Government minister Chris Grayling asked the HR community to ‘give the long-term unemployed a chance’ by working with the government on their back to work scheme when he addressed them at the CIPD conference.
The MP issued the plea to the assembled human resource practitioners at the CIPD annual conference’s closing session for business to ‘give a chance to someone who has been out of work for a long time’ by getting involved with the government’s back to work scheme.
The minister touched briefly on the recently announced changes to the welfare state, saying it was essential that the government reform welfare and make sure it always pays to work, rather than remain on benefits.
The coalition government announced their plans to introduce a single ‘universal’ benefit on the same day as the address.
Under the proposals, those on the benefit because of unemployment would lose payments if they refused to take work, and if unemployed long term would be required to undertake unpaid work for 30 hours a week under the work scheme. However, Chris Grayling made the point that as much as the government wanted to implement this scheme it would not work without the support of business.
He also explained how crucial the private sector was to the economic recovery of the country and expressed the need for government to create an environment in which small businesses can grow and thrive to take on employees to ease unemployment.
The minister added a rallying cry to HR, saying the community was essential to the success of the government scheme and had the opportunity to make a real difference to the lives of people who had suffered with long term unemployment.
