One of the jobs I had in the past was to handle business expenses and check if employees are meeting the criteria and requirements. Companies do have a list of hotels they will have their staff stay during their business trips and I suppose candidates too. But how much they cost doesn’t really matter as it will be a business expense for them at the end of the tax year. In my opinion, they should care as some of it is just waste of money when more economical hotels could be nearby. That’s very difficult on the candidates, though, as if they say anything they look bad and if the don’t, they pay extra money when there is no need. If a company makes you stay where they want, they should pay for it. If I were the candidate, I would say ‘I’m staying with a friend or family member’, and book where it’s better for me.
Travel, can you access the megabus, we can go from Manchester to London for £5 plus 50p booking fee, maybe you could use your nearest megabus to travel
there’s no harm in asking the firm(s). My hubby went for a job interview with a call back, one in London, another in Cambridge and he requested that they pay for the train fares, which they did (although it took about 3 months for them to refund us!) even though he didn’t take the job.
Elaine
Although my family was quite well off my parents believed that from the time I started high school I needed to earn my keep (pocket money) so I either had to take responsibility for cleaning the house doing summer holidays or find a summer job. When it came to Uni I had to pay for it myself - in Canada we have never had free undergrad or postgrad tuition so I worked at a part time job all my time in Uni. Six years later I graduated and started work full time (for pittance) as an articling lawyer. It certainly instilled the value of money. All of my step-children (4 of them) have attended university and all have contributed to their own upkeep. We have helped them out when they needed it but by and large they are good with money and have a strong work ethic. I’m proud of them! And I am sure that you will soon be proud of your son!
JobCentrePlus do have a discretionary fund available however, they are only available in hardship situations. It is doubtful that your son would qualify as he is living at home with you. Those monies are very limited now. My day job is as a disability employment officer in local government and I can say that there is a lot less ££ available since the Coalition has come in and most council and NGO’s must spend the little available on front line services. Don’t want to be negative but its going to be up to your son to get motivated and take any job he can regardless of what it is.
Hope this helps.
Leslie
If the jobs he’s applying for are so far away that they involve expensive train fares/hotel accommodation what happens if he gets offered the job? Has he worked out if the wage he’ll get will cover living costs closer to the job or hefty travel expenses if he chooses to live with you & commute (and don’t forget to make sure he pays some ‘board’ to you if he does stay at home)
We have a daughter at Uni at the moment and we’ve paid her a set amount each month to supplement her student loans, not enough for an extravagant lifestyle but enough so we aren’t worried she’ll starve. She’s done part time/summer jobs since halfway through her 1st year to give herself money for the fun things. She’s going into her final year now and is cutting back a little bit on her work to concentrate on studying (she gets very anxious if she’s got too much on her plate so this seemed sensible to us) but as soon as she’s graduated she’ll be ‘on her own’ financially whether that’s back here in Yorkshire or in Cornwall were she’s studying will be up to her (I suspect it will be the later) If things get really hard then we may offer her a loan but we don’t want to be keeping her financially. To be fair she’s not asked for extra very often (I think we’ve funded a couple of train tickets home) but we prepared her long before Uni by giving her pocket money in return for chores done (which we do with her younger brother) and when she went onto do A levels she got her ‘board & lodging’ provided and bus fares to college and I gave her an allowance which she had to use to pay for her own clothes, college equipment and anything else (she still had to do chores at home too) so if she ran out of money before ‘pay day’ she had to do extra chores for me or someone else to earn it.
It is difficult make them stand on their own feet but it is better for them and you in the long run.
Me and my husband are struggling too. Daughter 21 after she left college to do music we funded that. Yep she failed her degree but at least got a grade 5. Took a year off to volunteer at a local school then planning on going to uni to do teaching. All gone to pot met someone wants to move and work in Manchester, not doing teaching not funded Ny education herself. fine but I think she should be paying us to live here. She earns £100 in a part time job. Just struggling as I don’t want her turning against us completely.
