On Tuesday, UK PM David Cameron announced a welfare policy that unemployed people who can’t speak English will lose benefits, on a sliding scale, unless they take an education course and show willing to learn the language.
On the whole, this is a common sense approach to an obvious issue that has been bothering the UK electorate for a number of years. Why should the hard pressed British taxpayer have to pay for those who, for whatever reason, do not learn the language on entry to the country?
Those on benefits who cannot proficiently speak English will be made to attend free language courses taught by trained professionals (hopefully creating another source of work for a number of trained linguists), and failure to attend will lead to sanctions on their benefits package. This move is designed to prevent people shirking job opportunities and remaining on benefits, on the shaky ground that they cannot speak English.
On the other hand, the government proposals could put many migrant workers into a Catch-22 situation where they still struggle to find work in an economy where even the lowest paid and most menial jobs are no longer available, but lose out on a portion of money until their standard of English reaches a level acceptable to the Job Seekers Allowance board.
Is this all to placate the White Van Man In The Street Brigade, and deliver a few more column inches and headlines? Who has the final say on whether someone can speak English well enough?
Furthermore it is estimated that there are up to 70,000 unemployed people in the UK citing a lack of English skills preventing them getting a job. But that is just three per cent of the 2.51 million people out of work overall. It feels as if the policymakers are not tackling the main causes behind mass unemployment and are instead tinkering with the problems on the periphery, in the search for easy to swallow and headline grabbing soundbites.
Once again, the simplification of the issue into terms of black or white does not do justice to the complexities of the situation, and although the policy is likely to help move many migrant workers on from the UK and off the government’s books (by creating a stand-off between claimant and JSA) it will cause more problems for the genuine claimant, without significantly reducing the amount of money government needs to pay out to the unemployed.
Currently people claiming JSA need to demonstrate that they are actively seeking work or the face a sanction, which in most cases means a loss of benefit. That rule should apply to everyone who is claiming JSA. That is only fair. People moan that there are no jobs but that is confusing the issue – the requirement to look for work and actually getting a job are two different things. If you cannot speak English how can you read job adverts, complete application forms or understand basic questions at an interview? Why should it be different for people, many of whom have lived in the UK for years but still don’t speak English? It makes no difference if it applies to 3% or 33% of the population everyone should be on an even footing!Quite frankly lots of foreign workers would love to get free English lessons!