A big hat-tip – or, more appropriately for this story, a cap in hand – to @TheMediaTweets for noticing the Department for Work and Pensions’ extraordinary defence of its actions at a tribunal.
The Guardian‘s report of an outrageous story, in which a man who was let go at the end of a temporary job was ordered by the department to work for the same firm for six months unpaid, yesterday included details of DWP’s actions at a tribunal where it is battling the information commissioner and court judgments ordering it to reveal where it is sending potentially thousands of people to work without pay.
Its defence at the tribunal was essentially, “if people knew what we were doing then they would protest”:
‘If people knew about this there’d be protests’, argues the DWP in defence of its own scheme: https://t.co/oLh0KY1LeW pic.twitter.com/o2M5V9TcQs
Treat yourself or a friend this Christmas to a New Statesman subscription for just £2
— The Media Blog (@TheMediaTweets) November 4, 2014
The DWP is basically acknowledging its approach of “forced employment” regarding jobseekers is so bad it’s worth protesting against, which suggests its schemes such as the Community Work Placement are being implemented for the wrong reasons.
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