It was voluntary before, but now, when the game was up, Chris Grayling came along and announced that “all benefit sanctions for work experience programme are dropped”, claiming to have only listened to employers, not protesters.
Political Scrapbook had it that letters were going out with the message:
Please note that if, without a good reason, you fail to start, fail to go when expected, or stop going to the [placement] … any future payments of Jobseeker’s Allowance could cease to be payable.”
A voluntary programme seems fine, since that is a choice made by a rational individual. But the old problem still remains: if a company can accommodate for free labour, why not create a job? In some parts of the country 80 people are chasing every job vacancy – this is no longer about the “lazy” or the “work shy”.
Somewhere with a high amount of people chasing every job is Southend, where the ratio of unemployed to job vacancy is 44:1. It just so happens to be somewhere with a very contentious councillor indeed: Cllr Anna Waite.
One of the Tory councillor’s recent Facebook status comments reads:
I think I might boycott those firms who are dropping out of the Government’s schemes to provide work experience etc to those unemployed. Labour’s something for nothing culture combined with the antics of the socialist workers party are seriously reducing the chances for our youngsters to get into work.
Can she prove the role of the SWP? Because Grayling couldn’t. And it’s also nice to see Labour getting the blame for a something-for-nothing culture. It should be repeated that for every job in Southend there are 44 unemployed people trying to get it.
