Post by Neko Bazu on Dec 18, 2006 9:24:12 GMT -1
Finally, a government initiative to sort out the 'can work but won't' types!
From BBC News:
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Hardcore jobless face benefit cut
More long-term unemployed people could have their benefits cut - or stopped altogether - under new proposals.
Work and Pensions Secretary John Hutton will say in a speech on Monday that a "hardcore" of benefit claimants are not competing with east European migrants.
Mr Hutton says he wants to tackle the "can work but won't work" culture he claims exists in parts of Britain.
But the Conservatives and some Labour MPs have questioned what stricter sanctions would achieve.
Government figures show 950,000 people claimed Jobseekers' Allowance last month. About 100,000 of them spent six of the past seven years on benefits.
Mr Hutton will announce a review to try to move people from benefits to work.
He told BBC Radio Five Live: "I'm prepared to do more to help people get back to work, but I'm not prepared to see people hold two fingers up to the rest of us and say, you know, I'm going to say and choose to stay on benefit for as long as I want to. That isn't part of the deal."
In his speech at the Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR) in London, the minister is expected to compare the long-term unemployed with new migrants to Britain.
He is expected to say: "The next challenge we face is to ensure the hardcore of 'can work but won't work' benefit claimants take advantage of the opportunities out there and compete for jobs alongside growing numbers of migrants who arrive in Britain specifically to look for work rather than to settle for the long term."
There was no shortage of vacancies for low-skilled workers, even in areas of relatively high unemployment, he will argue.
"Economic migration from the EU has only served to highlight this issue.
"If workers from Poland can take advantage of these vacancies in our major cities - why can't our own people do so as well?," he will say.
He suggested there could be moves to cut - or even stop - benefits for those who did not do enough to find work.
At the moment, only a very small percentage of jobseekers face such sanctions.
"We need to ask whether we should expect more from some in return for the help we provide," Mr Hutton will say.
He said people had to take "more active steps to get back into the labour market" and become more involved in programmes that could help them get a job.
"And for those who won't do so, then there should be consequences, including less benefit or no benefit at all," he will tell the IPPR.
But initiatives which compel people off benefits may face resistance from the Tories and some Labour MPs.
Shadow work and pensions secretary Philip Hammond told the BBC: "The Labour Party knows it has created the next prime minister in Mr Blair who isn't going to deliver, who isn't going to continue, with the Blairite programmes and what Mr Hutton and Mr Blair and his colleagues are trying to do is set the agenda for the next 10 years and lock Mr Brown in.
"If this was a serious proposal why isn't it included in the Welfare Reform Bill that's currently going through Parliament."
More than half a million arrived from Poland and other countries since 2004, far more than the Home Office prediction of about 13,000.
*~*~*~*~*~*
Whether it actually gets through remains to be seen, or even if they're serious, but the idea's a nice 'un!
From BBC News:
*~*~*~*~*~*
Hardcore jobless face benefit cut
More long-term unemployed people could have their benefits cut - or stopped altogether - under new proposals.
Work and Pensions Secretary John Hutton will say in a speech on Monday that a "hardcore" of benefit claimants are not competing with east European migrants.
Mr Hutton says he wants to tackle the "can work but won't work" culture he claims exists in parts of Britain.
But the Conservatives and some Labour MPs have questioned what stricter sanctions would achieve.
Government figures show 950,000 people claimed Jobseekers' Allowance last month. About 100,000 of them spent six of the past seven years on benefits.
Mr Hutton will announce a review to try to move people from benefits to work.
He told BBC Radio Five Live: "I'm prepared to do more to help people get back to work, but I'm not prepared to see people hold two fingers up to the rest of us and say, you know, I'm going to say and choose to stay on benefit for as long as I want to. That isn't part of the deal."
In his speech at the Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR) in London, the minister is expected to compare the long-term unemployed with new migrants to Britain.
He is expected to say: "The next challenge we face is to ensure the hardcore of 'can work but won't work' benefit claimants take advantage of the opportunities out there and compete for jobs alongside growing numbers of migrants who arrive in Britain specifically to look for work rather than to settle for the long term."
There was no shortage of vacancies for low-skilled workers, even in areas of relatively high unemployment, he will argue.
"Economic migration from the EU has only served to highlight this issue.
"If workers from Poland can take advantage of these vacancies in our major cities - why can't our own people do so as well?," he will say.
He suggested there could be moves to cut - or even stop - benefits for those who did not do enough to find work.
At the moment, only a very small percentage of jobseekers face such sanctions.
"We need to ask whether we should expect more from some in return for the help we provide," Mr Hutton will say.
He said people had to take "more active steps to get back into the labour market" and become more involved in programmes that could help them get a job.
"And for those who won't do so, then there should be consequences, including less benefit or no benefit at all," he will tell the IPPR.
But initiatives which compel people off benefits may face resistance from the Tories and some Labour MPs.
Shadow work and pensions secretary Philip Hammond told the BBC: "The Labour Party knows it has created the next prime minister in Mr Blair who isn't going to deliver, who isn't going to continue, with the Blairite programmes and what Mr Hutton and Mr Blair and his colleagues are trying to do is set the agenda for the next 10 years and lock Mr Brown in.
"If this was a serious proposal why isn't it included in the Welfare Reform Bill that's currently going through Parliament."
More than half a million arrived from Poland and other countries since 2004, far more than the Home Office prediction of about 13,000.
*~*~*~*~*~*
Whether it actually gets through remains to be seen, or even if they're serious, but the idea's a nice 'un!
Bloody GE Money. Been there done that, went against my principles 