A Job to Get Work Panorama

Tonight, can benefit dependency be broken?

It makes me angry.

I feel a portion of my salary is going to people who don't want to work. I don't feel that's fair.

The Government's launching what it calls a welfare revolution.

It's talking tough.

Somebody saying, "I will not work, I refuse to work," even though there is work there for them

can't expect to carry on receiving benefits.

It's a wake-up call for the workless.

You've got to grow up, look for a job. Can't keep sponging off the JobCentre.

If you genuinely want to find work, stick your hand up.

-We follow the real-life struggle to find work.

-Anger at the Government, anger at myself,

anger at the course I was on. Frustration. No nice feelings.

A revolution is meant to start this month.

A new way of getting people off benefits and into work.

We've been to a place that needs it more than most,

on the North Wales coast.

'This part of the coast

'is within easy reach of Lancashire and the Midlands.

'And the teeming thousands of those areas find the sort of relaxation they require here at Rhyl.'

And Rhyl still means holiday memories for many people.

When I was a kid, I came here with my grandparents. It was a happy place. Tourists, beaches,

funfairs, popcorn, ice-creams - all the fun stuff.

But Rhyl's fallen on hard times.

Holidaymakers have left for foreign beaches,

hotels and B&Bs have closed down.

Now, right in the town centre, in the ward called West Rhyl,

nearly a half of the adults of working age are on benefits,

one of the highest figures in the UK.

I'm going to make your day.

I'm going to give you a stick of Panorama rock.

We're doing a programme about getting people off welfare into work.

-That's why we've come to Rhyl.

-Fantastic!

Why have you said "fantastic"?

Well, because I've been in the workforce now for 40 years and never had a day off work

and I believe that, if you want to work, there's work out there.

It's very hard to recruit. People just don't want the jobs.

My daughter, she's actually working, but she's trying to improve herself, and she can't.

Hundreds and hundreds of application forms she's sent off. Nothing.

It's getting people back to work.

-Because?

-Strain on the Government's resources, our resources, my taxes.

-There are people out there taking the mick.

-The Coalition Government says it's listening.

We've got communities, I think, that are being driven down

by the level of benefit dependency in them.

We're saying it's time for that to change.

We need to transform the lives of those people. We need to support those who cannot work,

but we've got to give those who can that extra bit of push and the support to make sure they do.

Will it work?

Amongst the many on welfare in West Rhyl are Chris and Steve.

They know just what some people think of them.

Viewers out there who just think,

"Oh, they're just dossers. They ain't got nothing else to do."

Well, that is the fact. There is nothing else to do round here.

Do you think the Government can solve the unemployment problem in a place like Rhyl?

Not a chance. There's too much drugs about, through boredom, again.

That's it. Nothing to do. It's just a run-down town.

Round here, all you associate yourself with is your mates.

Most of your mates round here either take drugs or drink a lot.

Christine lives in West Rhyl, too.

She's 45, she's raised three children.

She was on the dole. Now she's living on incapacity benefit.

She's got health problems and had a heroin habit in the past.

How long is it since you've been in work, Christine?

-About 11 year.

-11 years?

-Yeah.

How long is it since you've wanted to be in work?

Well, moving from Manchester to down here,

I thought I'd just get myself housed, get myself sorted out

and then go back to work. But it just didn't happen that way.

I was out of work longer and longer and longer.

Being on the dole, my rent being paid, bits like that.

Then I ended up going on the sick.

It's ended up being too long now. And I'm bored. I need something.

And then there's Adam.

Living in West Rhyl and frightened of the world he's now part of.

I don't want to become one of these people that just get excited

that it's pay-day tomorrow for my Jobseeker's Allowance.

Someone that's thinking of the next excuse to get a crisis loan

as I'm broke and can't afford to live on £60 a week.

I want to prove myself to an employer, get a promotion,

work hard to get training.

But Rhyl doesn't just have lots of people living on benefit.

It boasts a host of local initiatives trying to fix the problem, too.

Meet Dawn Roberts.

She lives in South Rhyl, where the number of people

on Jobseeker's Allowance is below the UK average.

It's as if there are two separate worlds in the same town.

I will never not work.

One of the chaps on the street that I live on got made redundant

and within two weeks, he had a job. We just knew he would get a job.

