Whilst I agree that the taxpayer deserves accountability for their money spent on the long-term unemployed I have some doubts that the recent proposals are workable in practice:
1. Report every day to the Job Centre - where are the staff to deal with this?
2. Perform free work (to show you accept some graft for benefits) perhaps doing 'community service' (I thought that was a punishment for public figures such as footballers who can avoid a prison sentence by agreeing to it).
So there is an obvious stigma attached but in any case where is the work and how would it be supervised and insured?
Also - if you are asked to accept the equivalent of a punishment category then your 'human rights' may be infringed?
Unpaid work for a commercial enterprise would be wrong in principal and cause resentment.
The most workable and likely alternative is to accept voluntary work for a respected Charity.
Most people will agree that the best solution of all is to create more jobs or encourage unemployed people to set up their own enterprise but this is not currently given anything like enough emphasis!!
Time flies like an arrow; fruit flies like a banana.
