Welfare changes 'will hit city hard'

THE Capital will be hit hard by changes to welfare arrangements by the Westminster coalition government, city leaders said today.

The Conservative/Liberal Democrat coalition said in May that a raft of existing welfare to work programmes would end and be replaced by a new single welfare to work programme.

In Edinburgh, it will mean that the Future Jobs Fund programme will be cancelled.

Council officials had secured funding for 300 places worth 1.9 million through the programme, but no further places will be able to be secured.

Dave Anderson, director of the city council's development department, said: "The new UK approach to supported employment will have a detrimental impact on local employment support."

He added: "It is clear that the scale of this new programme will further centralise Department for Work and Pensions services, with local consortiums such as the Edinburgh Jobs Strategy potentially receiving less direct support from DWP."

Councillor Tom Buchanan, the city's economic development leader, said: "We have always got to be mindful of any new administration's changes to employment law.

"We would be keen for any government to be cautious in its approach to major change."