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4 November 2014updated 22 Jul 2021 5:43am

The DWP won’t tell us exactly where it sends people on placements for fear of protests

Indefensible defence.

By Anoosh Chakelian

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”:

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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