We are trying to get the kids of today into training or a job that will give them something to work for. But to tell them "you either take this unpaid voluntary work or lose your benefits" well I am a mother of 3 children and as any parent will agree if a child / young person is told to do something they don't want to do, they WILL rebel against it. YES we want them into work but give them an added bonus of say £10 a week to encourage them into work.

A similar scheme was suggested to me when I was out of work. I don't want to argue one way or the other, but to me personally, I saw it as a way of getting my foot in the door which is a more comprehensive way of getting a job than handing any fancy CV is in real terms. Show you can graft, and who won't be impressed?

If there is work available, the going rate should be paid, instead of taking advantage of our unemployed youngsters.

This is yet another scheme designed primarily to fiddle the unemployment figures. Itis doomed to failure and it is interesting to note some of the big wealthy companies ( such as Tesco,Asda,Waterstones etc.) who initially signed up to it ,but with the anger and bad publicity generated by it have now withdrawn.

You could imagine some companies having a never ending stream of free labour changing every 8 weeks. To there great credit Sainsbury said NO to the scheme from the beginning,good on them and other companies that refused to back the Tory American style workfair scheme.

Remember the YTS?That became a badge of derision and a blatant excuse for some firms to get someone to sweep up for nothing with no plans to train or educate further.Just another way to bend the figures.Meet the new boss,same as the old boss.

Or remember YTS. Get people working. Might be a low wage but at least hey are learning. Or should we just let anyone who wants to sit at home and take the benefits?

Surely this scheme will give young people some experience of work rather than them sitting at home or worse roaming the streets looking for something to do? When I started work years ago I remember going for loads of interviews and being rejected because I didn't have any experience - this scheme will at least give them that.

If there is a job there to do, then the person whatever age should be paid the going rate. This is was just another tory-style scheme for the unemployed, so that bad employers can take advantage of them for cheap labour - some companies would get a new lot in every time. Just like YTS (in the 80's)and Employment Training or ET(which was YTS for adults in the late 80's/early 90's) these work placements are invariably a source of cheap labour in unskilled jobs or where they are supposed to be about training for a skilled job, the trainees just ended up doing the butty run, making hte tea, sweeping the floor, etc. with as little real work experience/training as the employer could get away with. At least Labour got unemployment right down between about 1997 and 2008 - ok it all went pear shaped because of the global recession towards the end of their term. Maggie Thatcher got rid of apprenticeships, and introduced YTS and all the other rip off schemes for the unemployed, then labour got people back to work and reintroduced apprenticeships after years - now in 2011 it's back to the 80's again with Cameron and Clegg.

If there is no job then how come the majortity of the jobs created under the New Labour years went to people from overseas? There were jobs its just that people in the UK didn't want to do them!

What century are we living in,have we took a big step back,Is this young person Oliver Twist,Why should any one work for nothing,Work is when you want money,It is all wrong,working for mean tested benefit,is just shocking. £67.50 dived by 40 = about £1.65.Hmm I be better of begging,being in prison.

These people will be working besides regular fully paid colleagues who can afford holidays cars luxuries etc. It would not only be unfair but also morally wrong to subject anyone to this form of employment.

"Why should any one work for nothing,Work is when you want money,It is all wrong,working for mean tested benefit,is just shocking. £67.50 dived by 40 = about £1.65.Hmm I be better of begging,being in prison."

Why should *I* work for you? You wouldnt' eb working for nothing - you'd be working to get the benefits that I and every other taxpayer gift to you - show some gratitude. Plus, many young people clearly need a little experience of work - which is what this is. Not to learn how to stack a shelf, but to learn how to get up, go to work, do a full day, go home, and then come in and do it again, and again, and again, and again. All day every day. This is life. You might not like the sound of this: tough.

This scheme is meant to break the circle whereby you can't get a job without experience, and you can't get experience without having a job. The headline makes it sound Dickensian, but I don't think it's quite like that.

How are unemployed teenagers going to get work experience? It isn't going to happen unless they join a scheme that gives them some exosure to real work. If an employer absorbs additional people who are on a scheme, then hopefully some of them will pick up some skills and the attitude required to get a job.

It's a short scheme, it will give some teenagers a better idea of what the world of work is about, and it doesn't consign them to a career of destitution.

There aren't that many alternatives.

Another aspect to this is that the country needs to move away from a general culture of expectation and dependency. This needs to happen quickly and schemes like this might be one step on that particular path.

I don't see it as slave labour - It should be treated as a foot in the door. Yes there will no doubt be certain unscrupulous employers out there who will abuse the system, but there are plenty of kids who need something to get them into a work environment and teach them what is expected of them. There are plenty of kids who saw school as being optional and need to realise that work isn’t!

These kids have been getting benefits for doibng nothing, ormwtching Jeremy Kyle.
Thjey are just being asked to do something for their benefits, and at the same time get a lift into regular employment.

Mothership they are being paid they're getting their benefits
instead of losing them !
I worked as an apprentice 45 years ago for about 2 or 3 quid a week
not boosted by any kind of benefit or subsidy, if I couldn't manage I had to work all day Saturday & iff needed Sunday as well
Benefits were unheard of.
Nowadays its working thats unheard of.

I'm sure this is also known as community service!!!!