Select committee inquiry
The Future of Jobcentre Plus inquiry
Closed
What the inquiry looked at
“Committee report The future of Jobcentre Plus The future of Jobcentre Plus (PDF 1.62MB) Government response The future of Jobcentre Plus: Government Response to the Committee's Second Report of Session 2016-17 The future of Jobcentre Plus: Government Response to the Committee's Second Report of Session 2016-17 (PDF 206KB) The Committee invites written submissions addressing one or more of the following areas: The likely effects of the planned changes on claimants, including on the quality of services offered to them and the implications in relation to digital inclusion The potential implications for JCP, including in relation to: JCP’s capability to provide new, tailored services for particular groups of people, including people with mental health problems Opportunities afforded by coordination with other local services, including the NHS and schools The extent to which reforms will require cultural change within JCP, and the DWP’s capability successfully to foster this change The opportunities and challenges for JCP presented by greater devolution of employment services to regional and national governments”
The committee's words, from the inquiry page on parliament.uk ↗.
What it found
In the committee's words, from the summary of 2nd Report - The future of Jobcentre Plus ↗
The future of Jobcentre Plus (JCP) is one of change. Against the backdrop of a changed labour market, the Universal Credit roll-out and the scaling down of contracted-out welfare-to-work programmes, JCP will be expected to provide employment support to a broader and more challenging caseload of claimants. The Department for Work and Pensions’ success in supporting such people will largely rely on getting it right within JCP. This represents a considerable challenge.
Culturally, JCP must ensure that it becomes an inspirational place from which individuals find and succeed in work. JCP Work Coaches—front-line advisors—will play a pivotal role. Too often, JCP staff have been cast in the role of policemen rather than supporters who help people progress to and in work. Major changes will be required of Work Coaches. There is a case for some Work Coaches to specialise in helping specific claimant groups, while others take a higher caseload of more general cases. There should also be a clearer route for Work Coaches themselves to progress in their careers in providing tailored employment support, reflecting the increased demands of today’s labour market.
The success of the new Work Coach model will depend, in part, on Coaches’ awareness that they are not experts in all areas—including disability and health conditions. They must, therefore, embrace working alongside more knowledgeable third parties and charities. To make a success of its new, expanded role, JCP will have to ensure that it is open to working in ways that are increasingly flexible, adaptable and experimental.
It must strengthen working relationships with employers and other external partners in order to ensure that specialist support is available to claimants when it is needed. It will also need to demonstrate an ability to learn on the job and adapt its provision, both to changing labour market circumstances and as it learns what works in supporting claimants. This new role will also need to be reflected in its opening hours.
We welcome the Department’s aim of providing improved, innovative support to those who have been inadequately served within the current system. We do not, however, downplay the scale of the challenge that JCP faces in supporting its more varied and complex caseload of claimants. The changes required are significant: not just operational, but also cultural transformation. These concerns form the heart of our report.
What the government said
The government responded on 24 January 2017.
Summary written by Accountability Index from the government's response.
The government agrees with several of the Committee's recommendations on Work Coaches, monitoring and guidance, declines others including a senior Work Coach grade and an independent assessment, and says it will consider the health budgets proposal further.
- On the Claimant Commitment, it agrees with the need for monitoring and commits to "include an additional question in the annual claimant experience survey", with inclusion arranged for the 2017/18 survey year.
- It declines a new higher-grade senior Work Coach role, stating "We do not agree" that it would provide additional front-line support, and does not "feel that an independent assessment of Jobcentre Plus would be a useful exercise".
- On health budgets, it says it "will consider this recommendation further alongside other proposals emerging from the Green Paper consultation", which runs until 17 February 2017.
- It is "unable to support" extending Real Time Information based metrics to other benefits, saying this "would not represent value for money".
Read the government's response ↗ Read the report ↗ Report an error
How the inquiry ran
Each dot is a dated item listed on this page, from the inquiry's opening on 8 March 2016 to its close on 24 January 2017.
- Oral evidence 3 sessions
- Report 9 Nov 2016
- Government response 24 Jan 2017
What it recommended 12 recommendations · 18 conclusions
1Allied to wider economic trends, JCP has performed well in recent years in supporting claimants...
Concluded (the committee's words)
Allied to wider economic trends, JCP has performed well in recent years in supporting claimants who are closer to the labour market into work. It is, in part, a victim of its own success, as to further reduce unemployment, it must now focus on ensuring that it has measures in place that can offer equally effective support to a caseload of claimants with much more varied, complex and substantial barriers to work.
2Much of whether JCP can achieve its objectives in supporting claimants with complex needs rests...
