Voluntary redundancy

Some of the tales of woe in this article about the rules surrounding Jobseeker's Allowance are depressingly familiar. I wrote briefly about the experience of job-hunting back in 2006, but didn't mention the fact that at one point the Jobcentre refused to accept volunteering at a local publishing firm - a placement I'd set up on my own initiative, without any assistance whatsoever from them - as a valid reason for missing my scheduled weekly appointment. Fuckwits.