‘Noisy Protest’ Against Workfare At Wrexham Jobcentre

A protest took place outside the Wrexham Jobcentre at lunchtime today against changes to the benefits system.

A small group of demonstrators held what they called a “noisy-protest”. The protest was part of a larger, nationwide action against benefit changes, and the new national workfare policy, which sees claimants working for their benefits and related sanctions.

Organisers say “In January this year, 110,000 people had their benefits stopped  in a social security system that now leaves people with nothing for up to three years.”

“The government has not revealed how many thousands of people have been sanctioned since then, but it looks clear that more than a million people will have faced sanctions – and the hunger, pressure on families and stress they cause – by the end of the year.”

“Workfare, which forces people to work without pay and pushes those in work out of their jobs, is still the government’s ‘flagship’ solution for the unemployed. Chancellor George Osborne’s latest workfare proposal is more than twice the length of a maximum community service sentence.”

Mr Osborne recently announced tens of thousands of long-term jobless welfare claimants will have to work for around 30 hours a week doing community service or face losing their unemployment benefits.

The Department of Work and Pensions have released data – viewable in this PDF – relating to the numbers of people ‘sanctioned’, which can occur for up to three years.

There is more information on the protest at BoycottWorkfare.org

(Images featured in the article were supplied by Andrew McCoy)
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