Comment on Benefit claimants not seeking work to face mandatory work placements
Oneeightnine@feddit.uk 7 months ago
Forgive my ignorance, but didn’t it used to be like this?
When I left school at 16, I remember being put on a program that was run by a third party that ultimately ended with me being paid below minimum wage to work in a charity shop for six months (4 days a week, with one day for reporting to the job center).
Not saying it’s a good system, because it’s not, but I’m absolutely sure they’ve (Labour included) have tried this before.
shish_mish@lemmy.world 7 months ago
Yes, they tried it before, more than once, but it turned into a complete clusterfuck. The placements were meant to teach people new skills to help them find work. But most placements ended up being stocking shelves and other completely unskilled jobs. Employers also didn’t particularly want to be supervising people who clearly didn’t want to be there, let alone spend time teaching them new skills. So these placements just provided cheap labour, since the government paid employers to take them on. It also led to people being fired under spurious reasons only to find themselves being placed themselves at their previous employer.
thehatfox@lemmy.world 7 months ago
From what I remember there was a “work experience” placement scheme during the coalition years, that had claimants doing 2-4 weeks unpaid in mostly retail work. The pitch was that would give a defence, or job offer from the business giving the placement.
In reality the participating businesses just used it as a revolving pool of free labour.