Iain Duncan Smith's Work Programme 'worse than doing nothing' Under the scheme, private companies such as A4e and charities are paid "by results" for every long-term unemployed person they successfully help find work for six months or more. Ministers have so far spent £436 million on the programme and private companies and charitable groups have invested more than £600 million of their own money in the schemes. The government expects some 2.4 million to be helped to find jobs during the five years of the Work Programme's operation. Mr Duncan Smith was unavailable to explain the failures of his programme at the official media briefing on the results. The employment minister, Mark Hoban, suggested the double-dip recession had taken a toll on the programme. "We haven't had as many people in work for six months as we had hoped," he said. He admitted that some of the private firms involved in helping applicants write CVs and search for work had taken time to find the best approach. He warned that failing groups would face sanctions including losing contracts if they did not improve by next April. Some providers have found their feet quickly and are already performing well but there is clearly a mixed picture today. We won't tolerate second best - getting the long-term unemployed back to work is my priority. My message to providers under-performing is clear: It's time to up your game or we will send more participants to those who are coming up with the results. The private welfare-to-work groups said the weak economy and the "double dip" recession had meant there were fewer jobs available. Many of the companies attempting to place the unemployed in work will not break even and there are fears that some groups could go bankrupt. Kirsty McHugh, chief executive of the Employment Related Services Association, the trade body for welfare-to-work groups, acknowledged that "the first few months were difficult" but said results had improved since March this year. However, ministers left themselves open to accusations they were attempting to "spin" the figures by omitting the low success rate from the official data releases and failing to state that the target had been missed. The Department for Work and Pensions later confirmed analysis of the official results by The Daily Telegraph showing that 2.3 per cent of the long-term unemployed had found work for six months or more. Officials stressed that the schemes were intended to work with some of the most difficult cases, including ex-offenders and the disabled. Brendan Barber, general secretary of the TUC, said: "It beggars belief that ministers are trying to spin these figures as good news. Fewer that one in 25 have found sustainable jobs through the Work Programme, with the figures for young people even worse. Ed Miliband, the Labour Leader, said the Work Programme had proved to be "a miserable failure." Liam Byrne, the Shadow Work and Pensions Secretary, said: "We were promised a welfare revolution and what we've got has been exposed as worse than doing nothing." Richard Hawkes, Chief Executive of disabled charity Scope, "We have known for some time now that the Government's fitness to work test is deeply flawed and is wrongly pushing many disabled people onto the Work Programme. Today we learn that only 1.3% of disabled people claiming employment and support allowance have actually found a job through the Work Programme. These shocking figures indicate a system that is not working for disabled people.