Submitted by Helen Crowther on Wed, 21/12/2011 - 2:30pm
Written by Tony Wilson, Director of Policy at Inclusion.
You may have spotted the Prime Minister’s announcement last month of “Community Work for the Long-Term Unemployed”. In four areas, DWP are going to test the impact of requiring people who have been on Jobseeker’s Allowance for more than two years to do community work for thirty hours a week for up to six months – “ahead of a nationwide rollout in 2013.”
Oh dear! So providers are now expected to move from helping the unemployed to punishing them. I didn’t realise long-term unemployment was a crime against the state. Reading through the specification, there is no mention of skills development, training or anything that may be of use to the individual concerned. It’s purely what it says it is – work for your benefit or lose it.
