youngian wrote:Tubby Isaacs wrote: It's going to reduce employment (conditionality for unemployment benefit increased it, without the IDS bollocks)
Hadn't thought of that. It will probably encourage the growth of flexi-jobs and ZHCs.
Declan Gaffney made the "worklessness" point- his word- and cites the poor employment level of single parents until James Purnell introduced more conditions for those with kids 8 and over.
McDonnell was quoted getting very annoyed about workfare (community work, 4 weeks, after 1 year, and indefinitely after 2 years) and (quite rightly) the shift to ESA.
The WCA can be junked, but the rest of it sounded fairly moderate when combined with compulsory jobs, as Purnell supported after he left government. Social Security is going to be a test of how principled McDonnell is. I can't imagine conditionality being wound back to pre-Purnell.