|
UK cluing in: Blair targets long-term jobless
|
View this Thread in Original format
| Fir3start3r |
uh...duh? :crazy:
Personally, I can't stand leetches, especially when they're sitting on pogey / the dole, doing nothing and planning on doing nothing.
GBTW!! :whip:
| quote: |
Blair targets long-term jobless
People on benefits need to make "an even greater effort" to get a job, Prime Minister Tony Blair said as he unveiled a report on welfare reforms.
He said this extra effort was expected in return for more help being given to help the long-term jobless find work.
David Freud's report suggests private firms and charities give one-to-one help to cut long-term jobless by 1.3m.
He also suggests making single parents look for work once their child turns 12, rather than 16 as at present.
Chancellor Gordon Brown joined Mr Blair - whom he is expected to succeed as prime minister - and Work Secretary John Hutton at the Downing Street launch of Mr Freud's report.
Mr Blair said the future affordability of the welfare state was dependent on getting "even more people off benefit and into work".
He said the goal of getting 80% of the workforce into work "will be very tough to do".
'Sustained help'
He said: "We are going to provide more help for people who want to get off benefit and into work, most important of all with, by 2010, wraparound childcare from eight (am) to six (pm).
"In return, we need an even greater effort from people on benefit to get back into work."
Mr Freud, a former City banker, says in his report there had to be a cut in the number of people of working age on benefits for which they do not have to be actively seeking work.
He said people on long-term benefits often have low skills and "multiple" disadvantages.
"Such clients need sustained help, through pre-work training, which connects into the early years of their work experience," Mr Freud said.
His report recommended that JobCentre Plus should cater for the mass market of people seeking work, while people who were "harder to help" would be given individually tailored support through private or volunteer groups.
Improvements
Such private provision would be part of a "multi-billion pound market" and would have a major impact on the nation's finances, he added.
"More important than the financial figures though is the potential to transform hundreds of thousands of people's lives releasing them from deprivation and hopelessness.
"And that in turn would lead to big improvements in the social fabric of our country."
He said it was possible that in future lone parents - for whom "work is an escalator out of poverty" - could have to seek work when their children were younger than 12.
He did not specify how young that could be, but did say that many people envied the Swedish system where the equivalent age limit for children is three.
'Well-equipped' Britain
His report said that organisations running the schemes should be given cash incentives for keeping people off benefits.
His report also called for consultation on a huge simplification of the benefits system, including possibly producing just one flat benefit rate for everyone of working age.
Chancellor Gordon Brown said the report was the start of welfare reforms "which I will champion".
He said: "It's through all these measures... that we will achieve our aspiration of not just 80% employment, but a Britain that is well-equipped to meet the economic challenges of the twenty-first century."
Shadow work and pensions secretary Philip Hammond said: "We need to see how the government is proposing to balance the desire to get people into work, because that's good for their kids, and the recognition also that in some circumstances that won't be the right thing for the family."
The Liberal Democrats said the use of the voluntary and private sector to help more people back into employment was welcome, "but this must be properly financed, and include provisions to help those with serious problems such as low skills or mental health problems".
Officials representing tens of thousands of JobCentre Plus workers said they feared moving services from the public sector was "mistaken".
TUC general secretary Brendan Barber said: "Contracting-out is a recipe for lower standards and the exploitation of claimants.
"A much better approach would be to allow Jobcentre Plus managers more flexibility in providing tailored services to help lone parents get jobs, instead of penalising them."
His words were echoed by Mark Serwotka, general secretary of the Public and Commercial Services union, who said: "The government should be investing in the very people who have effectively delivered the New Deal employment programme and allow them to continue reaching out to the long-term unemployed."
Chris Pond, director of the group One Parent Families, told the BBC he thought forcing single parents into work was a bad idea: "Most lone parents with older children are already working. About 70% already have a job. Those who are not working very often have good reasons for not doing so."
