the jobcentre's "new deal" is a type of workfare system, but its a joke, im not sure if they still do it. once you sign on for more than 6 months you get put on new deal where you get forced to do training and even voluntary work in some cases, but in reality it only meant going to college once a week for job club and sending empty envelopes to employers. yes that really happened week in week out, people posted empty envelopes just to satisfy the requirement of applying for 2 jobs each week. they tried to make me do a forklift truck training course, i said i had far too many qualifications to get a job like that so what is the point, eventually they agreed, now i wish i did it just for the crack.