Activists from Brighton and Hove Unemployed Workers' Centre have taken up the case of an unemployed man from Brighton who, they claim, was refused funding for a language course because he wrote to his MP. They say funding had previously been agreed between Mark Weeden, from Kemp Town, and a company, Working Links. This was as part of a "costed action plan" aimed at securing him long-term employment.

They say funding for Mark's course was suspended when the company became aware that he'd written to an MP for information.

Working Links is a public-private consortium which includes the employment agency Manpower, the consultants Cap Gemini Ernst & Young and the state-run Employment Service. It administers the local "Employment Zone". This is part of a state scheme which aims to reduce the number of long-term unemployed in Brighton and 14 other areas.

Under this scheme, Working Links staff have the status of "Employment Officers". They can "direct" claimants to take steps to improve their job prospects. Failure to comply with these "directions" can lead to a loss of benefits.

The government says Employment Zones have been set up to involve the private sector in providing "flexible and innovative solutions to the problem of the persistence of long-term unemployment in certain areas of the country".

After 18 months' unemployment, benefits claimants are now automatically referred to the scheme, which is compulsory. It gives them help in improving their employment prospects, as well as a "subsistence payment" equivalent to the Jobseeker's Allowance (JSA). Participants in the scheme have to agree to apply for a certain number of jobs a week in return.

Working Links can receive as much as £5000 in premiums for finding a claimant more than three months' work. In its first year trading, the company made a profit of £500,000.

Activists at the Unemployed Workers' Centre claim the underlying intention behind Employment Zones is to make the unemployed compete more effectively in the job market by taking low-paid jobs.

For each claimant who's referred to the scheme, Working Links receives the following payments:

*For each claimant referred to step one £300
*For each claimant progressing to step two £1369 (equivalent to six months' JSA)
*For each claimant who finds a job £435 (or £547 if they've been unemployed for more than three years). In addition, the company retains what's left of the six months' JSA.
*For each claimant who retains a job for three months, Working Links gets a bonus of £2468 (£3098 if they've been unemployed for more than three years)


The legal requirements of the 1995 Jobseekers Act are suspended within Employment Zones. At the same time the 2002 Employment Zone Regulations, on which the contract between the government and Working Links is based, effectively regulate their respective legal obligations, including the manner in which they treat claimants.

But this contract can't be seen because it's protected by "commercial confidentiality". Other "internal standards" are also confidential, and can't be seen because they're contained in private documents.

When Mark Weeden tried to find out from Working Links about the guidelines that determine what claimants are expected to do, he was dissatisfied with the answers the company provided. In desperation he turned to his local MP, Des Turner, for clarification.

When Working Links found out, payment for his language course was suspended "until the matter could be resolved". Tony Greenstein of the Unemployed Centre says the affair is an obvious case of victimisation.

"All Mr Weeden did was to raise an issue of public interest with his MP", he says. "For this he seems to have been penalised. It seems as if Working Links are petrified of anyone criticising them in the slightest. You can't just beat people on the head for exercising their democratic rights, especially not if you have taken over a public capacity previously exercised by a democratically accountable public body".

Derek Pattison