The Jobless Crisis: Businessman earns state benefit plus pounds 10: The latest work scheme sees formerly redundant executives performing highly skilled tasks for minimal pay, reports Martin Whitfield

RICHARD MOORE does not see himself as unemployed as he works hard to meet the deadline on a business plan for a group of local authority managers seeking to set up a company for a privatised contract.

His working routine consists of commuting to the smart central London offices of a recruitment advertising agency every day.

The last fortnight has seen two 50-hour weeks as Mr Moore, 39, puts the final touches to the proposal for a consortium of educational specialists from five south London authorities wanting to bid for teacher recruitment contracts.

But tomorrow he will find no difficulty in remembering his employment status. His pay, a Giro cheque for unemployment benefit plus pounds 10 a week, will pop through the letterbox. Mr Moore is taking part in Employment Action, the Government's latest work scheme for the jobless.

Although he likes the work and finds everyone extremely helpful, Mr Moore believes he is being exploited. Consultancy fees for the work he has been doing are estimated at between pounds 300 and pounds 400 a day. He said: 'It was really good to get my head down and do some hard graft. I enjoy it. But as one of the two managers said to me at the interview: 'We know it's slave labour but we don't have the time to do it as we are still employed'.'

The secondment was arranged by the Training and Business Factory, a company working from 19 locations around the country. Mr Moore was first referred to the Factory's Beckenham office by the local office of the Department of Employment. The Factory has a contract to run the project from the South London Training and Enterprise Council, the local private sector-led body responsible for delivering Government training schemes.

Brian McEwan, educational recruitment officer for Croydon, and one of the five managers from south London boroughs, said contact had been made after one of his colleagues had used a computer expert from the Factory for another project.

He added that the group hoped to launch a private company in September to bid for work from an increasing number of schools opting out of local authority control. Mr Moore's work had been 'invaluable' to the five who would be competing for school recruitment contracts. 'We would have been talking about consultants and fees. We would have had to pay for legal advice,' he said.

Jenny Steele, the Factory's office manager at Beckenham, said she did not know the details of Mr Moore's case. But she said Employment Action Plus - the 'Plus' has been added by the Factory - helped the unemployed by giving them work experience and helped companies by offering free, highly-qualified labour.

She admitted that companies would otherwise often have to hire staff.

'Both options are open to any company. Most companies would go out and get somebody with pay. But if we rang up and said 'We have got somebody who would be able to do the job for free', they would probably say 'Yes'.

'In the recession you often can't take on the number of staff that you need, so it is very useful to have a placement,' she said.

The Factory has sales staff looking for placements. Its publicity material states: 'Essentially we can provide your company with highly skilled and experienced people, in all disciplines and functional areas, whose background will be suitable for the needs of your organisation, whether it be in clerical, technical, sales or operational roles.'

Graduate engineers, surveyors and experienced secretaries are listed as being available. However, Ms Steele said the Factory was not in the business of sending 10 bricklayers on request. 'We monitor it quite carefully to make sure the scheme is not being abused,' she said.

The Department of Employment's rules for Employment Action forbid placements taking the place of paid jobs. A spokeswoman said it would look at any alleged cases of non-compliance very carefully.

Mr Moore, who before being made redundant earned more than pounds 30,000, plus company car, as deputy finance director to a firm of insurance brokers in Docklands, said his lack of money made it difficult to find work.

'In the unadvertised job market, you need to get around and meet people. 'Going out with a group of friends and buying a large round of drinks is a problem. You need to dress for work. Shoes and suits wear out and need to be replaced. It is all very expensive.'

(Photograph omitted)