know I've dragged this post out for a long time, I'm sorry. I also know I haven't supplied the best information, so if you need to know anything then please, let me know. Thank you in advance for and advice.