The Department of Social, Community and Family Affairs has denied a claim by ISME that the Back-to-Work allowance scheme now includes a minimum wage.

According to ISME, a minimum of £140 a week or £3.50 an hour has to be paid by employers taking people on as part of the scheme.

However, yesterday a spokesman for the department said participants in the scheme were expected to be paid the same rate of pay as other people doing a similar job, but there was no minimum wage in operation.