The following has been supplied by the TUC:
The government is considering forcing long-term sick people to work unpaid for an unlimited amount of time or have their benefits cut. Workers who have been injured at work but unable to return to employment could be deemed fit to undertake limited amounts of work which could further harm their health if the plans go ahead. The new policy, outlined by DWP officials in meetings with disabilities groups, is due to be announced due to legal changes to the Welfare Reform Bill. The policy could mean that those on employment and support allowance who have been placed in the work-related activity group could be compelled to undertake work experience for charities, public bodies and high-street retailers. Those effected could include those who have terminal cancer but have more than six months to live; accident victims; and some of those with mental health issues caused by work. The TUC's Welfare expert Richard Exell commented 'Workfare - making people work at much less than the national minimum wage in return for their benefits - is doubly unfair. It exploits unemployed people, who don't get the going rate for the work they do and it threatens the pay and conditions of employees doing the same sort of work. Forcing long-term sick people into schemes like this does nothing to help them to recover and nothing to help them get jobs.' Neil Bateman of the National Association of Welfare Rights Advisers said: "This proposal is very worrying. There are completely inadequate legal and medical safeguards - bearing in mind that these are people with long-term health problems and disabilities, often serious ones. "Compulsory, unpaid work may worsen some people's health, with the consequences of the DWP's savings being passed on to the NHS at greater cost. "If jobs are there to be done, people should get the rate for the job, instead of being part of a growing, publicly funded, unpaid workforce which, apart from being immoral, actually destroys paid jobs." Neil Coyle, director of policy and campaigns at Disability Rights UK, said that it was abusive for people to work without pay. He added: "The idea that disabled people should work but receive no financial recognition for contributing is perhaps a level of abuse in and of itself. Vicki Nash, head of policy and campaigns at the mental health charity Mind, said: "Work placements can be a useful bridge for people in the work-related activity group who are taking steps towards employment, but we are very worried about people being pressured into taking unpaid positions before they are ready."
