Guardian News and Media/London
Homebase has been accused of “vulture” business practices after a leaked internal document appeared to promote the idea of using unpaid jobseekers to keep down company payroll costs.
The DIY retailer confirmed that a photo of more than a dozen unemployed jobseekers from the government’s work experience programme, captioned, “Would 750 hours with no payroll costs benefit YOUR store?” was produced by company staff for an internal discussion.
The image of the jobseekers in high-visibility jackets standing in a store next to a manager stated that in February this year, the Haringey branch of Homebase in north London drafted 25 jobseekers from the government’s work experience scheme. Those on the scheme work 30 hours a week unpaid for up to eight weeks.
The company, which employs more than 17,000 people and is part of the multi-billion Home Retail Group, strenuously denied that the image was a poster or an advert for the scheme.
The image with the subheading ‘How the work experience programme can benefit your store’ was produced as part of a larger document, it said, and used in private discussions between neighbouring Homebase store managers.
Recently, the Work and Pensions Minister, Iain Duncan Smith, said those on similar schemes were not unpaid as unemployed people receive upwards of £56.25 a week.
Unite, Britain’s largest union, said the Homebase internal document had let “the cat out of the bag,” adding that the entire scheme smacked of “state sponsored slavery.”
Separate from the Work Programme and mandatory work activity, the work experience scheme became voluntary last year after the government was forced by companies to change the rules.
But jobseekers have told the Guardian they have been threatened with having their benefits sanctioned or sent on mandatory work activity if they did not take part or pulled out.
Campaigning group Boycott Workfare said they were informed by an anonymous source that those in the Haringey branch had been warned they would be sanctioned if they did not take up the offer of the Homebase placements.
Two days before the start of the Easter bank holiday, nearby Finsbury Park jobcentre tweeted that it had successfully placed 21 people in the Haringey store to gain experience. The tweet was later deleted.
Steve Turner, executive director of policy at Unite, said, “This exposure has let the cat out of the bag and shows who is really benefiting out of workfare schemes. The government needs to urgently bring an end to this appalling, exploitative practice.