TUC welcomes Supreme Court’s workfare judgement

The TUC today (Wednesday) welcomed the ruling by the Supreme Court that the government’s workfare schemes, at the heart of the Poundland judgement, were legally flawed.

TUC General Secretary Frances O’Grady (above) said: “The government say they want to make work pay. But this kind of scheme is work with no pay, and employers can use it to replace paid staff with free labour. Sacking paid staff and replacing them with unpaid conscripts is the opposite of making work pay.

“Instead we need policies that create real jobs such as a jobs guarantee for the long-term unemployed and young people. Ministers must stop treating hardworking people who lose their jobs through no fault of their own as if they are all potential benefit cheats.”