In the second astonishing statement in a week, Sue Ryder have admitted their workfare scheme is useless at helping people find work and they will be possibly the only UK charity to force sickness benefit claimants to work unpaid.
In an effort to excuse their shameful use of forced unpaid workers they have released a Q&A document in an attempt to justify their appalling activities. The first question asks:
“Why continue involvement when government statistics show that workfare schemes are not helping more people find paid jobs?”
Sue Ryder had already answered this in their earlier statement when they boasted that they make millions from unpaid workers in their shit charity shops. According to their own “internal research” the charity claims that just 1 in 4 of their forced workers eventually find a real paid job, a suspicious figure in itself seen as only a week ago the figure was one in five. Even this merely suggests that 75% of people are so traumatised by their time at Sue Ryder that they never work again.
It is the third question in their statement however which is likely to shock even the most hardened benefit bashers. Sue Ryder now have the horrific distinction of being the only charity so far in the UK to admit to being happy to force claimants on sickness and disability benefits to work unpaid.
The charity states:
“Since December 2012, people who have been assessed by the government and found unfit to work, but potentially able to work in the future with support, may be referred onto a work placement.
“Our volunteer recruitment process ensures we have honest and open conversations with individuals about any conditions they have that could impact on their ability to take on a volunteering role. We don’t put volunteers into roles they are not able to carry out, and we regularly review volunteers already in roles in case of changes in ability, physical or mental, as well as changes in their interests, availability and training needs.”
Note that in the first paragraph Sue Ryder admit that even Atos and the Government consider this group to be to unwell to work at present. These claimants have also all been signed off work by their own GP. This matters not to greedy Sue Ryder bosses, who after a quick chat – no doubt with a charity shop manager – will now force people with serious health conditions into unpaid physical labour.
This defiant statement, which praises forced labour even for those whose own doctors have said they should not work, comes after the charity’s twitter and facebook pages were bombarded with people demanding an end to their cruel and exploitative practices.
That Sue Ryder have chosen to come out fighting shows utter contempt for the hundreds of former customers and donors who had complained about their use of unpaid work.
It is clear that all this charity cares about is money so boycott them, keep up the pressure and tell them what you think on twitter @sue_ryder and facebook: http://www.facebook.com/SueRyderNational
Join the National Week of Action Against Workfare beginning on March 18th: http://www.boycottworkfare.org/?p=1996
Follow me on twitter @johnnyvoid
The Void
