Back-to-work scheme ruled lawful by High Court

I'm not surprised the courts backed the Back-to-work scheme,Its great for businesses and helping the economy,But for us those that want to find "Decent Payable" work its nothing but slave labor imo,Like people of mentioned if companies are getting workers for next to nothing they wont bother taking people on properly but rather just use the Back-to-work scheme.

Seriusly i think we have some idiots running this country.
 
seriously undermines the whole benefit of working, teach these people work>reward and they are going to feel and strive for the benefit of employment (if they are work shy).

its just a scheme to lower figures that is all, cheap labor using jobs that could employ the very people they complain about not working, simply awful scheme. what on earth can you teach someone or contribute any skill to someone in 2 weeks of doing a job they have never done before other than to prove they can get out of bed on time.
 
UncleRuckus said:
If the government wishes to offer work experience it should be by volunteering in the third sector, not by displacing actual paid jobs which employers turn a profit on free labour.
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I presume you have accurate analysis which clearly indicates that actual jobs will be displaced instead of created as supervisory roles?

MrMoonX said:
at well below minimum wage, why cant they be paid minimum wage for the work they are doing. Thats why this whole scheme is basically slave labour and gives no incentive for the likes of poundland to actually employ people and get them off benefits, as they get it for free thanks to uncle tory.
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If they are not happy with it they should get a job........ Oh wait they can't, as no employer is willing to knock on their door and beg them to work for them whilst ignoring their poor work history and lack of good references, god forbid they have to be proactive in their search for work.

Kanifee said:
seriously undermines the whole benefit of working, teach these people work>reward and they are going to feel and strive for the benefit of employment (if they are work shy).

its just a scheme to lower figures that is all, cheap labor using jobs that could employ the very people they complain about not working, simply awful scheme. what on earth can you teach someone or contribute any skill to someone in 2 weeks of doing a job they have never done before other than to prove they can get out of bed on time.
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The only way you teach the workshy anything is making their free money harder to obtain. I realise there are people in society who genuinely fall on hard times and should be helped, but the never worked, unwashed baby factories we have living for free in households all over the UK need tackling and there are lots of them. I know I work on lots of social housing estates.
 
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Nitefly said:
The only winners in this are the companies that are getting the hyper cheap labour. It's just gross.
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Do we have any figures on the success rate of placements getting a job afterwards? Because surely they would count as winners too?
 
"andy" said:
As an example look on any major supermarkets careers page and see how little full time jobs there are

Yet suddenly if your willing to work for free they have plenty of work for you to do for 40 hours a week
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!!!!!


kitch9 said:
They are getting paid benefits...
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would you work up to 40 hours a week for up to 75 pounds (depending on age)?
a crappy cleaning job of 14 hours a week paid me around 100 a week when that was all i could get

jakspyder said:
Why not just double their JSA if they are on one of these placement. Or even just 50% extra. still a fair bit below minimum wage. But enough extra to taste the possible benefits of working.
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That sounds more realistic.


one of my biggest problems with this scheme is its helping out corps that have millions. IF it was helping out a local business then not quite so bad but i still think that it should be cut down to 2 full days a week
 
In my first summer break from uni, I spent 2 months working for free in an Oxfam shop because I simply wanted to, and it got me a reference (along with over 5 years participating in choirs and orchestras, but no one gives a crap about that).

I would however NEVER set foot inside a poundland, netto, lidl or McDonald's. I don't in anyway feel that I am above them, they are simply terrible places to be in, and I worked at Asda for 4 years who are a far superior retail employer (along with Tesco and sainsburys).

How about if you're going to give people these work experience scams, I mean, schemes, you get them a job doing charity work instead of free labour? That is a lot more moralizing, motivating, and better looking on a CV than working in a poundland. I also spent 3 months working in a family business phone shop, and every major phone shop still rejected me regardless of this and how good I am at technical stuff, hence I ended up doing charity work / Asda instead. That is very demoralizing, when they simply reject you even if you have the required skills and experience for the job. Even talk talk didn't bother replying when I applied for a call centre job with what my previous employers, job agencies and uni career advice people called a stunning C.V.

Get a human biology degree, get grade 8 piano, do charity work, years of choir and orchestra, work in retail for 5 years, same employer for 4 years, know absolutely everything about computers, phones, and digital keyboards / pianos, oh and do karate for 7 years = unemployable for a tech support call centre job? Yes, that's the reality of Britain today. And not just unemployable, THEY WONT EVEN GIVE YOU A FREAKING INTERVIEW!

