Poundland case: government defeated again over back-to-work schemes...
Iain Duncan Smith's appeal to supreme court fails as justices rule work programmes were legally flawed.
"...Five supreme court justices upheld a decision by the court of appeal that went against the government in February.
While the supreme court stopped short of ruling that the regulations constituted forced or compulsory labour, it decided that it was unlawful for the government to fail to supply parliament and hundreds of thousands of jobseekers with proper information about the so-called "workfare" schemes they were forced to undertake at pain of losing jobseeker's allowance.
The judges ruled that the secretary of state had failed to provide sufficient information about the schemes to Reilly and her co-claimant, Jamieson Wilson, an unemployed lorry driver.
The judgment would have resulted in the government's having to refund £130m to about 250,000 unemployed people for unlawful sanctioning, had it not been for emergency retroactive legislation introduced by Duncan Smith in the spring.
After the introduction of that emergency law, the solicitors Public Interest Lawyers (PIL), who represent Reilly and Wilson, lodged a judicial review accusing Duncan Smith of conspiring to undermine basic human rights by enacting the retroactive legislation.
They say they will continue to pursue that judicial review after their success in the supreme court..."
http://www.theguardian.com/business/2013/oct/30/poundland-case-government-defeated-work-schemes-duncan-smith
N.B.
"retroactive legislation."
What is sauce for the goose...