One million unemployed ‘falling between service cracks’

9 Jan 15
More than a million unemployed people are receiving no government support to get back into work as they fall between cracks of different national schemes, an analysis for the Local Government Association has revealed.

By Richard Johnstone | 12 January 2015

More than a million unemployed people are receiving no government support to get back into work as they fall between cracks of different national schemes, an analysis for the Local Government Association has revealed.

Photo: iStock

A study by the National Institute of Economic and Social Research found that in December’s unemployment figurers, the number of jobless people not claiming Jobseeker’s Allowance has passed one million for the first time.

This means that they will not be receiving government support through schemes such as the Work Programme to get back into work, and the size of this group has grown by 28% in the last 18 months, NIESR’s report found.
The LGA said councils were being left to ‘pick up the pieces’ in a bid to prevent the most vulnerable people slipping further into long-term unemployment and disengagement.

However, authorities would not be able to continue doing so without appropriate funding and the LGA reiterated its call for national education, skills and employment schemes to be devolved.

LGA chair David Sparks said that although unemployment overall was falling, this disguised the plight of many who were falling through the cracks.

‘Too many are let down by national job schemes which are unable to identify or help them because they have not signed on at their local Jobcentre Plus,’

‘Councils across the country are desperate to ensure no-one is left behind and have sought to support those being forgotten by these national services by using their local knowledge, expertise and connections with local organisations and services to target their hardest to reach residents.’

Devolved provision would allow councils to expand currently successful schemes to reduce long-term unemployment by a third by the end of the next parliament, he said.

Current successful schemes included an initiative in Bradford to invest over £10m in local employment and skills schemes, while North Tyneside Council had set up an outreach team in partnership with Jobcentre Plus to provide specialist advice for the long-term unemployed. A quarter of those given advice were helped into work.

In Surrey, a £750,000 council programme targeted at people aged 16 to 19 not in education, employment or training has successfully increased the take-up of apprenticeship and work opportunities, halving the number of NEETs in the county.

Also, a locally led Work Programme in Gateshead led to a 42% increase in the number of 18-to-24-year-olds in work, significantly better than the 28% achieved by the Work Programme.
Heather Rolfe, the lead author of the report for NIESR, said town halls were in a unique position to bring together services and forging partnerships.

‘It is through such work that they are able to help unemployed people who are beyond the reach of national programmes,’ she added.

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