By Alex Klaushofer
The civil servant heading the government’s efforts to deal with unemployment has said that Britain’s jobcentres will be able to cope with whatever the recession throws at them.
The civil servant heading the government’s efforts to deal with unemployment has said that Britain’s jobcentres will be able to cope with whatever the recession throws at them.Sir Leigh Lewis, permanent secretary at the Department for Work and Pensions, told a select committee hearing on March 18: ‘I have very considerable confidence that, on any scenario we can envisage, Jobcentre Plus will be able to cope.’
Lewis was responding to a question from work and pensions select committee chair Terry Rooney. Rooney had asked whether the government’s new welfare-to-work programme could cope if unemployment were to rise even further.
The downturn has forced the government to renegotiate with prospective providers of Flexible New Deal contracts, delaying preparations for the programme due to start in the autumn. ‘The real challenge is whether we can start in October as planned,’ said Lewis. ‘We think we’re on course to do that.’
But a second response from Adam Sharples, director general of the DWP’s Work, Welfare and Equality Group, suggested there was some contingency planning behind the scenes. ‘If for any reason there was a delay, there are options of working with Jobcentre Plus, or working with existing providers to cover the gap,’ he said.
In recent months, the DWP has reversed its policy of cutting resources at Jobcentre Plus to cope with the rise in demand. Around 500 staff have been deployed from the DWP’s pensions and debt recovery services, and a further 600 from the Child Maintenance and Enforcement Commission, which is now processing fewer claims.
But Public and Commercial Services union negotiations officer Charles Law called the recruitment of extra staff on 18-month contracts ‘short-sighted’. ‘We fear that the recession will last a lot longer than 18 months,’ he said.
Figures released by the Office for National Statistics on March 18 put unemployment at 2.03 million between November and January, the first time it has risen above 2 million since 1997.
But employment and welfare reform minister Tony McNulty insisted: ‘No matter how hard times get, we will not give up on anyone who loses their job. We are investing £2bn to ensure Jobcentre Plus can continue to offer a first-class service, and next month people who have been claiming for six months will be able to access the enhanced package of support which we announced in January.’
Earlier this month, equalities minister Harriet Harman sought to assuage fears that women would be disproportionately affected by the recession.
But DWP officials said that the latest labour market figures indicated that women were faring better than their male counterparts. Just 0.3% more women joined the doles queues in the last quarter of 2008, compared to 1% of men.
