WFI5 and beyond...

I had my Work Focus Interview 5 about 3 months ago and i was curious as to what good it actually did?
The lady i chatted to every month was very nice indeed and although she often came out with pretty ridiculous suggestions as to suitable jobs, i never felt pressurised into accepting anything unsuitable.
I was told that i will receive a further interview in six months time but i really fail to see what possible use these private companies are, they have never once telephoned to offer me any sort of employment whatsoever. Perhaps HMG should just admit they have no idea how to get us back to work and save the tax payer the odd billion quid?
There has to be something more to life than languishing indoors 24/7 climbing the walls!
I am feeling slightly jaded with the whole system to put it mildly, they have to encourage employers to take us on as we stand no chance out there on our own IMO.

Hi Ranald,

I too am on my 5th WFI. Since the start I have gone in and the interview lasts approximately 5 minutes. All the nice person there does really, is makes my next interview.

Having asked about going on courses to obtain work - suitable for my condition - I was informed there wasn't any funding.

From what I can gather, this is down to something called "creaming and parking". If they consider you to be reasonably abled bodied they will go the extra mile to get you employment - they then get paid for doing it (creaming). If you are not, in their opinion, worth the effort you are left alone to go through the compulsory interviews with no help offered (parked).

We have both been parked.

I had my 4th WFI yesterday. As in both your cases, my advisor is really nice and she has never put me under any pressure to get back to work. I will however, speak in her favour. At my first WFI, she asked me if I would like to have a telephone consultation with a nurse from ( Kinetic, I think )just to talk over any health isseues. I declined as I felt I have done all the "talking" I wanted to. However, on my 3rd WFI, i was quite emotional and she picked this up and made the offer again. This time I accepted but I was a bit taken aback when the nurse rang me as I found out that she was in fact a Psychotherapist and these were actually 6 Congnitive Behaviour sessions. However, it has been of benefit to me, she has given me some very useful advice and sent me some interesting booklets. If I had requested this through my GP, i would have been waiting months for it. It does make me wonder though just how much all this is costing the government.