Welfare crackdown: Long-term jobless 'should clean war memorials to get their benefits' #CarryGobySeanKellz #FutureGroupNG via @i_amreginaldjr

DAVID Cameron will today launch a welfare benefits crackdown that will compel many long-term jobless claimants to work for their dole.
 

‘Support and opportunity', says Duncan Smith[GETTY]

Jobseekers who lack experience or skills will be expected to undertake community projects such as tending parks and public gardens or face losing their handouts under the new Help To Work scheme.

Downing Street insiders last night said that refurbishing the country’s war memorials in the run-up to commemorations of the 100th anniversary of the outbreak of the First World War could be among the projects undertaken by the unemployed.

And many claimants will be expected to attend daily sessions at job centres to make sure they are doing all they can to find work.

The Prime Minister said: “We are seeing record levels of employment in Britain, as more and more people find a job, but we need to look at those who are persistently stuck on benefits.

This scheme will provide more help than ever before, getting people into work and on the road to a more secure future.”

Ministers say the initiative – announced by Chancellor George Osborne last year – will be the most intensive yet to get the long-term unemployed into jobs.

We are seeing record levels of employment in Britain, as more and more people find a job, but we need to look at those who are persistently stuck on benefits.

The Prime Minister

Job centre advisers will draw up individual back-to-work plans to address claimants’ problems in finding employment.

Measures include intensive coaching on how to find and keep a job, daily meetings with Jobcentre Plus staff and community work placements in the voluntary and community sectors of up to six months to help build skills.

Those who fail to participate will face a range of sanctions including being stripped of their jobseeker’s allowance for up to 13 weeks.

Ministers say there are now around 600,000 job vacancies in the economy and that the scheme will allow the long-term jobless to take advantage of the economic recovery.

Work and Pensions Secretary Iain Duncan Smith said: “Everyone with the ability to work should be given the support and opportunity to do so.”

He said Help To Work would target “the very small minority of claimants who have been unemployed for a number of years”.

Office for National Statistics figures show that there are a record 30.19 million people in work and long-term unemployment has fallen by 93,000 in a year to 2.24 million.