The following details have been supplied by the TUC:
A new government ‘Help to Work’ scheme has been strongly criticised by unions after it was revealed jobseekers could be forced into zero hours contract jobs.
Launching the scheme last week, prime minister David Cameron said: “This scheme will provide more help than ever before, getting people into work and on the road to a more secure future.”
Under the scheme, jobseekers may lose their benefits for three months if they refuse a zero hours contract.
TUC general secretary Frances O’Grady said: “Forcing people into uncertain employment is not the answer to unemployment and may restrict the ability of claimants to seek secure, permanent work. We know that for many workers zero hours contracts mean zero job security, poor pay and no way of knowing what they’ll be earning from one day to the next.” She added: “With new plans under the ‘Help to Work’ scheme potentially meaning jobseekers will have to undertake community work alongside convicted offenders, the government is punishing people for being unemployed when they are the real victims here.”
Mark Serwotka, general secretary of the Jobcentre Plus workers’ union PCS, said the move was “a new kind of cruelty”, adding: “Ministers have presided over a massive increase in these exploitative contracts at the same time as millions more people are stuck in low-paid self-employed, temporary or part-time work. Instead of dreaming up new ways to force people into poverty, the government should be creating and encouraging sustainable jobs.” Insecure or ‘contingent’ work has been linked to higher rates of sickness absence and occupational injuries and diseases.
