Liam Byrne MP, Labour’s Shadow Work and Pensions Secretary, said:

“The Work Programme is now on its knees. It’s failed over a million people and is so bad that even after two years help, eight out of ten don’t get steady jobs, and nine out of ten disabled people don’t find work at all. The Work Programme doesn’t work.

“David Cameron’s failing programmes are driving up the costs of social security. Universal Credit is in crisis, Atos is out of control and now the Work Programme doesn’t work. Iain Duncan Smith must be the worst welfare secretary in living memory: Is there anything left for him to bungle?

“We can’t go on like this. Families across Britain are facing a cost of living crisis and David Cameron’s Work Programme, which is supposed to get them back to work, is doing nothing to help We need a new approach, including Labour’s compulsory jobs guarantee for anyone out of work for more than 2 years. That’s a much better way to get the benefit bill down and call time on wasting peoples’ lives.“