Benefit Busters - S1 E1

2. Episode 2

Unemployment is rife in Hull, but for one company business is booming: A4E has won the lucrative contract to help get the long-term unemployed back to work. Mark Pilkington is an ex-soldier who hasn't worked for 10 years. He welcomes help and within a fortnight he finds a job. But the joy of receiving his first pay cheque is short-lived; after just four weeks a business downturn results in Mark being laid off. Facing a return to A4E and potentially a four-week wait to restart his benefit payments, Mark begins to wonder if there is more security in a life on benefits. It appears to be a shockingly common perception amongst the clients at A4E, who are at the mercy of an increasingly casual labour market.

3. Episode 3

One of the government's targets is to shift one million people off long-term sickness benefits and get them back to work. In Oldham, the charity Shaw Trust has won the contract to implement this policy. Sherrie Jepson, a former car saleswoman, has the job of selling the idea of employment to people who were previously considered too sick to work. Kieron Tandy fell from a third-floor balcony while celebrating his 18th birthday in Turkey. He has metal pins in his back and has restricted mobility. His family doctor had confirmed him as 'unfit for work' but under the new system he's examined by an independent medical examiner employed by a private health care company, which will determine whether he is fit enough to return to work. Meanwhile, Sherrie starts to try to convince Kieron that he could work if a suitable job that allowed for his condition could be found.