Concluded (the committee's words)
Much of whether JCP can achieve its objectives in supporting claimants with complex needs rests on Work Coaches and their relationships with claimants. Work Coaches are tasked with referring claimants for possible sanctions at the same time as supporting them into and in work. This combined role may mean that many claimants see JCP staff as policemen rather than genuine coaches, potentially undermining claimant trust and confidence. Trustful, positive and personalised support is central to the Work Coach model working effectively, but currently the Department has little means of assessing how far this is being delivered.
3We recommend the Department set out how it will support Work Coaches to strike the...
Recommended (the committee's words)
We recommend the Department set out how it will support Work Coaches to strike the right balance between coaching and conditionality—potentially conflicting elements of their role. Work Coaches should be given more comprehensive guidance on how to adopt a flexible approach to conditionality for vulnerable groups of claimants, such as those with health conditions or housing problems. The guidance should include multiple examples illustrating the circumstances in which different levels of conditionality, including frequency of meetings, would be appropriate and effective.
4We recommend that the Department monitor the extent to which claimants consider Claimant Commitments personalised.
Recommended (the committee's words)
We recommend that the Department monitor the extent to which claimants consider Claimant Commitments personalised. This should include adding a question on this topic to the annual Claimant Experience survey.
5It is concerning that as JCP moves towards directly supporting more claimants with complex needs...
Concluded (the committee's words)
It is concerning that as JCP moves towards directly supporting more claimants with complex needs it is also moving away from specialism, towards a generalist Work Coach model. Some of the claimants that Work Coaches support will have significant and complex needs that require knowledge, understanding, and dedicated coaching to overcome. Others will require much less support, and may be well served by a generalist approach. The Work Coach role needs to develop in such a way that it can account for these different ways of working, and recognise Work Coaches’ skills and abilities in supporting their clients accordingly.
6Claimants should not be left with only JCP support for long periods of time.
Concluded (the committee's words)
Claimants should not be left with only JCP support for long periods of time. If Work Coaches fail to identify claimant needs quickly and accurately it will hamper efforts to offer them the right additional support to move them closer to work. Identifying 42 The future of Jobcentre Plus what support is appropriate, at which point in a claim, again requires a level of specialist knowledge on behalf of Work Coaches that the generalist model will not always provide.
7There is a clear case for allowing some Work Coaches to specialise in directly helping...
Recommended (the committee's words)
There is a clear case for allowing some Work Coaches to specialise in directly helping smaller numbers of specific claimant groups with complex needs, while others can help general cases and retain a higher caseload. We recommend that progression to a Senior Work Coach role, at Higher Executive Officer grade, should be available to those Work Coaches who have demonstrated a capacity to support specific claimant groups such as disabled people, homeless claimants, self-employed claimants, lone parents, or those with drug and alcohol problems. Senior Work Coaches should continue to provide front-line support to claimants with substantial barriers to work, so that DWP staff increasingly master the greater “skills” demands that will be placed on them by the Government. We also recommend that assessment of the performance of Work Coaches be based on evidence of developing specialist skills, offering personalised support and supporting claimants to progress into and in work.
8An organisation the size of JCP must rely on its middle managers, at district and...
Concluded (the committee's words)
An organisation the size of JCP must rely on its middle managers, at district and branch level, to deliver the new services that the Department requires. We heard, however, that the capabilities of managers vary across regions. We are concerned that without a strong understanding amongst district managers of the direction and purpose of new reforms, and good management of Work Coaches by branch managers, JCP will struggle to deliver the services expected.
9We recommend the Department set out its expectations of district managers in delivering change and...
Recommended (the committee's words)
We recommend the Department set out its expectations of district managers in delivering change and ensure that they are equipped to do this. We further recommend that the Department commission an independent assessment of JCP district managers’ ability to deliver large-scale change. Similarly, branch managers have an important role in ensuring Work Coaches can carry out their extensive new functions. We recommend that the Department ensure that clear guidelines on expectations of helping claimants into, and closer to, employment are incorporated into the Work Coach appraisal system, to be used by branch managers.
10JCP will be the gateway for ensuring the right people are referred to the right...
Concluded (the committee's words)
JCP will be the gateway for ensuring the right people are referred to the right support at the right time. It may prove ineffective, however, in supporting vulnerable claimants if it is unable to work closely with other local organisations to address the broader social and health issues which affect claimants’ employability. JCP has limited organisational experience of this way of working. While we welcome the Department’s overall flexible, experimental approach to new provision, it needs to ensure that this is matched with clear guidance on, and promotion of, the opportunities for joint working.
11The Flexible Support Fund is a potentially important resource that JCP can use to develop...
Recommended (the committee's words)
The Flexible Support Fund is a potentially important resource that JCP can use to develop its partnership working with other organisations. However, it is underused and under-publicised. We recommend that the Department take steps to promote the Fund for this purpose, and that it monitors the extent of uptake and the purposes for which it is used. This should include identifying its use by individual Jobcentres.
12There is significant support for allowing JCP districts greater control of their budgets, and for...
