Failed Work Experience Scheme

The crisis over one of the government’s pet projects has deepened, Emma Harrison has quit as chairperson of A4e, one of the largest firms contracted by the government to carry out work experience schemes. Although they are not related (Ms Harrison is dealing with fraud accusations) it still besmirches the image of the work experience schemes brought in by the government.

The scheme that is currently getting all the media attention is the work experience scheme in which people work for a company, but only on dole money. The company, such as Tesco, doesn’t have to pay them anything. The idea is a good one, to get people work experience which should help them get a job later. It sounds great doesn’t it? If someone wants to go into construction and spends six weeks working on a construction site then this will significantly help them in getting a job when the opportunity arises. The problem is that many people are simply shelf-stacking at Tesco and it doesn’t cost Tesco anything, basically it is slave labour and means that Tesco can hire less staff, pushing unemployment up! Chris Grayling, the Employment Minister, has come out of this crisis looking like a fool, he says the movement is a front for the Socialist Workers Party and blames “left-wing radicals”. It makes him sound like he’s on a rant and doesn’t want to hear about the issues surrounding the scheme. Another issue with the scheme is that once you’ve been on it for at least one week you have to stay on it otherwise you can lose benefits. This last point is what is causing all the fright amongst companies that were thinking of doing the scheme, if the government were to get rid that particular clause, both the businesses and the public would warm to the scheme and young people could be helped out.

This situation is not hard for the government to sort out and the fact that the issue has gone on for this long has shown the inherent problem with this government; it doesn’t have a good grasp of public opinion and doesn’t listen to the public. Both parties will pay at the next election if they keep it up.