Responding to today’s (30 October 2013) Supreme Court verdict on government employment schemes Secretary of State Iain Duncan Smith said:

We are very pleased that the Supreme Court today unanimously upheld our right to require those claiming Jobseeker’s Allowance to take part in programmes which will help get them into work.

We have always said that it was ridiculous to claim that our schemes amounted to forced labour, and yet again we have won this argument.

Ultimately this judgment confirms that it is right that we expect people to take getting into work seriously if they want to claim benefits.