News Shorts and Other Busyness

Workfare By Stealth

Squall 12, Spring 1996, pg. 14.

A workfare scheme, under which the unemployed have to work to receive benefits, is to be launched in Britain.

A £12 million pilot project in which the unemployed would lose benefit if they did not take part, was revealed by the Government in November.

In two trial areas, covering 6,000 people, those aged between 18 and 50 and unemployed for more than two years, will be told to report for the “Project Work” programme.

For the first 13 weeks they will be given advice on how to get back into the labour market with some claimants receiving training and others “work trials”.

After this they will be expected to take work experience placements with charities, voluntary organisations or private industry.

Refusal to attend the mandatory work experience programme will lead to loss of benefit,” the Department of Education and Employment has said.

Benefit loss is similar to that under the impending Job Seekers Allowance - two weeks without benefit for a first offence and four weeks for a second offence.

Although the government has denied that this is a “workfare programme” Paul Convery of the unemployment unit said: “This is a decisive and clear step towards a comprehensive workfare system.”

He added that the only difference between this scheme and workfare was that most of the work would be for voluntary organisations.