The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) was forced to admit it made an “inappropriate mistake” after it was caught out telling people they could find work as strippers.
As the Mirror reported, a page on the Universal Credit website suggested that people could become a “striptease artist” and said claimants could work as dancers “in [an] adult entertainment establishment”.
Although the page is no longer available, it has led people to question whether the DWP can sink any lower:
Here we go @AmberRuddHR @DWP @Conservatives @CCHQPress @NeilCouling
Can you go lower? #UniversalCredit women equality!
— Stephen Adamson #YNWA #GTTO #ActuallyAutistic EU (@leeadamson2009) August 21, 2019
Strip or be sanctioned
If you refuse to take a job offer under Universal Credit, you can be sanctioned. In fact, refusing a job offer can lead to the highest level of sanctions. This led people to speculate what would happen if people refused to work as a stripper:
https://twitter.com/BENEFITS_NEWS/status/1164479687139180545?s=20
DWP U-turns after telling Universal Credit claimants they can work as strippershttps://t.co/EdocYq800t pic.twitter.com/hTRMY2fUDj
— Stop UK lies & corruption (@stopuklies) August 21, 2019
Others came up with a “catchy” new slogan for DWP boss Amber Rudd:
New #DWP advertising campaign slogan:
STRIP YOUR CLOTHES OR WE'LL STRIP YOUR BENEFITSWhaddya think eh @AmberRuddHR? Catchy, yes?
— BenefitsBlues (@BenefitsBlues) August 21, 2019
Does it get worse than this?
One social media account questioned whether this is actually the “worst thing yet to come out of the DWP”:
This may be the worst thing yet to come out of the DWP, and that's saying something from the Ministry of Cruel and Unusual WTF-ery.https://t.co/SjxFmOBSm5
— For The Many (@ForTheMany2020) August 22, 2019
Others asked whether this is the new career choice for those aged 75 under new proposals (which Rudd has ‘ruled out‘ for now) to raise the age of retirement:
So would IDS be happy for 75 year olds to be strippers too? #DWPChaos #UniversalCredit #GTTO https://t.co/4DwzV33M1o
— Judy Hamilton (@secretspartacus) August 21, 2019
Some people, meanwhile, highlighted that a government department seriously suggested people living in poverty should go into sex work:
Oh it's just the British Government encouraging people in poverty to go into sex work. Nothing creepy and demeaning about that.
Everything's fine. 😒https://t.co/24nstNSX3M
— James O'Flynn (@jamesoflynn) August 21, 2019
In June, the government claimed there was “little reliable data” that people on Universal Credit were being forced into sex work due to lack of money. But as the Mirror reported, “testimony by women who said they were” has suggested otherwise.
Not good enough
A spokesperson for the DWP said:
This is inappropriate and we will immediately review this to determine why it is mistakenly listed.
But this is not good enough. Because if an adult wants to work in the sex industry and does so with informed consent, that’s one thing. However, a government department telling people they can look for work as a “striptease artist” is very different. Especially under a system where people can lose their benefits if they refuse work.
The DWP may claim this was an “inappropriate” mistake. But the fact the listing appeared on the website and was only removed when caught out by the national media speaks volumes about the department that is supposed to provide support to people when they are at their most vulnerable.
Featured image via Pixabay/jplenio and Wikimedia/UK government
