Continued from my last post and in reply to Colin of Shrewsbury, this government's 'New Deal' has comprehensively failed and one of the main reasons it has is due to the fact it is 'one size fits all' and because 'get rich quick' companies are involved in it with little quality control. I was on it.

Barry, Brentwood, United Kingdom

The Freud report is all about people acquiring basic skills. Pity the people who are unemployed graduates because their skills and qualifications are being under-utilised into a one size fits all cap by private Companies currently contracted to the DWP. Only big business stands to gain here UK.

Sue, Chelmsford,

if your going todo force labour then charity shop/citizens adivce places are good (done that in the past), and/or setting up enviromental units, pay unemployed people a decent amount to fix flood defenses, make solar panels and windfarms etc, doing stuff to improve the nation that isnt humilating.

paul, swindon,

Maybe what Gordon is proposing is that the jobs for these "benefit scroungers" will come from the private sector growth that comes about from outsourcing all the welfare to work programmes??? Or will it be the case that these firms won't practice what they preach...

David J, Belfast, Antrim

I'm currently unemployed. The jobcenter have been very unhelpful, and my attempts to claim travel to interviews which is theoretically avaliable has been met with refusal and stonewalling.

What I'd actually like and would be useful? (career advice) Unavaliable

Andrew Crystall, Oxford, UK

I have been made redundant after 20 years and the stress has already made me think of suicide even without being hounded by the DHSS. There was no help whatsoever at the job centre to retrain or find work so I fail to see how treating all unemployed people as lazy scum is going to help.

Paul Gifford, Nottingham, UK

More hot air from those clowns at ZanuLab!

Heading for a recession, where are those millions of new jobs coming from? And forcing many people to work almost for free, ensures that employers will be falling over each others to make their existing workers redundant.

What about travelling costs?

GB, London, ,

having read so many comments on here regarding work houses, let em stave etc etc. As we are heading fast for a recession, and many people employed now will no longer be in the future, be very careful what you wish for. As you might just be ones of those people.

dave , london,

Once again the Government is picking on the weak and vunerable members of society, something that Hitler did in WW2.

What next, the elderly?
Those genuinly disabled do not need the additional stress of being labelled malingers!

K. Baker, Newcastle, UK

This plan is not new as you are already required to look for work as part of the Job Seekers Agreement. You are also required to produce a log of which jobs you've applied for since you last signed on, as well as checking the Job Points installed in the various Job Centres.

Nicholas, London,

Stealing half-baked versions of Conservative policies again, Mr. Brown? I rather suspect that Conservative policies would be better implemented by a Conservative government than a Labour one.

James E. Petts, Burnham, England

President Reagan made sweeping changes to our welfare program by preventing additional benefits to mothers that had more children while on welfare - this so greatly reduced the numbers on welfare that social service employees began to fear for their jobs! Personal responsibility works.

Phil Barber, Stone Harbor, USA

so the DWP or whoever aend cripples to potential employers expxpecting what outcome exactly?- as one i'd love to know

peter c, devizes, wessex

People who can work but refuses to work by developing an attitude in the workplace ought to have all benefits ceased for up to 5 years. If they become destitute as a result a quick win solution is to drop the attitude and make themself useful to society again! The plan is not radical enough.

d, london,

If Chris of Hull is a real person, his/her posts give the answer to the question. I imagine the Polish workers can write correctly in Polish and probably English, having taken an interest in their education. Chris needs to be aware of this.

Colin, shrewsbury,

Barry in Brentwood - which skills would you train the unemployed in? Manufacturing is declining, housebuilding has paused, service economy is chocablock and the civil service bloated. You can only have so many plumbers. The real problem is the lack of genuine work opportunities - all gone to Asia.

Colin, shrewsbury,

It won't work until you get control of your borders, as soon as
the economy improves again and there are jobs going again,
in will come millions of East-Europeans who are young and
energetic. The unemployed poorly motivated English don't
stand a chance.

Tom, Exeter, England

Hold on a minute.... As a carer I receive £50 per week for providing 35 hours of care (the minimum requirement). This is then topped up with Income Support to give me grand total of just over £100 per week. That is below the minimum wage and it is a very demanding role. Am I a scrounger?

Harry, London, United Kingdom

There are emergency payments that legally have to be made to people with no income. The last time they did this they stopped benefit for bad behaviour, claimants then appealed that they had no money to live on and local authorities had to make such payments.
Will they remove this duty?

john, wirral,

Don't make me laugh!

It won't happen.

Their announcements are mere soundbites and only fools mistake announcements for action.
They won't do it.

Ann Lavery, Statford upon Avon, Worcs

Ann Lavery , Stratford upon Avon , England

If we send all the migrant workers back, pollish etc, we would be able to get factory jobs.

when working in a food factory their was 11 polish on our shift, and when anyone left they would replace them with a polish worker, what chance do we have when factorys favour them over us

chris, hull, united kingdom

How many times has Labour announced a radical shake-up of the welfare system? Four to my knowledge, still waiting for it to happen.

steve tea, manchester, cheshire

I hope this will prevent future generations thinking that living on benefits is an option. It will encourage them to understand that you have to work in some capacity to 'earn your keep'.
We all see/know too many unemployed people who could work in some capacity living on benefits.

Susie Q, Lancaster,

Typical reaction to a recession from poltroon politicians.
People just don't get it do they?
Its not your average Joe redundant on his £60 for six months jobseeker allowance (which He's paid for many times over) thats the problem.Its the career spongers with seven kids on 20 k benefit packages.

antony Graham, southport, England

I am looking forward to this implementation. I want to be the first person officially classed as unemployable on account of my attitude. I then want to see what the state will do when faced with a small army of such people. Will they let us die on the streets?

