The Work Programme - still not working

Back in 2011, David Cameron's clueless government set up the Work Programme as a way of making life harder for people who are already struggling to find work.  It is a scheme which follows in a tradition of unimpressive government schemes stretching back more than thirty years.

We've had the Youth Opportunities Programme, the Youth Training Scheme, Training for Work, Learning for Work, Jobclubs, Job Plan Workshops, Job Interview Guarantee, the New Deal, and now the Work Programme.  So far not one of these schemes has been a success.  They have varied in quality between not much good and downright counter-productive.

Suppose you are an employer.  You decide that your business can reasonably take on an extra employee, and you think that you can just about afford it - but then you have to pay your tax bill.  Sadly there is not enough money left over to add an extra person to your payroll, and so you have to put your recruitment plans on hold indefinitely.  And what is your tax bill spent on?  The Work Programme (among other things).

If the government abolished the Work Programme, then the money saved could be passed on to employers in the form of lower taxation, and they in turn could use that money to create more jobs.

Sadly, the ConDem government has no desire to think rationally.  It is reported today that the government will be using "hit squads" to force the "workshy" to take jobs.  In plain English, that means they will use pen-pushers to persecute the downtrodden.

If David Cameron is ever able to make his brain function properly, he might like to abolish the Work Programme and concentrate on running the economy properly so as to create more jobs. Pigs might fly.