Tory 'Workfare' proposals will not

help people back into work

Responding to the Conservative Party's welfare reform proposals announced today (Tuesday), Midlands TUC Policy Officer Alan Weaver said:
'The Tories' Workfare proposals manage to combine injustice, expense and inefficiency in a single package. Experiences of Workfare schemes around the world have shown that they fail to help people into work. In Australia, Workfare has left unemployed people less likely to get a job. In New York, existing workers have lost their jobs to Workfare temps.
'Employers aren't impressed either - who will want to recruit someone who has been forced into their last job? The Tories will have to pay for the work people are forced to do, on top of support services like childcare. So there is no chance that the Tories will find the £3 billion savings they are looking for.
'Under the Tory proposals, people will not be paid the rate for the job they are doing and there will be no guarantee of a job at the end. The only beneficiaries will be dodgy employers, who will exploit unpaid Workfare temps to the detriment of existing staff.'