The Tory Minister for Work and Pensions has been urged to ensure everyone gets a “fair day’s work for a fair day’s pay” after it emerged that some jobseekers are being put to work for up to six weeks without pay.
Jobseekers and those on benefits may participate in the Department of Work and Pensions’ (DWP) “Sector-based work academy programme” or “JobCentre Plus Work Trials” for weeks at a time with no guarantee of a job and no remuneration for their time and effort.
MP Stewart McDonald labelled this a “national scandal”, adding: “That cannot be right”.
In a letter to Therese Coffey, the SNP MP called for an urgent review into the situation, saying he often heard “horror stories” from people who were asked to work weeks without pay.
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The letter reads: “Jobseekers and those on benefits participate in these programmes out of good faith, sometimes for weeks at a time, and to receive no wage and face the threat of no job at the end of it is extremely unfair.
“As you are aware, I have long campaigned, and even presented a bill to ban unpaid work trials, and I see this issue as no different.”
McDonald goes on to urge Coffey “to change the terms of the programme and work trials to ensure that everyone is paid fairly and properly for the work that they do”.
He says that, if paying people for their work means financially supporting the businesses which the DWP partners with, “then that must be done”.
“This is a national scandal and it is more important than ever, in a post-Covid world and the recovery that goes with it, that it cannot be allowed to continue.
“I have said it many times before, and I shall continue to do so – a fair day’s work deserves a fair day’s pay,” the letter concludes.
It is estimated that £3 billion worth of wages are lost every year in the UK, with unpaid work trials contributing to this total.
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A DWP spokesperson said McDonald's claims were misleading. They said the people who take part all agree to do so and, though they are not paid and there is no guaranteed job, there is a guaranteed interview for a job opportunity.
They said: “It is misleading and disingenuous to suggest that this programme is exploitative.
"Sector-based Work Academy Programmes help people learn new skills through a mixture of work experience, training, and guarantee an interview for a real job.
“Any participant who signs up to participate in one of these programmes will continue to receive their Universal Credit payments and will have any travel and/or childcare cost covered.”
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