It's a different mindset, it's different lifestyles.

People on my street are going on cruises and lovely holidays.

Some people in the west end of Rhyl don't have hot running water.

A former hairdresser, Dawn runs a training company.

And she holds free workshops for the workless.

Has everybody that's here today come to his workshop

because they genuinely want to find work? Put your hand up.

Perfect, thank you. I've got a business.

So, if I wake up in the morning and I want to take a member of staff on, that's a headache.

Lots of people that can't do the job apply for it.

And I've got to sift through all that.

And I'm looking for the diamond in all of that.

And she's found them, too. She's hired people who were on the dole.

If you go in like this, "Morning, I've come for the interview,"

-what do you think people think?

-Not interested in the job.

They think, "Barrel of laughs, can't wait to employ them."

This is the world. It is survival of the fittest.

The people that are really determined to get a job

will get the jobs.

You've got to look the business to do the business, really.

For some, these are desperate times. They've had 40 rejection letters.

We're saying to them, "In order for you to get a job, you're going to have to do something

"that is maybe alien to you, which is sell yourself."

-What did you think about your session today?

-Brilliant. I enjoyed it.

Think I learned a lot.

If we don't encourage people to try and do something

to change their circumstances, what's the alternative?

Just roll over and die?

You know, this is my world, this is where I live. I live in Rhyl.

I don't want part of it to die.

Can Rhyl show the Government the way?

On the seafront, down by the bowling green,

there's a showpiece project to get people off welfare. Just a building site today,

but Suzanne and Alison have grand designs.

All the learners and all the staff that week

have had Monday and Tuesday as days off.

This is going to be the Taste Academy,

a cafe/restaurant with a difference.

Most of the staff will previously have been on benefits.

We're planning to open

the week between Easter Weekend and the Wedding.

-Hoping, planning?

-We're going to do it.

We're going to do it. There you go. Decision made.

Which leaves just a few weeks before the Royal Wedding

to turn all this into a busy, working kitchen.

I've looked at that and I've thought that that was up on the wall.

I've not realised. When I spoke to him...

That is a waste of prep area, that is.

Just the building work's costing nearly £200,000 of public money.

The initiative came from Rhyl's City Strategy

and a charity called Rathbone is running it.

You really think you can help to solve the unemployment problem,

even in a place like Rhyl?

We are doing. We've already solved that.

I've already taken 22 people off the dole.

But there were three times as many who applied.

People were borrowing their dad's ties and everything.

They were making such an effort to come spruced up.

They're desperate to get back to work.

Even the local football club runs courses to help to get people into work.

This one's called Strikers.

Steve Falvey and Chris Brewin are on it.

And, just as in the beautiful game, there are penalties for misbehaviour.

Right, rules. Being late - for every minute you're late, it's a lap around the car park.

No swearing - ten press-ups for every swearword.

Strikers has a record of success improving literacy and numeracy.

But getting Chris and Steve into jobs will be hard work.

What other place do you know

where you have to do ten press-ups for swearing? Eh?

Steve's 21. He's never had a job.

-Did you have any qualifications when you left school?

-No.

-Why not?

Through drugs. I just wasn't arsed about them.

-And how long were you on drugs for?

-From the age of 11 to 16.

It used to be a good laugh. Cos I was off my head.

But, in the long run, it's not good.

Because you've not learned nothing, really.

All you're going to do, 20 pull-pushes, OK?

Steve recommended this course to his mate, Chris, who had worked before.

I lost all confidence after my lung.

I thought I'd never be able to play football again.

-You had an accident?

-Yeah, collapsed lung.

-How did that happen?

Well, through drugs and partying too much.

-What, so you were out of your head and you had an accident?

-Yeah, yeah.

Steve and Chris both thought

that Strikers was doing them the power of good.

Been unemployed for so long - drugs, alcohol for so long -

which dents your confidence quite a bit.

So, this is helping me regain

all the confidence and motivation to do something.

I'd never speak to you on-camera like this.

I'd never just, willy-nilly, get in front of a group

and tell them about myself. I'd be, like, intimidated.

Now you're an old man of 21, now it seems a bit different?

Yeah, cos you've got responsibilities. You've got to grow up, look for a job.

