Media comment on Help to Work | This programme is only going to make a bad situation worse

Following the launch of the Help to Work scheme today, Martin Sime, chief executive, SCVO said: “SCVO has consistently opposed this kind of mandatory activity that forces people to do unpaid work or face unfair sanctions. It’s particularly harmful at a time when many people are already in hardship because of unprecedented benefits cuts. “The so-called “Help to Work” programme is only going to make a bad situation worse.  The vast majority of unemployed people need and want a real job. Punishing them for something they have little or no control over is pointless and damaging. “Approaches like this are demeaning, counterproductive and undermine genuine volunteering. There are so many better ways to help unemployed people. “We need to see more initiatives like Community Jobs Scotland, which has already created more than 4,550 paid jobs for young unemployed people in charities and third sector organisations across Scotland.”