The primary stated reason given for the phones to be retained has now been addressed:
Quote:most of the telephone numbers for the jobcenter are 0845 numbers and people on benifits cant afford to ring these numbers
(see
the text of the petition)
In the Bolton News article, the petitioner also states a belief that the Jobseeker's Allowance is insufficient to enable contact with potential employers.
This should be the reason given for the provision of telephones, in place of on-line access, or perhaps in addition to it. It would also be interesting to know if this switch generally increases or decreases the amount of external access provided at Jobcentres.