Concluded (the committee's words)
There is significant support for allowing JCP districts greater control of their budgets, and for integrating health and employment budgets in particular, to help JCP address the full range of barriers to work. This should extend beyond the Flexible Support Fund which, while valuable, is also discretionary.
13We recommend that JCP districts should be allocated their own health budgets for the remaining...
Recommended (the committee's words)
We recommend that JCP districts should be allocated their own health budgets for the remaining financial years during this Spending Review period, with the expectation that this will be spent on developing partnerships to address health-related barriers to work. Clear and common success measures should be agreed with local areas, including the proportion of people who find sustained employment through these programmes.
14We recommend the Department set an evaluation framework that local areas can use to test...
Recommended (the committee's words)
We recommend the Department set an evaluation framework that local areas can use to test different approaches to local delivery, and produce information on “what works”, before moving to fuller devolution of JCP employment services. This should form the basis for a national framework of minimum service standards that central government can use to hold local areas to account. The evaluation framework should clearly set out performance measures that can be applied across the whole of the JCP caseload, including claimants who are a long way from the labour market. This means that metrics should be applicable to claimants who have not yet moved onto Universal Credit, and should be appropriate for measuring progress towards work as well as moves into work.
15It is disappointing that DWP’s plans for the Work and Health Programme do not involve...
Concluded (the committee's words)
It is disappointing that DWP’s plans for the Work and Health Programme do not involve expanding on Work Choice’s successes in supporting disabled people into work. We are concerned that the resources allocated to the scheme do not match its ambition. This is especially so given that the Government has committed to making significant in-roads into the disability employment gap, and the Department’s own recognition that it needs to do much more to help disabled claimants. With this in mind, our recommendations for the Work and Health Programme focus on getting the best possible results from the smaller contracted-out service.
16There is a clear consensus that people with disabilities and work-limiting health conditions should not...
Concluded (the committee's words)
There is a clear consensus that people with disabilities and work-limiting health conditions should not be mandated to take part in the Work and Health Programme. Indeed, mandation could be self-defeating, making poor use of limited space on the programme and undermining relationships with the specialist support organisations alongside which JCP needs to work. We are pleased that the Department has confirmed that participation in the Work and Health Programme will be voluntary for disabled people on ESA and those with limited capability for work on Universal Credit.
17We recommend the Department clarify whether and how mandation will apply to disabled people and...
Recommended (the committee's words)
We recommend the Department clarify whether and how mandation will apply to disabled people and those with health conditions on JSA or the Universal Credit equivalent. The Department should produce guidance for Work Coaches on making referral decisions, mandation and the eligibility criteria for the Programme. This should encompass the use of discretion in potentially complex situations such as where 44 The future of Jobcentre Plus an individual with a health condition has been unemployed for more than two years but may stand to benefit from external provision, or is claiming JSA or the Universal Credit equivalent.
18To maximise the impact of the Work and Health Programme in supporting jobseekers with complex...
Concluded (the committee's words)
To maximise the impact of the Work and Health Programme in supporting jobseekers with complex needs, the Department will need to ensure it offers something distinct from general JCP provision. We are pleased that the Department agreed with our recommendation that there should be a strong emphasis on integrated provision. We also recommend that, given the generalist approach prevailing in JCP, there is clear case for contracts to be let to specialist providers. The Department will also need to ensure that payment structures for the Programme incentivise providers to invest in supporting the more substantially disadvantaged jobseekers within the cohort. In particular, small, specialist providers may need enhanced financial security to participate. This could be achieved through implementing “milestone” payments, or through an “accelerator model”.
19Commissioning for the Work and Health Programme should prioritise providers that demonstrate provision that goes...
Recommended (the committee's words)
Commissioning for the Work and Health Programme should prioritise providers that demonstrate provision that goes beyond what is routinely available to jobseekers in JCP. We recommend that specialist providers should be prominently represented, and that the Department should set out clearly how it will ensure that such organisations are not made financially vulnerable through their participation: for example, by guaranteeing minimum referral volumes. Payment by Results should be maintained, but with a substantial service fee, reflecting the greater needs of the cohort that Work and Health Programme will serve—particularly those claimants who will be most difficult to place into work.
20The Department’s plans for reforming JCP involve a number of experimental and un-tested approaches, and...
Concluded (the committee's words)
The Department’s plans for reforming JCP involve a number of experimental and un-tested approaches, and require significant cultural as well as practical change. We welcome the Department’s ambition, but the doubt remains as to whether the Department may be attempting to achieve too much, too quickly.
21The Department should set out the key policy objectives that JCP must deliver over the...
Recommended (the committee's words)
The Department should set out the key policy objectives that JCP must deliver over the next five years, and should give a clear indication of how JCP districts and individual Jobcentres should prioritise their delivery. This should include details of how the timing of policy objectives links with the roll-out of Universal Credit.
