Two workers who challenged a government scheme which required them to work for free in menial jobs won their case at the High Court on Monday, throwing the programme into disarray.
University graduate Cait Reilly launched a legal challenge after she was sent to work without pay in a Poundland shop in Birmingham as part of the back-to-work scheme.
The 24-year-old gave up voluntary work at a local museum in November 2011 to stack shelves and clean floors at the discount store.
She was told that if she failed to carry out the work placement she would lose her jobseeker’s allowance.
Reilly lost her original case but three appeal judges in London ruled Monday that regulations underpinning the scheme were unlawful and must be quashed.
HGV driver Jamieson Wilson, 40, from Nottingham, also won his claim.
He was stripped of his jobseekers’ allowance for six months after refusing to take up an unpaid placement under another government scheme, the Community Action Programme.
The qualified mechanic said he objected to the role, which involved cleaning furniture for 30 hours a week for six months, on the basis that it was unrelated to his qualifications and would not help him get back to work.
Public Interest Lawyers, who represented both claimants, said the decision was a “huge setback for the Department of Work and Pensions, whose flagship reforms have been beset with problems since their inception”.
They said it means “all those people who have been sanctioned by having their jobseekers’ allowance withdrawn for non-compliance with the back-to-work schemes affected will be entitled to reclaim their benefits”.
“Until new regulations are enacted with proper parliamentary approval, nobody can be compelled to participate on the schemes,” they added/
Reilly said she was “delighted” with the judgment, adding: “I brought this case because I knew it was wrong when I was prevented from doing my voluntary work in a museum and forced to work in Poundland for free for two weeks.
“The only beneficiary was Poundland, a multimillion-pound company,” she said.
Lord Justice Pill said he was “unable to conclude that the statutory requirement for the regulations to make provision” for back-to-work schemes “of a prescribed description” had been met.
But employment minister Mark Hoban insisted the ruling upheld the government’s right to run the schemes.
“The court has backed our right to require people to take part in programmes which will help get them into work,” Hoban said.
“It’s ridiculous to say this is forced labour. This ruling ensures we can continue with these important schemes.”
He said he was “disappointed” by the court’s decision on regulations and would be seeking an appeal, with new regulations tabled in the interim “to avoid any uncertainty”.
Back-to-work scheme 'unlawful' after Poundland case