Kate Green, chief executive of the Child Poverty Action Group, said policies should not just be about getting people jobs, but getting them the right sort of jobs.
|
>>Source<< |
|
|
| George Smiley |
| Well normally I'd agree with you re leeches, but I got sacked yesterday and I really really want to sign on and chill for a few weeks, so in this isnstance I'll have to disagree and come out with some argument about supporting our great labour army in waiting!! |
|
|
| Dj O'Callaghan |
| quote: | Originally posted by George Smiley
Well normally I'd agree with you re leeches, but I got sacked yesterday and I really really want to sign on and chill for a few weeks, so in this isnstance I'll have to disagree and come out with some argument about supporting our great labour army in waiting!! |
What did you get the sack for? Biggest thing which pisses me off about the UK is outsourcing work abroad for cheaper labour in return making people redundant, luckily they realising the work being done abroad isn't to our standards and moving work back.
On the subject of the dole people should be given a year to find work after that they shouldn't be getting penny of the government.
I'd like the government to investigate people claiming disability benefit too, there is some crafty people out there who are bleeding hard tax payers dry. |
|
|
| Lilith |
While not dodging the problem, there are the 'leeches' on welfare in every country but often their numbers are greatly inflated by political parties for the purposes of having someone to bash on coming up to elections, everyone hates them so they're an easy mark.
I would have thought there was a less of a problem in england now with the long term employed than say, like it was in the 80's when I was growing up there? Back then it was chronic after the state changed direction away from the industrial sector and focused more to service industries.
Which displays quite clearing the ignorance of the government allowing outsourcing service industries to cheaper competitors when your economy is greatly influenced by their presence and continuing employment of citizens. Very poor management...
The US (and quite a few other countries) is due for a wakeup call to in this area by their importation of Chinese goods at some point rather than continuing to use their own locally made products. |
|
|
| _Ocean_Drive_ |
| I was on JSA for 4 months from Oct until Feb. I've paid tax and NI in the past, so why shouldn't I have been able to claim some of it back. £45 per week is a pittance anyhow. |
|
|
| tubby |
curious about the line where sweden makes single parents go back to work when the kids turn 3. Do they have state-funded day care for the kids?
Cost of daycare over here is such that you don't make any more than what welfare pays after dya care is paid for,so you basically work for no money. |
|
|
| Fir3start3r |
| quote: | Originally posted by _Ocean_Drive_
I was on JSA for 4 months from Oct until Feb. I've paid tax and NI in the past, so why shouldn't I have been able to claim some of it back. £45 per week is a pittance anyhow. |
Oh I agree with you OD, I'm referring to those that have no intentions of getting back into the workforce.
Hell even I was off for several months between jobs on EI (Employment Insurance) and not that I didn't enjoy it, but the IT market was saturated at the same time.
It does have it's uses when used properly :) |
|
|
| _Ocean_Drive_ |
| quote: | Originally posted by Fir3start3r
Oh I agree with you OD, I'm referring to those that have no intentions of getting back into the workforce.
Hell even I was off for several months between jobs on EI (Employment Insurance) and not that I didn't enjoy it, but the IT market was saturated at the same time.
It does have it's uses when used properly :) |
Finally, we agree in PDD!
The one thing I think that sucks about Canada is this:
When I was in Montreal in 2003, I was hearing about a friend of someone who I was staying who had to hold down two jobs just to pay for her insulin. Now THAT is disgustingly unfair. |
|
|
| Fir3start3r |
| quote: | Originally posted by _Ocean_Drive_
Finally, we agree in PDD!
|
I know eh?
*marks it on the calendar* ;)
| quote: |
The one thing I think that sucks about Canada is this:
When I was in Montreal in 2003, I was hearing about a friend of someone who I was staying who had to hold down two jobs just to pay for her insulin. Now THAT is disgustingly unfair. |
[/quote]
Here's in Canada? :wtf:
Strange, stuff that's common (ie. not some exotic perscription) is normally covered unless of course she doesn't have any coverage via her place of employment... |
|
|
|
|
