Manchester Jobseekers: 40 hours week workfare for 6 months
Post Categories: DWP • Flexible New Deal • Welfare Reform • uk government • unemployment • workfare
Tags: Flexible New Deal, Greater Manchester, Low Pay Commission, mandatory work placements, National Minimum Wage, pilot scheme, servitude, unemployment, WfYB, Work for Your Benefits
It will be Greater Manchester Job Seekers who will be first in line to suffer a mandatory 6 months of 40 hours per week work in return of their benefits. This Work for Your Benefits (WfYB) pilot scheme will begin when Flexible New Deal Phase 2 begins in parts of the country which isn’t already doing Flexible New Deal (phase 1).
This means unemployed persons will be working for below the National Minimum Wage. Using the 22 year old (and over) rate of £5.80 and £51.85 per week JSA rate (lower; under 25s – takes into account the increase in April) works out at £1.30 per hour for a 40 hour week, which is roughly 22% of the National Minimum Wage.
What has the Government got to say about the National Minimum Wages and Wages in general?
Interestingly, a quote from the Governments Evidence to the Low Pay Commission late 2009 (published Jan 2010) reads:
In the period from the introduction of the NMW in 1999 to 2007, the UK labour market has performed strongly, with the level of employment increasing by around 2.4 million. The global financial crisis and subsequent downturn in the wider economy has inevitably impacted on economic activity and employment levels.
In the UK, these shocks struck after a prolonged period of strong and stable growth in output and employment, underpinned by low inflation. The combined effect has been to push the UK economy into recession. GDP has now fallen in six successive quarters and over the last two years employment has fallen by over half a million.
However, the falls in employment have been smaller than in the 1990s recession. The labour market has reacted flexibly and shown resilience, reflecting the effectiveness of labour market policies.
Source: http://www.berr.gov.uk/files/file53908.pdf (above printed to image, OCR representation, formatting by F.N.D)
As you can see the Government still think the National Minimum Wage was a success including helping employment increase by some 2.4 million. The recession has stuck 1/2 million employed persons into unemployment, however, the 1990 recession was far worse apparently.
Workfare: a reality
Despite high levels of unemployment due to the recession jobseekers in Greater Manchester will be forced to work up to 40 hours a week as part of the Work for Your Benefits (WfYB) pilot scheme. The region is set to be the trialling ground for a government initiative that will see unemployed people put into mandatory work placements for up to six months just to hold on to their Jobseeker’s Allowance.
Ipswich Unemployed Action is very concerned about news of the workfare pilots.
What has Flexible New Deal scandal got to say about this?
We are working on a plan of action.
Link Summary
- Workfare: Work for Your Benefit Sanctions exposed
- Work for Your Benefit: providers to sell workfare victims to private businesses?
- Work for Your Benefit is Slavery
- John Leech MP opposes Work for your Benefit scheme
- Flexible New Deal: Who can award sanction doubts?
- Too much legislation for DWP and Jobcentre Plus?
6 Responses to “Manchester Jobseekers: 40 hours week workfare for 6 months”
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this is proof that the uk has become little usa,the emphases is on little,with decades of decline and under investment,no one wanted to train or invest in people the resulting outcome is waste.
the economy is run on what is a casino wheel with disastrous consequences for the average man on the street,this combined with unrealistic expectations and irresponsible lending on a massive scale has also contributed to this outcome.
workfare is just another follow on from all this,its a lead nowhere system except for those who choose to exploit it,nothing more then the widening of economic gaps in society which has become worse over the past three decades,a side effect which has been turned a blind eye to but has a lasting and deep impact on this country.
Spot on, Ken. And don’t forget the bankers who brought us this present disaster have been given bonuses. I think they should be the first to experience Workfare!
Yes, I agree. The gap between rich and poor has increased. Not that the Tories would be any different – or any other party, in my opinion.
If you liked school, you’ll love work. The cruel, absurd abuses of power, the self-satisfied authority that the teachers and principals lorded over you, the intimidation and ridicule of your classmates don’t end at graduation. Those things are all present in the adult world, only more so. If you thought you lacked freedom before, wait until you have to answer to supervisors, managers, owners, landlords, creditors, tax collectors, local councils, law courts, and police.
This does make me wonder what it would be like for unemployed in my situation (I have a job now, so thankfully I just missed this flexible new deal thing). Ignoring the slave wages and the fact it seems to resemble ‘community service’ for crims, I am disabled and cannot physically work more than 30 hours a week, being forced into this would have been impossible for me – get midway though thursday and I would collapse.
I’ve only just noticed this post (and indeed this site), but I cannot believe we have sunk this low. I would never have believed that workfare would be a full working week. I am absiolutely speechless this has been allowed to get even this far.