A university graduate who claimed that a Government scheme forces people to work without pay has won her case in the Court of Appeal, which could have major implications for jobseekers.
Cait Reilly claimed that requiring her to work for free at a Poundland store breached laws banning slavery and forced labour, and while she lost her original case at the High Court, she has now won on appeal.
Under Article 4 of the European Convention of Human Rights, “no one shall be held in slavery or servitude” and “no one shall be forced to perform forced or compulsory labour”.
Miss Reilly said that in November 2011 she had been forced to leave her voluntary work and work unpaid at the Poundland store in Birmingham, under a scheme known as the “sector-based work academy” and was told that if she did not carry out the work, she would lose her Jobseeker’s Allowance.
However, Mr Justice Foskett, sitting in the High Court last year, said that it was mad to compare being made to work in Poundland in return for weekly benefits to “slavery or forced labour” and dismissed her claim.
Now, however, three judges in London’s Court of Appeal have ruled that the regulations under which most of the government’s back-to-work schemes were created were unlawful and quashed them.
Both Miss Reilly and an unemployed HGV driver Jamie succeeded in their claims that the unpaid schemes were legally flawed and the solicitor who represented both claimants said that the judgment will force the Government to make fresh regulations that are fair and comply with the court’s ruling.
She added that until that time, no-one can be lawfully forced to participate in schemes affected such as the Work Programme and the Community Action Programme and that all of those who have been stripped of their benefits have a right to claim the money back that has been unlawfully taken away from them.