Erm... I don't know, can't keep sponging off the JobCentre.

I've got a girlfriend and daughter, so I look after my daughter.

She's not going to want her dad being jobless all her life, is she?

Can you imagine what you'd want to be saying to your daughter, as she grows up, about work?

If you don't get a job, I'll go kick your ass!

-Do you think you can get a job now?

-Yeah.

Well, a job that I want, anyway.

Not what the JobCentre tell me to apply for.

But should Steve have the right to be choosy?

The Government doesn't think so.

Somebody saying, "I will not work, I refuse to work,"

even though there is work there for them,

can't just turn around and expect to carry on receiving benefits.

It's an early start for Ray Worsnop,

doing his bit for Rhyl and its unemployed.

Ray knows about markets.

He set up this one in the town centre.

And he's running a course showing the ropes to some people on welfare.

I was brought up when there were lots of jobs

and I was brought up with a work ethic.

Now that we have two or three generations of unemployed,

I'm really worried that the work ethic isn't there.

If we could do something like this for them,

then it may just give them a reason not to just say,

"Well, everyone's unemployed, so I'll be unemployed."

One of the people Ray's got working on the market is Christine.

It's the first time she's worked in ages. And she's loving it.

-You want to do all of these here, OK?

-Yes.

-Sound, sound, sound! All right?

-Yeah. Cheers.

I'm really enjoying it, yeah.

To get out there again, it's made a big difference to me.

-I'm not getting any younger.

-She's waiting for an operation.

-I've got carpal tunnel in my wrists.

I've been on the sick now for quite a while, actually.

And... I don't know. I don't like it, I'd rather be working.

And Christine knows that the Government would rather she was working, too.

It's a big day for Adam Gale.

-Adam, you're looking really smart.

-Thank you very much. I feel kind of smart. Still feels new.

He's been out of work for nearly a year. But he's decided the only way he can get off welfare

is to do the job for himself. He's got some work experience.

I feel like it's the first day of school, kind of thing.

I'm just hoping I get there and everyone's going to be nice to me,

and friendly enough, even just make a few friends,

get a couple of references out of it.

He's been on a course designed to improve his work skills.

But it isn't a job and it's about to end.

So he knocked on the door of the local Morrisons supermarket and he wouldn't take no for an answer.

They said there's no guaranteed job. I said, "Fair enough."

I do want a job, but even if I only do a few weeks here and get a good reference for myself,

that still helps me again to go to another place and say, "I work hard. There's just no jobs at this place."

And we met him at the end of his first day.

I'm much happier - still a bit nervous that nothing will come from this,

or I'll get something wrong, or someone won't like me in there.

But these are things people normally feel.

Adam's 25.

He's been in and out of work, and homeless a few times as well.

And when he was a teenager, he was in and out of trouble.

It's a bit embarrassing. Just silly things, misdemeanours.

Give me an idea.

Erm... Shoplifting when I was a kid, drunk and disorderly,

breach of the peace, criminal damage of bus-stops.

Things to show off to my friends.

The last time I was arrested, I was 18. I was homeless and I stole an Oasis and a chocolate bar.

People would judge you for it. It could have been 20 years ago but people won't care.

Later on we filmed Adam at Morrisons, trying to work himself into a job.

He has shown great potential.

He's very keen, he works hard, he's courteous to staff.

They're not broken?

No. I'll clean them for some dust.

'He took his own initiative.'

He's come here off his own back, and he's shown character.

But Adam still hadn't got a job, for all that.

The clock was ticking for him.

He'd be back on the dole soon.

Adam first came to Rhyl as a child on holiday.

Do you remember it when you were a kid? Happy memories.

Now what does Rhyl say to you?

Kind of, last hope....

They've got high hopes at the Taste Academy.

Now the trainee chefs are being put through their paces in the newly-completed kitchen.

It's a bit still like a building site,

but we're getting there to making it our own.

There is a lot to do and we just want to get in and start cooking now.

Are you going to make it by the date?

Of course we are!

They've got a fortnight before they'll be serving paying customers.

Watch your fingers.

Take your time.

It's not the speed, I'd rather you did it correctly than cut your finger.

Leeds chef Alison used to be a cook in a prison.

If a trainee is late, they'd better have a good reason.