22JCP has responded well in the past to fluctuating claimant numbers.
Concluded (the committee's words)
JCP has responded well in the past to fluctuating claimant numbers. The planned changes to JCP services mean, however, that if staffing levels do not increase significantly, it will need to deliver much more with fewer resources. This problem could be exacerbated by an economic downturn and consequent increase in claimant numbers. JCP’s plans are at best based on uncertain and unclear forecasts, and may not reflect the time required for activities to support its more complex claimant population. We are concerned that the Department has no real idea how many Work Coaches it needs, less so will need, to provide its ambitious service.
23The Department must assess future staffing levels required to deliver the planned changes to JCP...
Recommended (the committee's words)
The Department must assess future staffing levels required to deliver the planned changes to JCP services, alongside the introduction of Universal Credit and scaled down contracted-out support. We recommend the Department set out a clearer The future of Jobcentre Plus 45 framework for assessing the volume and complexity of demand, and its staffing consequences, in response to this report. The caseload of claimants coming into regular contact with JCP may also change as a result of the review of the Work Capability Assessment announced in the Department’s Work, Health and Disability green paper. We recommend the Department review its staffing needs once it has decided on a course of action.
24The current open plan physical layout of Jobcentre Plus gives insufficient privacy to claimants when...
Concluded (the committee's words)
The current open plan physical layout of Jobcentre Plus gives insufficient privacy to claimants when disclosing their personal barriers to working, particularly for those with physical or mental health conditions.
25JCP should configure its office space when it renews its estate in 2018 so that...
Concluded (the committee's words)
JCP should configure its office space when it renews its estate in 2018 so that appointments between claimants and Work Coaches can be held in private, on a genuine one-to-one basis.
26Jobcentre Plus increasingly serves claimants through digital channels of contact, requiring them to record work...
Concluded (the committee's words)
Jobcentre Plus increasingly serves claimants through digital channels of contact, requiring them to record work search evidence online, use Universal Jobmatch for finding job vacancies, and receive online advice from Work Coaches. Such services are clearly the future for a large proportion of JCP activities. One in four UK adults lacks basic digital skills, however, and more than one in ten have never used the internet at all. JCP is not doing enough to identify any support a claimant needs before being introduced to online resources: some advisors have assumed that access to a computer or the internet equates to the ability to use it. This risks significant numbers not being able to comply with their work search requirements.
27Jobcentre Plus should include a digital skills assessment in the Claimant Commitment interview which goes...
Concluded (the committee's words)
Jobcentre Plus should include a digital skills assessment in the Claimant Commitment interview which goes beyond simply asking if a claimant has access to the internet or a computer. This should draw on the good practice examples of digital skills assessments that are used by specialist support centres. Having poor IT skills should, for example, be grounds for claimants to be offered longer meetings with their Work Coaches.
28Changes to JCP services will mean that the Jobcentre will become much more than the...
Concluded (the committee's words)
Changes to JCP services will mean that the Jobcentre will become much more than the place where people sign on to benefits. Current JCP performance measures tell us little about how effectively JCP is fulfilling its more holistic role, and do not focus on getting people into appropriate, sustainable employment and helping them to progress in work. It is not clear when new measures of sustained earnings for Universal Credit programmes will be fully in place, given delays to the Universal Credit roll-out. In any case, relying on Real Time Information as the sole measure of progress fails to tell the whole story of JCP’s effectiveness. JCP must ensure that it has good quality data available on its progress in supporting all of its claimants into work, including those who are a long way from the labour market, who may need substantial pre-employment support.
29We recommend that by the end of 2016 the Department set JCP similar performance targets...
Recommended (the committee's words)
We recommend that by the end of 2016 the Department set JCP similar performance targets of sustained earnings over time as it plans to introduce for Universal Credit. These measures must apply to all claimants in JCP, not just those claiming Universal Credit. We further recommend that JCP introduce a more holistic set of performance measures, including “distance travelled” towards work such as take-up of volunteering 46 The future of Jobcentre Plus or skills training, customer satisfaction, and the number of claimants restarting their claims. These performance data must be routinely published. These measures will increase transparency, enable better decision-making on future provision, and help drive the necessary change in the culture and behaviour of JCP.
30The scale of the task ahead for the Department in reforming JCP reflects the scale...
Concluded (the committee's words)
The scale of the task ahead for the Department in reforming JCP reflects the scale of its ambition. Trying new methods and seeking to reach groups previously left behind by the welfare system is risky; things will go wrong and the Department will need to adapt accordingly. But it should be congratulated for taking those risks.
Evidence
Oral evidence sessions 3
- 10 Oct 2016No witnesses recordedparliament.uk ↗
- 11 Jul 2016No witnesses recordedparliament.uk ↗
- 4 May 2016No witnesses recordedparliament.uk ↗