“Boris Johnson has spent £12m forcing thousands of young people to undertake pointless and unpaid work” says Green Assembly Member Jenny Jones after findings showed that young people that completed the ‘workfare’ scheme were half as likely to be in paid employment at the end as those who did not.
Young people should not be ‘punished’ for failing to join a failed scheme, says Jenny Jones, a Green Party member of the London Assembly. She was responding to proposals that young people should be forced to do ‘charity work’ in return for receiving benefits.
Green Assembly Member Jenny Jones asking the Mayor Boris Johnson about his ‘workfare’ scheme at Mayor’s Question Time.
Young people who completed a ‘workfare’ scheme set-up by the Mayor of London were half as likely to be in paid employment compared to those who didn’t complete it, an evaluation published by the Government reveals. The DWP found that 26 per cent of people who completed it were in employment by the end, compared to 44 per cent of those who refused to take part, and 60 per cent of those who dropped out midway through.
Despite this, 1,290 people were sanctioned (lost their benefits), mostly for refusing to participate, which also meant they lost access to Jobcentre training services. Two thirds of participants said the compulsory work experience didn’t leave them with enough time to look for a job.
Jenny Jones said:
“The Government and Mayor have a report which shows that workfare doesn’t work. Boris Johnson has spent £12m forcing thousands of young people to undertake pointless and unpaid work, when they would have been better off spending the time looking for a job. What’s worse, many young people who did just that had their benefits taken away, punishing them for boycotting a failed scheme.
“The Mayor should take on board the London Assembly’s call to drop sanctions and concentrate on meaningful support for young people struggling to find a job.”