We take no prisoners, this is a real-life working environment and they need to be in time in work.

They're a team member and there is no excuse.

"Sorry, you're not going to get a good quality meal today because he's hungover" won't cut it.

We've got a big list of people waiting for anybody who wants to drop out.

It's a six-month paid traineeship.

After that, the trainees, like Darren Teesdale,

will have to find permanent jobs, but they'll have experience and qualifications.

This is the first time I've been in the kitchen, and to be here is great.

I tried looking for work for over a year,

I applied for so many jobs

and I never heard anything back off any jobs, like,

and I heard off Rathbone about this and when they said "You've got the job", I was over the moon.

Very soon, Jim Pickering will be front of house at the Taste Academy,

taking orders and serving customers.

I am excited about being in work.

I'm also slightly nervous as well.

I really can't wait to get going now.

When I'm not working and walking through town,

I treat everyone as if they're a potential customer.

I'm one of the lucky ones.

You're lucky all right, but you must have something, Jim.

I don't know what it is.

Must be my dazzling charm that got me the job(!)

You've got to have all that oomph, all that feeling, that, "Nice to see you, nice to see you",

but that's exactly what you don't have when you're on the dole.

Yeah, exactly.

All you do is... Well, what I did, just sat in my room playing XBox.

You know, looking for jobs.

The Taste Academy's ambition is to get four out of five of their trainees into jobs.

Rhyl offers a rich local menu of schemes to get people off benefits.

The Government's new work programme sets a new performance test.

It will only pay contractors in full if they get people into lasting jobs.

It's time the Government

stopped pretending it knows how to do the job.

We are better off saying to professionals

who work in the welfare to work industry,

"You design the programmes, but we'll pay them when they're successful,

"when they get people into work and help them stay there."

This is a complete revolution in welfare to work,

this is the biggest payment by results scheme

that we think has been tried anywhere in the world.

The Government has signed contracts all over the UK with companies and voluntary groups.

These welfare revolutionaries will only get their money back if they deliver.

They're investing £580 million over the next year.

That's a big statement of intent of commitment to getting people into work

and if they don't succeed, that's money they will lose.

And the voluntary group Rehab have won one of the two work programme contracts in Wales.

Do you think you can solve a problem like Rhyl?

I think we can play our part very significantly.

We're hoping to have 2,500 people access our programmes,

and we're really hopeful and fairly confident

that we will have at least 1,000 of those people in jobs

by the end of the programme.

And that could include Christine.

Her stint at the market is over.

The Government is now starting to test everybody on incapacity benefits

to see if they're fit for work.

It's a step no government has ever taken before.

I'm not staying on the sick, no way. I don't want to.

She knows her world is about to change,

and that won't be easy for her.

It is not the thought of getting up, it's just, I don't know...

It is a bit frightening, that bit.

They want people off the sick, off the dole, and in work.

Does that seem to you like a friendly invitation or rather like pressure?

A bit of pressure, yeah, but I think it is quite alarming,

we haven't got a choice, really.

The local MP approves of getting people off welfare,

but he says the Government is stigmatising the most vulnerable.

The philosophy that's bubbling out now, alcoholics, single parents,

drug addicts, you know, it's not the right approach.

To victimise them and say, "You're totally responsible for it"

when there's no jobs for them to get or job opportunities are being reduced massively, you know,

isn't giving them hope.

The Government says work programme contractors will be well paid

for getting challenging cases off benefits and into work.

One of the reasons that we are spending up to £14,000

to get some of the hardest-to-help people into work is to make sure

our providers have an incentive to work with them. We shouldn't look upon anybody as a lost cause.

Yet one of the main contractors hired to do the job sounds a warning note.

Do you think you can get people who have been on incapacity benefit for a long time

into work in large numbers, as the Government assures us that you all can?

I think we have to be very careful about this.

There are many people who have taken that journey and succeeded, and a number of people haven't.

The last thing you want to do is set up people to fail.

The Government claims its Universal Credit will make work pay better than staying on benefits

and it wants tougher penalties if you can work, but don't.

Before he went on the Strikers course, Steve had his benefits cut under the existing system.

They told me to apply for a job which I didn't like.

I can't remember what job it was.

I didn't apply for it, so they sanctioned me for six months.

