Kate Wareing, Oxfam’s Director of UK poverty said.
“Iain Duncan Smith has today outlined plans to help move people off welfare and into work and we broadly welcome this new approach to make the system fairer.
“Work should never be seen as a punishment and those on benefits should not be forced to work for less than the minimum wage. The assumption that people don’t want to work is simply not true. Our experience is that people on benefits do want to work, and a big part of what holds them back is the benefit system.
“It is vital that people are always better off in work. Currently, many of those people who are in the transition between benefits and employment can end up keeping less than 10p for every pound they earn.
“Those actively seeking employment, whether that be temporary or part-time, should never be penalised; if someone on benefits earns a pound then we should reward that initiative, rather than taking away what they have earned as if it was the wrong thing to do.
“People should be allowed to do small amounts of community work, without losing their benefits. If the government implemented a Community Allowance it would allow community organisations to pay local unemployed people to do the bits and pieces of work that desperately need doing within their communities. For every £1 invested in the Community Allowance, £10.20 worth of social value is created – that’s because the work has immense community and social value, improving facilities and the local environment, which aren’t usually measured in conventional economic terms.”
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For more information or to interview Kate Wareing please contact Sarah Dransfield, Oxfam Press Officer on 01865 472269 or [email protected]