Amongst
the hottest topics of the day are, undoubtedly, unemployment, economic growth
and the welfare bill. There might be at
least a grain of truth in Ed Milliband’s latest pronouncements on these issues
but, so far, all we have heard from both sides is, as usual, a lot of political
posturing aimed, primarily, at attracting voters.
One
of the charities I work for recently submitted an application for government
funding for a project that would have created five new jobs – at a cost to the
taxpayer of well below the minimum wage for each job. We were refused on the grounds that our
project wasn't of “high enough priority”.
Now,
here’s a thought! Surely it is not
beyond the wit of man to devise a scheme whereby money is made available to registered
charities to enable them to employ people who are on benefits. Why give money to people for doing nothing,
even when they want to work, when that same money could be paid to those same people
for doing useful work for good causes and for public benefit?
We
keep hearing that it is the private sector that must create all the new jobs
that we've lost in the public sector and that we now so desperately need. What about the third sector, the Charitable
sector? Without a doubt there is plenty
of useful and beneficial work that needs to be done, throughout the country – and
such a scheme could result in a massive reduction of unemployment. Pay these new charity employees a “living
wage”, incorporate strong elements of training into the scheme – we’re onto a
real winner here!
Come
on all you politicians, just think about it!
There is more to life (and more to the economy) than just business and
growth. Charities contribute immensely
to the quality of all our lives and, in many cases, they are now being expected
to do the government’s job.
It wouldn't cost the taxpayer a penny more to introduce such a scheme. It could actually save
money – and all our lives, especially those of the poorest, would be so much
the better for it.
