PCS union slams Freud Report recommendations on services for the long-term unemployed

The Public and Commercial Services Union (PCS) has published a highly critical response to the Freud Report on welfare reform, which proposed the privatisation of employment services for the long term unemployed.

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The union said the report, commissioned as part of the government’s review of the Welfare to Work strategy, offers little evidence of the ability of the private and voluntary sectors to outperform public sector agencies such as Jobcentre Plus in getting people who are long-term unemployed back to work.

Mark Serwotka, PCS general secretary, said: “The public sector consistently outperforms the private sector when given a level playing field with the same flexibilities and funding. It is becoming increasingly clear that these proposals are about creating markets at any cost, with little thought of the quality of services that the long-term unemployed receive.”