Getting more unemployed people into work is a key aim of coalition government policy, and the Work Programme, combined with an overhaul of the benefit system, is believed to be the vehicle to make this happen.
While the details are yet to be finalised, the overarching goal of the Work Programme is to provide a single scheme offering targeted and personalised help. In contrast to Labour’s multiple welfare to work programmes (including the New Deal, Flexible New Deal and Pathways to Work) this government believes that by providing one single scheme they will be able to offer more tailored support, which, in turn, benefits both the unemployed and the taxpayer. To ensure this, the Work Programme intends to provide support based on individuals’ needs rather than their age and type of benefit claimed (as is currently the case).
Recent Ipsos Mori research for Consumer Focus found evidence that supports the government’s push for personalisation. Many Jobcentre Plus customers want staff to take an interest in their personal situation and provide considered advice, rather than treating everyone uniformly. The current diversity of jobseekers, from those that are the hardest to help through to highly skilled professionals, makes personalisation even more important than ever before.
As part of its personalisation agenda, the Work Programme also aims to offer support to young people aged 16-24 after six months of unemployment (as opposed to one year under Flexible New Deal) in addition to immediately referring those with the most severe barriers to employment. Our recent polling suggests that this is something that people want; three in five (58%) people feel that the jobcentre should offer full-time job search support within three months or less of someone becoming unemployed and nearly nine in ten (87%) feel it should be within the first six months.
However, although on paper the move to increased support earlier in the jobseeker regime appears to be a sensible step, this strategy will only be effective if those with the most severe barriers to employment are properly identified.
Combined with proposed changes to the delivery of welfare to work support, the government also wants to make the benefit system more streamlined, less complex and less penalising to those who move into work or increase their working hours. Proposals have been outlined for a universal credit that will be paid at different rates depending on individual circumstances and replacing the range of welfare benefits currently available.
Moving more people into work and changing to a universal benefit will help the government to reach its target to significantly reduce spending on welfare by 2015, as announced in last month’s Comprehensive Spending Review. This reduction of spending on benefits is supported by three in five people (61%).
However, the government would do well to remember that it is not all about the financial support. Findings from Ipsos Mori’s research for Consumer Focus suggest that jobseekers would like to make more of the advice and support available to them, but often they do not know this support is available until it is too late. Jobcentre Plus customers want information about all the services and support they are entitled to right from the start and this is something that the government should consider in relation to the Work Programme.
Another is that many skilled jobseekers are reluctant to use Jobcentre Plus because of the stigma associated with doing so. They believe that Jobcentre Plus caters largely for the unskilled and is unable to advise appropriately for ‘professional’ positions. Such concerns demonstrate the need for Jobcentre Plus and third-party providers to cater for all types of jobseekers, including those they may not have been so accustomed to assisting in the past. Furthermore, it will also need to communicate its services more effectively; there is no point in it offering help and support if those who need it are reluctant to use it.
All in all, the Work Programme has the potential to bring about positive change in the welfare system. In the first instance, however, there are a number of barriers to overcome and issues to be addressed if this is to be the case. As we move into a time of high spending cuts, with the potential consequences to the labour market this brings with it, these matters must be heeded if the most vulnerable are to be protected.
Sarah Jenkins is associate director and Hazel Roberts is research executive of Ipsos Mori’s Social Research Institute
