UNEMPLOYED people in their 50s in East Lancashire will be ordered back to work under a scheme to try to get them off the dole.

They will be in the second wave of a drive to try and adapt the "New Deal" scheme for young jobless for those aged between 50 and 59.

The New Deal's combination of training, work experience and job placement, assisted by an element of compulsion, has been successful in cutting the youth unemployment rate across Britain. Now 50-year-olds in East Lancashire will have to take part from April next year.

Under the New Deal intensive activity programme, people in their 50s who have been claiming Job Seekers Allowance for over 18 months will have to take part in the scheme. It will involve them taking extra training, work experience and job placement, and advice on how to dress for and conduct themselves in interviews.

Failure to take part could lead to benefits being cut. Announcing the new moves, Work and Pensions Minister Mr Andrew Smith said: "I announced plans to introduce a new package of more progressive back to work help for people aged 50 and over.

"I am pleased to announce further details about elements of this work. These are sites for the pilot studies to trial mandating the participation of people aged 50 to 59 who have been claiming Job Seekers Allowance for 18 months."

The New Deal, which started with 16 to 24-year-olds, has already been extended to 25 to 49-year-olds and is now to be moved to 59-year-olds.

The pilots will be assessed and then extended to the rest of the country. The move follows a study into older people on the dole and a report entitled "Simplicity, Security and Choice: Working and Saving for Retirement."