Why IDS must get it right on youth unemployment

Iain Duncan Smith has given a detailed interview with the Spectator and the full-length version is online. Right now, beyond David Cameron and George Osborne, he has the most important job in government.

There is some really interesting and innovative stuff here despite the unnecessary British jobs for British workers dog-whistle politics. IDS is right to talk about the riots being a pivotal moment for our society and “social bonds” are certainly something we should look at very closely.

But he also needs to take another hard look at his Work Programme, which is being touted as the cure-all for
Britain’s ills by government ministers. This is a reform that must work and the government needs to start listening to people voicing serious concerns about the way it is shaping up.

I am not alone in being worried that the Work Programme will not deliver for young people (the incentives for the companies which have won the contracts from the DWP are just not lucrative enough).