Welfare Reform Bill under fire for plans to force benefit claimants to work

The Welfare Reform Bill, published this week, detailed plans to go ahead with a "work for your benefit scheme", which will require people who have been on Jobseeker's Allowance for two years to participate in full-time activity, to develop their work habits and employability skills in return for their benefit.

But Kate Green, chief executive of the Child Poverty Action Group, believes the plan is essentially a way of making people work full-time for up to six months on what would average out at £1.73 per hour - four pounds less than the national minimum wage.

"Many minimum wage jobs already fail to move families above the poverty line, so a system whereby a parent can be forced to work for less than a third of the minimum wage is utterly counter to the government's promise to end child poverty," she said.

Young women's charity the YWCA has also raised concerns. A spokesman said: "We are currently calling for the equivalent of the minimum wage for apprenticeships and this principle, we feel, applies to this scheme too. We are also worried that young women will be pushed into unsuitable jobs with no chance of progression and no consideration for their personal circumstances, including caring responsibilities."

The scheme will be piloted in a number of JobCentre Plus districts from the beginning of 2010.