"Fewer than 1 in 5 spend at least 6 (consecutive) months off benefits, and that's a success?"
"Just for the record, didn't they also say that 1 in 5 people would have naturally found themselves work anyway. No intervention required. It is great for those people who did get a lot of support and have got proper permanent jobs. But what about the rest of the long-term unemployed? They do say that the next set of figures will be better (ie massaged?)"
Not 1 in 5, it's a lot worse than that!!!! 1 in 5 is 20% (20 per hundred).
The work programme actually found work lasting at least 6 months for just 3 or 4 people per hundred (the percentage is three point something). The were only expected to find work lasting at least 6 months for 5 per 100, the other 95 per hundred were not expected to find work lasting at least 6 months (though they may have found a job lasting less than 6 months) . So if the "natural" rate of job finding is 20%, then it would be much much better to leave people to find their own work!!!!
regards, Deb