MP claims government Workfare scheme is failing the unemployed
Press Releases / January 24, 2012 (5 weeks ago) / Comment now
Labour’s Grahame Morris has pressed Work and Pensions Minister Chris Grayling for answers on compulsory workfare programmes for the unemployed.
In a Commons question time the Minister denied the government was operating a workfare scheme but instead referred to ‘mandatory activity’ for the unemployed.
The Minister said: “I can confirm that we have schemes in place as part of people’s job search. They include mandatory work activity”.
Mr. Morris said “Profits at Poundland soared by 34% in 2011, with people on workfare forced to work for free in Poundland stores”. He went on to ask: “Who is the real beneficiary of workfare: the taxpayer or the shareholder?”
The Minister claimed that more than 50% of young people who go through the scheme moved quickly into employment and in some cases with Poundland.
However a report commissioned by the Department for Work and Pensions in 2008 ‘A comparative review of workfare programmes in the United States, Canada and Australia’ found little evidence for the effectiveness of Workfare.
The report stated that “Workfare has a deterrent effect which stops people claiming, or encourages them to leave welfare.
It went on to say “There is little evidence that workfare increases the likelihood of finding work.
In fact, subsidised or ‘transitional’ job schemes that pay a wage were found to be more effective in raising employment levels than ‘work for benefit’ programmes.
In June 2010 the government abolished the £1 billion Future Jobs Fund which gave businesses in unemployment hotspots up to £6,500 for creating jobs that would last at least six months in favour of mandatory workfare.
