£2.4m to dress the jobless

The cost to taxpayers of kitting out West Midlands job hunters with new outfits has more than doubled to £2.4 million a year, new figures reveal today.

The amount handed out in clothing grants of up to £300 per person ballooned from just £1m last year.

It means more than £46,000 of public money is being spent in the region every week by the unemployed buying clothes.

The scheme has been extended to allow the newly unemployed to file claims. It was previously restricted to long-term unemployed.

People attending job interviews are allowed to pick out their own suit, shirt and shoes from high street shops and then claim back with receipts to the value of £300.

Nationally, the Department for Work and Pensions spent £24m in the UK on clothes in 2009/10 - up from £10m a year before.

The figures, released to the Express & Star through a Freedom of Information Act request, outline the payments from the Government Advisor Discretionary Fund which allows Job Centre advisors to authorise handouts to benefit job-seeking.

In total, £4.1m was spent in the West Midlands in 2009/10, with other payments being given for transportation costs, tools, and training. Nationally, ADF payments have rocketed from £16.8m in 2008/09 to £40m in the last year.

Guidance for staff requires that all payments made from the fund are proven to be "a sensible use of public funds." But on the internet there are scores of websites urging job seekers to take advantage of the cash. One site with the slogan "new ways of making money every day" offers tips on how to make a claim from the "rarely publicised" fund.

Department for Work and Pensions spokeswoman Clare Djordjevitch said: "The Government wants Jobcentre Plus to deliver a more personalised service to get people back into work more quickly. The ADF is in place to help Jobcentre Plus customers remove barriers that are preventing them from moving into work."