Governments ‘Work programme’ scheme, which makes long-term unemployed jobless benefit seekers to work without pay, has seen bus loads of them taken to London to work as unpaid stewards during the diamond jubilee celebrations who were told to sleep under the London Bridge before working on the river pageant.
Up to 30 jobseekers and another 50 people on apprentice wages were taken to London by coach from Bristol, Bath and Plymouth as part of the government's Work Programme.
Two jobseekers, who wanted not to be identified fearing losing their benefits, said they had to camp under London Bridge the night before the pageant. They told the Guardian they had to change into security gear in public, had no access to toilets for 24 hours, and were taken to a muddy campsite outside London after working a 14-hour shift in the pouring rain on the banks of the Thames on Sunday.
One young worker said she was on duty between London Bridge and Tower Bridge during the river spectacle said that the security firm Close Protection UK, which won a stewarding contract for the jubilee events, gave her a plastic see-through cloak and a high-visibility jacket for protection against the rain.
Close Protection UK confirmed that it was using up to 30 unpaid staff and 50 apprentices, who were paid £2.80 an hour, for the three-day event in London. The firms’ spokesman said it was a trial before; the stewards were to be utilized at the Olympics where they would be doing paid roles. The contract for Olympic is also with the firm he said.
The firm said it had spent considerable resources on training and equipment that stewards could keep and that the experience was voluntary and did not affect jobseekers keeping their benefits.
The company said it had spent up to £220 on sponsoring security training licences for each participant and that boots and combat trousers cost more than £100.
Molly Prince, managing director of Close Protection UK, said in a statement that the firm took the welfare of its staff and apprentices very seriously indeed.
She added that the staff traveling to the jubilee were completing their training and were being assessed on the job for NVQ Level 2 in spectator safety after having completed all the knowledge requirements in the classroom and some previous work experience. It is essential that they are assessed in a live work environment in order to complete their chosen qualifications.
The charity Tomorrow's People, which set up the placements at Close Protection under the work programme, said it would review the situation, but stressed that unpaid work was valuable and made people more employable.