Does the UK have a scheme where unemployed have to work for peanuts?

by Guest Wed May 14, 2014 2:11 pm

Some Germans are talking about the fact that unemployed Germans have to work for 1 Euro per hour. If they don't do it, all benefit is cut. They asked if there are any other governments who are so bad - I said yes the UK has a similar system. But I'm not sure about it - do they?

by Irn Bru Wed May 14, 2014 9:02 pm

Tess, we have a system where people are expected to work for nothing.

The One Euro jobs were introduced under Hartz IV where those that took up the offer were paid one Euro per hour on top of their unemployment benefit. Usually done over 30 hours so they were paid 30 Euros plus expenses which would take them up to over 100 Euros per week.

And anyway, the German system doesn't allow all benefits to be cut because it's against their constitution.

The ruling by the Federal German Court.

The Fundamental right to Guarantee a Subsistence Minimum in the German Federal Court ‘s judgement of 9 February 2010

Court Judgement

The court judgement actually ruled that the current level of benefits was too low which led to them being increased in 2010.

Welfare payments for some 4.7 million jobless and under-employed people will be raised to €364 a month, with the hike paid out retroactively from January 1 – the date by which the government had initially planned to implement the increase.

But the reform stalled for weeks in the Bundesrat, the upper house representing Germany's 16 states, with the left-wing opposition demanding further changes.

In early 2012, Hartz IV recipients will get another €3 increase, plus adjustments for inflation and wage growth, according to the deal. Meanwhile an educational programme for about 2.5 million needy children will be supplemented with an additional €400 million between 2011 and 2013 to provide more school social workers and warm lunches.
Both state and federal politicians said they were relieved that the struggle to achieve the reforms, which were required by a 2010 Constitutional Court ruling founding the payment system too confusing and ordering reforms by the end of 2010.

http://www.thelocal.de/20110225/33357

Does the UK have a scheme where unemployed have to work for peanuts?

Does the UK have a scheme where unemployed have to work for peanuts?

Re: Does the UK have a scheme where unemployed have to work for peanuts?