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On Thursday the government announced that from late 2024, mandatory work placement trials will be introduced for people who have been unemployed for longer than 18 months. Those who refuse will lose their benefits.
This policy further stigmatises this small and vulnerable minority (300,000 people according to the Treasury, making up 0.4% of the population), labelling them as a cause of economic woes rather than people in need of help. Vicki Nash, from the charity Mind, told the BBC that evidence shows these sanctions do not work and often worsen poor mental health: “The increase in the use of sanctions is deeply worrying. Evidence has repeatedly shown they don't work and make people's mental health worse.”
There is little about this policy to be hopeful about. But how could a work program be designed to offer some positives to benefit claimants?
Our listening to the experience of low paid and precariously employed workers here in the City suggests at least three tests: for work to be dignified it needs to provide fair pay, give recognition and respect, and build up skills.
First, good work earns a fair wage. The Living Wage Commission calculates that in order to meet the basic means of life, workers need to be paid at least £13.15 in London and £12 elsewhere in the UK. Workers paid below this amount report needing to work significant overtime just to make ends meet, which hurts their health, time with family and participation in society. This is a matter of fairness too. Stephen Cottrell, Archbishop of York said, "A real Living Wage and its promise of 'a fair day’s pay for a hard day’s work' enshrines compassion, dignity and justice in the contract of employment." Workers find it demoralising when their labour is so poorly rewarded that it leaves them in poverty. A work placement that is genuinely good for claimants needs to reward their labour justly.
Second, good work is given recognition and respect. Many often look at jobs such as cleaning with disdain. They consider these jobs to be inherently undignified. However, workers do not necessarily agree. For example, many of the cleaners we speak to find the work deeply satisfying. Instead, the source of indignity is the way others treat them as unskilled and unimportant, the lack of recognition of their crucial role in keeping businesses running. One cleaner told us, "I find cleaning the offices satisying, making everything tidy so that the office workers can do their job. But, they often disrespect us by ignoring us and making a mess and not tidying it up." Any work placement program can only be good if it frames the contribution of the worker with dignity: workers finding their feet in the workplace again, and making a positive contribution in the process.
Third, good work gives an opportunity to develop skills. Unfortunately, the jobs with the poorest pay and conditions are often for low-skilled workers. For example, language barriers are a huge issue for migrant workers, who may have degree level education back home. Another cleaner told us, ‘I have a degree in marketing, but when you don’t speak English people treat you very badly and its hard to get another job. But, we have to work such long hours that it is hard to make time to learn English so you change your situation.’ They can get stuck in roles with poor conditions because they give no opportunities for improving English language skills. Also, the hours are so long that they have no spare time for learning. For a work placement to lead to dignified work, it needs to develop the workers’ skills.
Anyone seriously looking for ideas about how to support people into good and dignified work could take inspiration from movements for dignified work in prisons. The charity Fine Cell Work is exemplary. For over 25 years they have trained prisoners in the skills of needlework, and provided employment for them in producing beautiful embroideries. Not only are they paid approximately one-third of the proceeds from the sales, but they also have a good profession to go into after they are released. This work grants them just pay, recognition and skills.
Anyone who seriously wants to support jobseekers into work needs to reflect on what good work looks like. For a work program to genuinely help benefit claimants it must pay these workers a fair wage, frame their labour as a meaningful contribution and a first step back into the workforce, and provide them with the opportunities for self-development.
If you’d like to join the conversation about what makes good work here in the City of London, then please sign up to our Responsible Business Network where you’ll be among the first to hear about our upcoming events.