Press Story

IPPR shows the gap between public perception and the reality of Britain's benefits bill in this new infographic: http://www.gifti.me/i/FkTtBeS.gif

Graeme Cooke, Research Director at IPPR, said:

"George Osborne's welfare announcement today is not a revolution. It will probably end up affecting less than one in twenty JSA claims, which accounts for 2.5 per cent of all benefit spend. People have 'had to do something in return for their benefits' since 1911.

"There is nothing wrong in principle with expecting the long term unemployed to undertake work experience or a more intensive job search. The key issue is how such schemes are designed. If they give people real experience of work and the practical employability habits that go with it, they can help people be more attractive to prospective employers. But if it is pitched as a punishment where people do menial tasks, it risks acting as a signal to employers that these are people not to employ.

"The government's mandatory work activity pilot, which mirrors today's announcement, was found to have no impact on future employment, only a short term impact on JSA claims and it actually increased claims for disability benefit. By contrast, job guarantee schemes like the Future Jobs Fund - which created real work placements, paid at the minimum wage, and compulsory for the long-term unemployed - have much better results.

"We should be guaranteeing everyone a job paid at the minimum wage after they have been out of work for more than a year, but also insisting that they work or risk losing their benefits - limiting the amount of time society is prepared for anyone to be unemployed."

Notes to editors:
IPPR's new report - On the front foot: Designing a welfare cap that reforms social security - is available from:
http://www.ippr.org/publication/55/11290/on-the-front-foot-designing-a-welfare-cap-that-reforms-social-security

IPPR's report - A job for everyone: What should full employment mean in 21st century Britain? - is available from: http://bit.ly/IPPR11002

IPPR's report - Jobs for the Future: The path back to full employment in the UK - is available from: http://www.ippr.org/publications/55/7938/jobs-for-the-future-the-path-back-to-full-employment-in-the-uk