Workfare’s Christmas Bonus For The Bosses
Workfare Unfair | 08.12.2012 21:55 | Workfare | Public sector cuts | Social Struggles | Workers' Movements | Birmingham
In 2008 the DWP themselves said that workfare schemes don’t work. [6] There is little evidence that workfare increases the likelihood of finding work. It can even reduce employment chances by limiting the time available for job search and by failing to provide the skills and experience valued by employers.
What they do is replace paid jobs with unpaid jobs, at the taxpayers cost. Saying no will mean sanctions of up to 3 years for unemployed people and 70% of benefits indefinitely for disabled people [7]. The loss of money is inconceivable for many people and leads to severe hardships. Locally, Sifa Fireside have also reported "housing benefit is increasingly suspended if people are being sanctioned by Job Centre Plus" [8], leading to increased homelessness.
With over half a million sanctions handed out in 2011 [9], and job centres being given targets for people to sanction[10], these schemes cannot be seen as anything other than punishment for unemployment, and a way of manufacturing falling unemployment figures [11] (although in Birmingham, unemployment has continued to rise [12]).
[1] http://www.boycottworkfare.org/?p=1741
[2] https://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/regions/birmingham/2012/11/502716.html
[3] https://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/regions/birmingham/2012/12/503571.html
[4] http://johnnyvoid.wordpress.com/2012/05/22/could-the-work-programme-really-be-increasing-unemployment/
[5] http://blogs.channel4.com/factcheck/factcheck-why-leaked-a4e-data-suggests-work-programme-isnt-working/11729
[6] http://research.dwp.gov.uk/asd/asd5/rports2007-2008/rrep533.pdf (page 5)
[7] http://www.boycottworkfare.org/?p=1583
[8] http://birminghamagainstthecuts.wordpress.com/2012/09/17/universal-credit-welfare-reform-spells-disaster-for-birmingham-residents/
[9] http://www.corporatewatch.org/?lid=4371
[10] http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2011/apr/08/jobcentres-benefits-sanctions-targets
[11] http://www.boycottworkfare.org/?p=1659
[12] http://birminghamagainstthecuts.wordpress.com/2012/10/17/government-manages-to-manufacture-falling-unemployment-stats-but-not-in-birmingham/
Workfare Unfair