New Deal

The New Deal was a scheme introduced in 1998 with the intention of reducing unemployment by providing incentives for training and for returning to work. It also made it possible for benefits to be reduced or removed from those who refused work without good reason. The scheme focuses its attention on a range of social groups without employment:

• young people
• the long-term unemployed
• the disabled
• the over fifties
• single parents
• partners of people on benefits
• aspiring musicians