@Brenda McViking - Re: Would you care enough to pay more for ...
> Workfare was designed to give people work experience so they can come off the dole
Riiiight...
Except when, as in the case mentioned, companies can lay off workers (who they would have had to pay) and then get those workers back *FOR FREE*, something has gone wrong.
That's why IDS and his mates (with the collusion of the Labour Party!) had to rush through a retro-active change in the law to stop them having to pay compensation to people who had been forced to work for nothing at Poundland and similar places.
If "workfare" actually ensured that people were paid the minimum wage (let alone a Living Wage") I wouldn't have a problem with it, but that isn't what IDS wants because it doesn't fit with the "benefits blame" culture he is fostering.
I have also been on the Dole but, fortunately, before such nonsense as this came about. Now I work and pay taxes, however I do not begrudge the proportion of that money that goes to help those who need the Safety Net of benefits.
As for "This is part of the government acting to ensure that you don't get it both ways at the taxpayers expense, which, as a taxpayer, has my full support" I bet you're one of the people who believe what they read in the Daily Mail or other such august purveyors of "the truth" and think that 27% of the total claimed in benefits is fraudulent, instead of the the actual figure which is around *ONE* percent
(And, of course, it's a tiny fraction of the money lost through tax evasion and avoidance by big corporations...)