Introduction

In Chapter 4 Elise Dermine identified six criteria for assessing welfare to work (WTW) programmes that are based on the prohibition of forced or compulsory labour and the right to freely chosen work. This chapter will use these criteria (or legal safeguards) to evaluate national social assistance legislation in Denmark, the Netherlands and the UK. The analysis of (protective) legislation is also relevant regarding Lovett's version of the republican theory of non-domination (Lovett, 2010; see Chapter 1), according to which rules (such as social assistance legislation) can prevent recipients of social assistance being subjected to arbitrary power. The focus will be placed on those legal provisions that oblige recipients of social assistance to participate in a work experience programme. A comparison between Denmark, the Netherlands and the UK is relevant for various reasons. First, they belong to different welfare state types (Esping-Andersen, 1990; Ferragina and Seeleib-Kaiser, 2011). Second, all three countries were pioneers of the activating welfare state and remain in the vanguard (Lodemel and Trickey, 2001). Indeed, each of these countries can build on an experience in the development of labour activation of more than 20 years.

The chapter starts with an overview of the regulation of labour activation of recipients of social assistance in Denmark, the Netherlands and the UK, and consequently considers how the national court in each country has judged the question whether the duty imposed on recipients of social assistance violates the prohibition of forced labour. Thereafter the chapter assesses the national legislation based on the criteria identified by Dermine in Chapter 4. The final section contains the main conclusions.

Regulation of labour activation of recipients of social assistance in Denmark, the Netherlands and the UK

All three countries have stipulated the duty to find work and to cooperate with job preparation activities (such as work experience programmes) in their national social assistance legislation. According to the Danish law, applicants of social assistance benefits must accept fair offers of activities; under the Dutch law recipients are obliged to accept offers that are intended to enhance the change of work status to regular labour; and in the UK, recipients of social assistance benefits are obliged to sign a claimant commitment which stipulates their responsibilities in relation to an award of benefit.