Good for me that my benefits can't be legally stopped. In your face crappy employers and people who think there are jobs out there for everyone.

Hey Id love a new menial boring job and terrible work experience. You know what I'd like to do? TUNING FREAKING PIANOS WOULD BE AN AWESOME LIFETIME CAREER FOR ME PLEASE!
 
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You are given the option to find your own work placement with a local charity if you so desire.
The Jobcentre won't actually tell you this. but they will offer advice if you ask.
Seems fairer than some crappy unpaid role at Poundland.

I've just been kicked on to this back to work malarkey and I'm hunting out various charities so when the time comes, they get my effort, not some multimillion pound national company
 
I also applied to several secretary jobs paying just £12500-13500 pa. I absolutely despise secretary work but a jobs a job right? You would think that the NHS would at least interview someone with a human biology degree applying for a secretary job, or at least I would, but nope. You probably need 10 years work experience as a doctor and then get made redundant or something to get the secretary job by the look of it.
 
bhavv said:
I also applied to several secretary jobs paying just £12500-13500 pa. I absolutely despise secretary work but a jobs a job right? You would think that the NHS would at least interview someone with a human biology degree applying for a secretary job, or at least I would, but nope. You probably need 10 years work experience as a doctor and then get made redundant or something to get the secretary job by the look of it.
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over qualified...they want someone who is going to stick at teh job not someone with a degree that in all likelyhood is jsut desperate to take any job and will leave as soon as something better pops up
 
I don't think that a gradeless ordinary degree is overqualified for anything. So too overqualified for simple jobs, but not qualified enough for better jobs? Ok, no job instead then.

To think anyone with a biology degree would want to start out at the bottom of the NHS and try to work their way up, the horror! Just don't give them any jobs at all, that's the only logical solution.

If the UK won't let me work as an NHS secretary, call centre tech support, or piano tuning, why exactly should I ever work for nothing at poundland?
 
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One thing I find funny is that some people call me a job snob because I would never work in poundland, but I can't work as a secretary instead because I'm too overqualified. That's hilarious.

Oh, even morrisons and woolworths (when they were still around) said no. Several times, rejection without an interview.
 
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MrMoonX said:
at well below minimum wage, why cant they be paid minimum wage for the work they are doing. Thats why this whole scheme is basically slave labour and gives no incentive for the likes of poundland to actually employ people and get them off benefits, as they get it for free thanks to uncle tory.
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Wasting your time mate, some people just don't get it and talk ********.
 
bhavv said:
One thing I find funny is that some people call me a job snob because I would never work in poundland, but I can't work as a secretary instead because I'm too overqualified. That's hilarious.

Oh, even morrisons and woolworths (when they were still around) said no. Several times, rejection without an interview.
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dont put a degree on your CV if you are applying for a job serving people in a shop.....
 
Please excuse my ignorance but I still don't understand this - ie: where the argument/problem is

So, your on benefits/Job Seekers and you get offered to work for 2 wks/full time in Poundland, for less than min wage (so you get SOME pay from them), and its dressed up as job experience?

Do you still get your Job Seekers? If so then how is it cheap/free/slave labour? Sure you don't have a permanent job, and your not being paid NMW, but you are getting some pay and your JSA right?

Or have I got this totally wrong (which wouldn't surprise me tbh :))
 
trixilux said:
Please excuse my ignorance but I still don't understand this - ie: where the argument/problem is

So, your on benefits/Job Seekers and you get offered to work for 2 wks/full time in Poundland, for less than min wage (so you get SOME pay from them), and its dressed up as job experience?

Do you still get your Job Seekers? If so then how is it cheap/free/slave labour? Sure you don't have a permanent job, and your not being paid NMW, but you are getting some pay and your JSA right?

Or have I got this totally wrong (which wouldn't surprise me tbh :))
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You don't get paid anything by the company providing the work. You just carry on receiving JSA which is roughly £55 a week I think.
 
Last I heard on this was Tesco, Waterstones, Maplin, Matalan had expressed concerns with the scheme, Greggs and Poundland were reviewing their involvment and Burger King pulled the plug completely, not sure were they stand on it now though.
I believe others have also stopped taking the free labour. Sorry, Slave labour.
 
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