A BARNSLEY MP has called on ministers to take action against the town's unemployment rate.
Michael Dugher, MP for Barnsley East, has called on ministers to get people back to work, after recent figures showed the government’s Work Programme is still failing the people of Barnsley.
Figures released by the DWP show that, for the JSA 18-24 and JSA 25+ payment groups, performance in the town did not exceed the DWP’s ‘non-intervention rates’, meaning that in South Yorkshire, the Work Programme is actually worse than doing nothing.
Dugher has called for the introduction of a compulsory jobs guarantee for anyone out of work for more than two years. This would help hundreds of people in Barnsley and nearly 14,000 across Yorkshire.
Training would be given as well as time to job search for those who can work - or they would lose their benefits.
Mr Dugher said: “The Work Programme is still failing the people of Barnsley and South Yorkshire badly.
“Three years in and the Work Programme has failed 74 per cent of the JSA 18-24 payment group and 84.5 per cent of the JSA 25+ payment group in South Yorkshire.
“This is simply not good enough and ministers need to take action. We desperately need a change of course starting with a compulsory jobs guarantee to get anyone out of work for more than two years back into a job - a job people must take or lose their benefits.”
