After School Club - Cornwall

We run an after school club in quite a run down area with loads of unemployment. When we are short of staff I have to get staff from an agency to work here for a week or a fortnight. This is so frustrating when we have mums that would like to gain the work experience but are too frightened to because of fear of what might happen to their benefits. We would really like to employ local mums on a short-term basis to cover staff shortages and also invest in them over the longer term so they could become members of staff. Problem is, this work is never going to be full time – great for mums bringing up kids but a nightmare when it comes to getting off benefits.

If we try to get people involved then they usually say they won't do it because they're scared it will affect their benefits. When we have done this in the past for someone who really wants to gain the experience, we always have to "diddle" the system, which we hate doing. We have tried paying people in other ways, through vouchers for supermarkets and training courses. It’s stressful not to mention illegal, but we’re determined to reward people who work here.