Gordon Brown has recently outlined plans to provide those in lower income families with extra benefits, if they agree to return to work or enrol in skills training.
The Prime Minister revealed the plans that are based on the benefits scheme currently running in the US, where some families are rewarded for holding down a job or training towards gaining new skills, and receive nearly £1000 a year.
Speaking in Llandudno at a Welsh Labour Party Conference, Mr Brown made it clear that in order to qualify to receive these payments, members of poorer families must take the work or training opportunities available to them, although he acknowledged the difficulty some people from disadvantaged backgrounds often face when trying to get work.
It is not yet known whether such a scheme would have any kind of success in the UK, and this has prompted the Employment Minister , Stephen Timms to travel to New York were the scheme is being trialed in order to establish if it should be piloted in Britain.
Some people however, have criticised the Prime Minister of naivety for adopting a scheme that hasn’t had proven success yet. Shadow Work and Pensions Secretary, Chris Grayling said:”Once again he is chasing headlines by latching on to a scheme in New York that has only just started, and no one yet knows if it works.”
