Listen Up - Social Welfare Portal

listenup!Chapter 1 | 27Case Study“If you’re not living with your parents andyou’re 18 and on income support, youcan’t go to college because you’ll lose yourbenefits, unless it’s 16 hours a week and it’shard to find a course within those hours.You want to get a job but you get a deadendjob, so you want to go to college to geta better job, and they’re saying, ‘Well, wecan’t support you’. You have to think abouteverything you do. You want to come offthe benefits, but they don’t give you theopportunity… you panic that you’ll lose yourhouse and all your income if you try to gointo college or get a job…”Finally, young people wanted to be made moreaware of the support and information on offer froma range of services, so that they could access servicesat an earlier stage. It was felt that services had to becarefully targeted and focused, with a clear purpose,so that young people did not get confused andcould decide for themselves which service wouldmeet their specific needs.“Most of the time some services don’t even knowwhat they’re there for.”Young personYoung personThe young people interviewed understood andappreciated the fact that one service could notmeet all their needs, so they felt that ‘signposting’to help them know what other services mightmeet their needs, and helping them access thoseservices, were essential, as well as providingaccurate, up-to-date, friendly, and understandableinformation on a range of issues.“It is hard to know where to go… You don’t knowwhere to start or how to get help… There should bemore information out there.”Young person