Private Rooms at Job Centres

Hello,
I’ve started a parliamentary petition asking for every job centre to have a private room available.

https://petition.parliament.uk/petitions/661605

I put this together as so many of my clients really struggle with the job centre, the open office setting and lack of privacy etc.
I am not being political or saying that every appointment should be in a private room, but I am shocked that only 30% of job centres have such a room - for instance if a claimant wanted to discuss past trauma, personal issues etc.

Not attending a work focused interview is by far the most common reason for a sanction and it seems like not having any private space could be a contributing factor.

I wouldn’t have my one-to-one at work in a public setting, so it doesn’t seem right that claimants have to discuss everything in the open and might not get a private room even if they request it.

Anyway - please sign and share the petition if you agree.
Note - it is an official petition so you can only vote once and must verify the vote by email for it to be counted.
Thanks
Pamela

Signed. For an organisation as obsessive about online and phone security as DWP (oddly enough especially when there’s an adviser asking questions) DWP is remarkably slapdash about privacy and confidentiality in Jobcentres.

Signed it and shared it. We must stop the creeping dehumanisation of the claimant.