IDS under fire for his £8.5m furry monster

The Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, who lives in Swanbourne, has been accused of following a policy which is neither “effective or efficient”.

The adverts shows a huge animated monster, named ‘Workie’, talking to small business owners and their employees and telling them not to ignore the new law on workplace pensions.

Labour MP Stephen Pound issued a scathing criticism of the advert.

He said: “What a ridiculous waste of money.

“This monster may well frighten the kids but the cuts terrify my constituents even more.

“A character from a future Star Wars film may be a source of fun to the Tories but their policies are seriously hurting the weakest in society and there’s nothing funny about that.”

The advert has been shown at peak time on national television, such as last Wednesday at 7.25pm during the advertising break between episodes of Emmerdale and Coronation Street.

It is understood that the 10ft, furry, horned beast 
was the brainchild of the pensions minister Baroness Altmann.

The Department for Work and Pensions failed to respond to the Bucks Herald.

However the department did issue a statement before the advert was aired, saying: “Workie, a striking physical embodiment of the workplace pension, will be seen visiting people in sorts of work environments over the coming months, asking them not to ignore him.

“The humorous ads come with a serious message.

“While automatic enrolment into workplace pensions has been rolling out across the UK since 2012, it is only now 1.8million small and micro employers are being required to take action to help staff to save for later life.

> What do you think - is this a good way of getting people to think about workplace pensions, or a waste of nearly £9million of taxpayers’ money?

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