Slaves and criminals
Is "New Deal" slavery?
In the BBC debate Should benefits be linked to community service?, some people suggested that the new proposals that the government outlined in July 2008 were just a device so that the government could "employ" people while avoiding all the normal statutory rights - the national minimum wage, holiday entitlements, statutory sick pay and so on. As such, many existing minimum wage jobs could (at least in theory) be replaced by unemployed people being forced to do the same jobs. This is a legitimate concern, but maybe the politicians have an answer to it. We'll find out eventually.
A lot of people in that debate angrily rejected the idea of slavery. Certainly, it is an emotive term, but so is poverty. If you are going to redefine poverty, as some people do, to mean what other people would call relative poverty, then it is reasonable to also redefine slavery. True poverty, in the traditional sense of the word, doesn't exist in modern Britain on any significant scale, but some of those who have just enough to survive while surrounded by people who have plenty may feel like they are living in poverty.
My personal experience
Based on my experience of New Deal, I would say that it certainly feels like modern-day slavery and the new proposals that the government outlined in July 2008 sound like more of the same. Of course these schemes aren't as bad as the slavery that existed centuries ago, but we don't have the kind of poverty that prompted the original Live aid in contemporary Britain either.
Presumably the government believes that by subjecting people to such humiliation, it will shock them into finding a proper job. If unemployed people fitted the Stereotypes as the government believes, then it might make sense. Because they are wrong, it doesn't. In my case, the humiliation, the unsuitable work, the appalling conditions in which that work sometimes takes place and my inability to do anything that really would improve my chances of finding a proper job (because of the time taken doing the New Deal placement) only serve to undermine my confidence and motivation.
Far from helping me back to work, the government's policies in general and New Deal in particular have seriously damaged whatever chance I might have had of finding gainful employment - and the new proposals that the government outlined in July 2008 seem set to make matters worse. Not that I will ever give up, but I certainly won't be bullied into doing unsuitable work. At best, that would get me into work for a short period prior to being sacked so wouldn't solve the problem.
Treating unemployed people as criminals
Some contributors to the BBC debate Should benefits be linked to community service? clearly regard unemployed people as no better than criminals, but others are worried about the implications. If these two groups of people are treated exactly the same, some unemployed people may decide that crime offers a more appealing alternative. I don't suppose either the politicians or those who regard unemployed people as criminals have considered this.
On one of my New Deal placements, I met an ex-criminal who said that if New Deal placements became indefinite (they were for a duation of six months for most people, but three months for those over 50), he would just go back to drug-dealing. After all, he could make more in three hours trading drugs than he could make in three months on the dole. Having sampled prison, he had no desire to risk going back there (so it's not the holiday camp that it's sometimes portrayed as) but if unemployed people were to be treated like criminals, then at least for him, he might as well go back to crime.
Pilot scheme failed
In 2001, the government launched a pilot scheme in Derbyshire, Hertfordshire, Teesside and the West Midlands, which deprives criminals of their benefits if they fail to comply with certain conditions. It was never extended beyond its four original counties, but the timeframe was extended at intervals. Interim reports found reasons to continue with the scheme, but it emerged in October 2008 that the pilot scheme remained active despite being acknowledged as a failure. It causes hardship to the criminals, forcing them to return to crime, while the costs of running the scheme outweigh the savings made by benefits not paid out. Perhaps it is too much to expect the politicians to learn the lessons of this failure.
Other aspects of criminality
Some people suggest that by keeping the unemployed busy, they won't have time to commit so much crime. Leaving aside the obvious fact that a lot of crime is committed by people who have jobs, it may be that there is a reduction in vandalism as a result of the new proposals that the government outlined in July 2008, but as I suggested above, maybe some people will decide that crime offers a better life, so there could be more problems with other types of crime.
One ex-criminal who is unable to get a job because his past counts against him suggested that being forced to do this work may improve his chances. Maybe.
Human rights
Human rights lawyers will be watching with interest. So will I. Some people clearly resent the idea that human rights should apply, but again, let's see what happens if they end up in a situation where they have cause to worry about their own human rights.
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