David, Birmingham ,

Lone parents should not have to go out to work when their child reaches 7. What is to happen to the children before and after school, in school holidays, and when they are sick? They need a parent around to be with them at such times. A lot of people cannot afford a nanny, or indeed, childcare.

margie m, victoria, australia

Uh? This already happens. Usual Brown - announce the same policy over and over again. Can't someone just take him away please?

Jeremy Poynton, Frome, Somerset

Labour have caused a real mess, socially and economically. With rising unemployment caused by their fiscal policies the new tag line for those being made redundant is to halt the benefits to those who have paid in the social security fund whilst the scroungers who haven't will contine to be paid.

steve tea, manchester, cheshire

Assuming Labour actually delivers on this, can we expect tax cuts to replace the expenditure?

Mike, Christchurch,

Voluntary sector? I can see nothing but good coming from these policies. Well done whoever formulated them.

Abdul Majeed, Bradford, West Yorkshire, UK

So much for Labour having run out of steam and ideas. They can still win next time if they hold their nerve, don't lurch to the left, and keep the economy growing. Cameron is a paper tiger, a breeze would blow him over.

James Tumbridge, London, UK

So let me see if I've got this right. If you stop claiming benefit a grateful government will close the file on you? So you can work away in the burgeoning black economy with no contributions and no tax and no hassle? Hmmmm. Are you sure that's what you meant, Prime Minister?

Gerard Mulholland, Paris, France

you need a 21st century version of the work house, if people refuse to take any job after so long, they should be seconded to be a strawberry picker or labourer or whatever jobs available that their skills allow them to do.
Un PC but it would work

will, grimsby, uk

I bet they don't lay off the civil servants who will now have nothing to do!
So it won't be a saving, just another layer of mindless pen pushers.

Ian J, Ramsgate, UK

yes but at least this goverment is listening and implementing good ideas -belive me i aint a fan of gordon but if he does the right thing then fair enough.They need to admit there mistakes over the last 10 years and improve those areas startign with tax credits too. cameron is punch gordon aint judy

amit hindocha, birmingham,

Havn't we heard all this before?. It's yet another rehash of old policies dressed up as new 'radical' reforms. When it is actually introduced we, the taxpayers that is, will welcome it. But don't hold your breath those affected are all in the Labour heartlands and Mcbroon wouldn't want to lose out.

pw, South of England, uk

It has its cons too. Many will be exploited and abused in and by the hands of private sector. Usually benefits awarded do not substitute a regular income and are limited to make a just living
An ideal way would be to keep active their current benefits but welfare office receive their salary check

umer, montreal, qc, canada

So what's to stop these single parents having another child when the youngest turns six?

Sue, Felpham,

John, Norwich - forced labour is when you or I work and the state takes our money from us to give to somebody else upon threat of imprisonment, regardless of whether we agree that it should do so or not.

Now THAT is a breach of my human rights because property rights are human rights.

Bertie, London,

The problem is experience says in most cases where PFI is put in place it is botched up. ETS Europe = excellent recent example. HMRC loses information anyway's without private business being involved, this is even more likely to occur where there is a transfer of information - as here. Be warned!!!

Jonathan Sklan-Willis, Manchester, England

But surely if you force unemployed people to undertake community service in return for receiving benefit isn't that equivalent to employing them for less than the statutory minimum wage?

vallorbe, WATFORD,

Tonight BBC1 showed a documentary of a single mother fraudulently claiming benefit [she had a partner] immediately seeking and being given unemployment benefit. It showed just how open to abuse the whole welfare system remains. Fraudsters should be barred from any welfare payments.

M.J., london, uk

Ah! The Labour party stealing Conservative ideas again and people wonder why the Conservatives wont give more details about their policies.

Stephen, St. Ives, England

Plans to force unemployed people to undertake community service in return for receiving benefit sound like forced labour to me. Clearly a breach of the European Convention on Human Rights.

John, norwich,

Excellent news. It should have been implemeted years ago to reduce the need for immigrant labour.

Hopefully now the leeches will stop viewing benefit claiming as a valid career path.

Matt , Bournemouth, UK

Something had to be done. I seriously doubt Gordon Brown is the right man to do it. He's the one that insisted on taxing people to death, to claim it back through means testing. Very interesting that the hard-working peoples of this country have always been the ones to fund his social engineering.

Mike Watts, Weymouth, England

"Politics is a war for radicalism and we need to speed up" eh? what in blazes is that supposed to mean?

kevin, Lincoln, UK

The proposals sound logical in my opinion. Whether they'll get by the PC brigade is another matter entirely, because of the effect on disabled people and the definition of 'disabled' itself. The proposal regarding lone parents is excellent, as too many mothers milk the taxpayer when they could work.

Sam des, London,

Bravo on employing private intiative to invent solutions. Let the market choose rather than some opaque, bureaucratic-political process...assuming the people accepting bids and paying the bills can actually keep track of results and outcomes!

Erik, Berkeley, USA

As usual with Labour and the Tories, no real ideas to improve the skills of the longterm unemployed which is preventing many of them from gaining and more importantly keeping employment. Contracting this nonsense out to 'get rich quick' companies will not help the situation!

Barry, Brentwood, United Kingdom

Another idea that the conservatives unveiled first. Again, a watered down - not quite far enough approach...

Paul Hampson, Hambleton, Lancashire