If she is earning £100 per week in a part time job then she should be paying you board.
She won’t turn against you. She might sulk for a bit but it is only like saying you can’t have any sweets to a two year old.
A good rule of thumb which my Mum always used (she is in her eighties now).
Whatever you bring home in your pay packet, you pay one third to me for your board and you pay for your own clothes, travel and entertainment with the rest.
She is 21 years old! An adult! I started work at 15 years old and paid board to my Mum and Dad every week until I got married at 22.
Shirley x
I was unemployed for a while when I still lived with my parents and I paid board out of my benefits, not a great deal but it was the principle involved, I didn’t want to take advantage of the fact that my ‘landlords’ were my parents (if your daughter moves to Manchester she will have far higher living costs than she has now) Shirley’s figure of one third of the money she gets seems fair, if she kicks up a fuss then show her how much she would have to pay if she moved out it might just shock her.
As soon as I went to work full-time, at the age of 18, I had to pay my way. It was just accepted that I would, no argument or discussion. I was an adult, I had to get a job, and I had to pay for my board. My mum used the ‘thirds’ rule too, and after paying for a season ticket into London, I wasn’t left with much to spend, but that’s life.
When my nephews left college, my sister sat them down and showed them how much it cost to run the household. They were shocked! They worked out a reasonable amount that the boys should contribute, that didn’t leave them too short, and despite a few grumbles, they stuck to it. My sister didn’t tell them that she was actually putting away their ‘rent’ into savings for them - when the eldest left home, she gave him his share back.
I must admit once I got engaged my board money didn’t go up (even when my wages did) this allowed us to save the extra to find the deposit for our mortgage and buy some basics to furnish our home.
Big thank you for replying yes your right :-). Just needed someone to say what I was thinking
That’s for your hel I really appreciate it 
I’m not a parent/ grandparent so really have no right to butt in. I’m just amazed that the employer doesn’t offer to reimburse travel expenses for interviews. I work for a charity and even we will offer reasonable interview expenses up to a maximum and at set rates. We try and schedule interviews so that those travelling further are in the middle of the day to allow for travel time and so they can hopefully avoid the most expensive hours for travelling.
To your sons credit Sarah at least he’s putting in the effort to find work - so don’t be too hard on yourself! I’m not sure where the expectation came from that we leave education and walk into our dream jobs. I certainly didn’t get there straight away (and to be fair I didn’t know it was my dream job when I started where I work now. I figured I’d give it 12 months and then move on. Still there 20 years later -how did that happen!! I had to do some pretty basic bar work/ shop work jobs In the meantime though.
Having employed quite a few people over the years now, I’ve finally realised that it’s not the bits of paper you have that really matter, it’s the attitude you have towards work and personal responsibility which makes for a great employee. I now have a fab team of talented, self motivated people who I’m really proud of - but to get there, I started putting qualifications as a lower priority than I would have done previously and looked more at their values and behaviours - anyway, I digress. Sorry! It’s not a bit of paper that gets you (and keeps you) a job it’s your attitude (at least that’s how it works with me!)
Our daughter got her BSc last year and is doing her Hons at the moment. She’s had CFS/ME for the last 16 years though,and her longest stays at school were when she did A levels…three hours a week. She and her man live with us and pay board while she’s studying - Open University being her only option.
We only have 2 bedrooms so her bedroom, which was my craft room when she tried independence for a couple of years, is back in sleep order. My crafting has to be done on my knee or on a folding table in our bedroom. It’s far from good and there are times when I could cry with frustration at not being able to keep all my beads and such so they’re easy to store and find. Same with just about every room in the house - can’t find stuff I know is there somewhere. Garage is full,all cupboards are full…yeeeaaaagh!
But it’s lovely having her at home too so I end up torn. Her/ their chances of finding somewhere of their own, rented of course, are zero. She helps when she can but he spends all day working on his portfolio (artist) apart from meal times…
Good job our GP diagnosed me as a tough old boot!