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PCS expressed bitter disappointment over today's publication of the government's Welfare Reform Bill, warning that the bill is the wrong legislation at the wrong time.

As the recession deepens the union argued that jobs not punitive sanctions were needed, warning that the bill would drive people into poverty and stigmatise those who needed the most help.

The union went on to warn that the private sector had neither the skills, or the capacity to help people back to work, maintaining that through privatisation the emphasis of the welfare state would shift to put profits before people.

“This is the wrong Bill at the wrong time which will drive people who need the most help into poverty through punitive benefit sanctions.

 

Commenting, Mark Serwotka, PCS general secretary, said: “This is the wrong Bill at the wrong time which will drive people who need the most help into poverty through punitive benefit sanctions.

"The Bill will replace the principle that the needs of the many should be at the heart of the welfare state, with a system that puts profits before people.

“The private sector doesn’t have the capacity or the track record to help people back into work. Jobs are needed not benefit sanctions, as the recession deepens with no end in sight.

"The government should be putting its faith in the world class skills and expertise of Jobcentre Plus, rather than the untried and untested private