A new programme aimed at getting the long-term unemployed back into work begins today, with people who have not found work after two years on the Government’s Work Programme being obliged to enrol on the new scheme.

Work and Pensions Secretary Iain Duncan Smith said: "Everyone with the ability to work should be given the support and opportunity to do so. The previous system wrote too many people off, which was a huge waste of potential for those individuals as well as for their families and the country as a whole."

Stephen Timms, shadow employment minister, said: "Under David Cameron's government nearly one in 10 people claiming Job Seeker's Allowance lack basic literacy skills and many more are unable to do simple maths or send an email.

"A Labour government will introduce a basic skills test to assess all new claimants for Job Seeker's Allowance within six weeks of claiming benefits."