So they fined you £30 a fortnight for six months? Which hurt?

Yeah, I had a baby as well

so I couldn't get her a lot for her birthday and Christmas. It was Christmas time.

But you're on Jobseeker's Allowance, not jobchooser's allowance.

Do you think you have the right only to go for a job you want to do?

I'd prefer to get a job what you'd at least like

rather than go somewhere you don't like, end up quitting within a week, just for a waste of time.

In the Government's new regime, the ultimate sanction

for repeatedly turning down jobs that are on offer

will be to lose benefits for three years.

If you get the big stick out too soon, too early,

when there's no jobs there, or when the job opportunities are diminishing,

will raise false hopes and be a recipe for disaster. You'll be driving people back on the streets.

There's absolutely no reason for anyone to end up on the streets as a result of what we're doing.

The only people who put themselves in danger of finding their benefits stopped

are those who are capable of doing so and wilfully say, "I refuse to engage with the system."

How much do you want to work at the moment?

Do you want to work so much you would do any job that would pay the bills?

Not any job, I'd have to like the job, like I said.

Adam Gale has been struggling to find a job.

The work experience at Morrisons which he found for himself

has now finished, and he's going back on the dole.

What are your emotions now?

Anger, at the Government, anger at myself, at the course I was on,

frustration. No nice feelings.

What do you feel about all you've tried to do?

It's been a waste of time.

Some of it I'd still do again, because you can't get anything without trying

but mostly the last 12 weeks has been a waste.

It's very tough getting from welfare into work, isn't it?

Yeah, it is, near impossible, to be honest. Unless you're lucky

or have good qualifications, it's very hard to get back into a career.

It's Royal Wedding day in Rhyl

and after all the hard work and preparation, the Taste Academy is open for business,

but everything has gone royally wrong.

We have a bit of a nightmare.

The electrics went down last-minute.

We're getting there now.

-Do you ever think, we've bitten off more than we can chew?

-No, it's fine.

This is just catering, things happen, boilers blow up,

electrics stop, people go off sick. It's fine.

That's what we're used to.

After nearly a month on the dole,

Adam Gale has got a phone call from Morrisons asking him to come in for an interview.

Will it be a fairy-tale ending for him after all?

Hi, Adam. How did you get on? What did they say? You're smiling!

I'm always smiling! They've offered me an 18 hour a week job.

I've took it just to prove that I can do the work.

So this isn't the job that you went for? This is something less than that?

To be honest, it's more than I had yesterday.

I could be moody about it and say I wanted full-time

or I could be happy and say there's a chance of getting full-time if I work hard, so I'll see the upside.

The Royal Wedding may have been a nightmare for the Taste Academy,

but they're determined to get it right on their big night.

The official opening party, three weeks later.

The trainees aren't getting handouts any more. They're doing the handing out.

It's important to have projects like this,

to get young people back to work, so that they're not marginalised.

But will the jobs be there? Getting people off benefits depends critically

on the economy performing well.

Nearly 50% of the people who work in my constituency

are in the public sector, 13,000 people.

Mr Cameron wants to sack between 10 and 25% of those

at the same time as putting the unemployed, with the lowest skills, back to work.

But the Government says that across the UK, a million extra jobs will be created.

My sense is that there is an overwhelming desire for change.

Is it your ambition to break the benefits culture?

It's an absolutely clear ambition to change the nature of Britain's benefits culture

so our welfare state becomes a vehicle for you to get back on your feet and into the workplace,

not a place you live.

In a few months, Jim and Darren will have completed their time at the Taste Academy

and they'll be searching for jobs again.

My confidence since being here has literally skyrocketed.

Compare the you, Darren, that was you before.

Completely different person. Completely different person. I've calmed down a lot, like.

I'm loving it.

On a scale of one to ten, how would you rate your pride and happiness tonight?

Probably ten, yeah.

I'd give it a 15!

Adam's given it all he's got,

but he's still halfway to getting full-time work.

Don't give up looking for a job.

You might get 100 no's but if you're motivated enough

and you prove to your employers, they'll hire you. You can't rely on the JobCentre to do it for you.

Next week - can you trust your bank?

Following massive penalties for mis-selling insurance and investment products,

Panorama goes undercover and asks, is your high-street bank still bad for your wealth?