Plan for Jobs and employment support

The pandemic has led to a steep rise in mental health problems among young people. Whilst maintaining steady employment often helps people to sustain good mental health, problems with mental health are a principal barrier to employment for many 16-to-24-year-olds. Support for mental health should be treated as a foundational aspect of employment support for young people. Mental health support and specific training designed to build confidence around job readiness should be integrated into future DWP programmes designed for this age group. DWP should consult with mental health professionals when designing this support to ensure it is appropriate and effectively integrated into the programme.

DWP Youth Hubs offer vital services to young people and the provision of mental health support services in all Youth Hubs is a critical part of that. However, not all young people who need this support are currently able to access it. There is also insufficient guidance to ensure that the mental health support provided meets appropriate quality standards across the Youth Hub network. Whilst the work that DWP is doing with integrated mental health support in Youth Hubs is encouraging, DWP must ensure that these services are available to all young people who are out of work across the country. Eligibility requirements should be expanded so that economically inactive young people who are not claiming Universal Credit but want help returning to the labour market are able to access Youth Hub services.

DWP should ensure that mental health support services continue to be set up in all new Youth Hub locations as a mandatory element. DWP needs to set clear guidance for these services to ensure a baseline standard of delivery across the Youth Hubs network.

We welcome the expanded funding in Spring Budget 2023 for Youth Hubs. DWP need to establish an overarching funding structure and dedicated funding pot for Youth Hubs. DWP must also undertake an analysis of existing Youth Hubs to establish good practice and cost effectiveness. Knowledge and lessons learned should be shared with new centres.

We welcome the joint DWP and the DHSC Individual Placement and Support in Primary Care (IPSPC) initiative that has tried out embedding employment support in mental health services for mild to moderate mental health conditions. The Department should work with devolved administrations to roll out IPSPCs more widely so that this service is available across the country. DWP should also consider how NHS integrated care systems can provide employment support to people with other long-term health conditions, along with mental health.

The Government should have the IPSPC initiative rolled out across the country by the end of this financial year in March 2024.

The benefit rules for Universal Credit and Housing Benefit can interact in such a way that a cliff edge arises when claimants in supported accommodation who must Plan for Jobs and employment support 81 claim both benefits work more than 12 hours a week. This is counter-productive to encouraging younger employees to return to the labour market. DWP should not maintain any policies or practices that stand in the way of people who want to work. Not only does this reduce labour market engagement in the short-term it can also prevent people from progressing at work and becoming financially independent in the long-term. DWP needs to remove this cliff edge. The Government should increase the applicable amount within Housing Benefit for young people in supported accommodation to £117.56 a week, either by raising the personal allowance or by introducing a new premium. This would bring the benefit taper in line with those not in supported housing. This change should be implemented no later than the start of the 2024–25 financial year.

We welcome the Minister for Disabled People, Health and Work’s intention for “a root and branch” review of the Disability Confident scheme and his acknowledgment of the role this will play in changing attitudes around disabled workers.

Many people are not able to work full-time, and a lack of suitable, flexible work is barring people from engaging with the labour market. This is particularly evident for people who have additional needs or responsibilities which make more traditional working patterns challenging. DWP should produce a hiring guide within the next six months which encourages employers to create opportunities for flexible working where possible, including hybrid working, job sharing, flexible hours and part-time roles. This guidance should highlight the benefits to both employers and employees and promote a change in employer attitudes towards offering greater flexibility to staff. The success of these initiatives will partly depend upon the impact that they have on productivity.

Ageism in the workplace is an important issue that needs to be confronted if this demographic is to be successfully supported to stay in or re-enter employment. Employers should be supported by DWP to create job roles and a workplace environment which are attractive to older workers, emphasising the value and experience that older people bring to the workplace.

DWP should establish a scheme which champions older workers and encourages employers to hire staff over the age of 50. This scheme should push to improve workplaces for older people by providing an outcomes-based accreditation to employers who can demonstrate that their workplace is welcoming and supportive of older workers. Employers who join the scheme should be required to publish staff data on over 50s employment in their organisation.

18,400 employers now have Disability Confident accreditation, helping to encourage employers to recognise the importance of making the workplace accessible for disabled people. However, this scheme focuses on processes rather than outcomes. It does not do enough to ensure that impactful change is being made to the working lives of disabled employees or to increase the number of disabled employees that accredited employers hire. DWP should strengthen the requirement for employers to recruit disabled people before being awarded a higher level of accreditation in the Disability Confident Scheme. DWP should introduce banded thresholds for the percentage of disabled people that an employer must employ in order to attain levels 2 and 3 of the Disability Confident accreditation.

Employers at level 2 should also be required to publish the percentage of disabled employees at their organisation. This would send a much stronger signal to disabled people in the labour market about which employers employ disabled people and have supportive, accommodating working environments.

DWP should consider the potential that income protection insurance has to help people experiencing illness or injury remain in employment, support their return to work and reduce the financial burden on DWP when people become unable to work. DWP should explore how income protection insurance could work alongside occupational health as a joined-up approach to promoting workplace health.

There is inadequate access to occupational health services, especially for those working for small businesses. The rise in the number of people who are economically inactive due to long-term health conditions and high rates of economic inactivity among disabled people suggests more needs to be done to support health at work. We support the initiatives introduced in the Spring Budget around occupational health. However, DWP needs to outline a more detailed timeline about when these initiatives will take place. DWP should implement the research recommendations following the expansion of the SME subsidy pilot. We urge the Government to release such findings before the 2022–23 Session is prorogued.

DWP should also use the SME subsidy pilot to conduct research on employee attitudes to occupational health and barriers to take-up. This should be done with a view to establishing a requirement for employees to participate in occupational health services following an extended health-related absence from work to support their return to the workplace.

Creating opportunities for older workers to remain active in the labour market for longer is important for reducing economic inactivity. The Government’s Returnerships initiative looks to support older workers to change career but does not attempt to reduce the loss of industry experience and expertise that this will entail. DWP should develop a mentoring initiative that provides opportunities for older workers to take on roles as industry mentors to train and support new workers. This is particularly relevant for sectors such as construction and healthcare which see high levels of work-related ill-health or burnout.

Some over 50s who stopped working after the pandemic may not have the financial security they need to support themselves for the rest of their lives. We welcome the new Midlife MOT website launched by DWP on 5 July 2023 and its purpose to “help older workers with financial planning”. In line with our recommendations in the Accessing pension savings Report, DWP should work to ensure maximum take- up of the scheme and monitor its accessibility and effectiveness. DWP should confirm that it is still committed to offering the mid-life MOT in person, as well as digitally.

The UK labour market is facing high rates of economic inactivity, driven up as a result of the pandemic and the ending of freedom of movement. Although rates have now somewhat recovered, there are many more people outside the labour market than prior to the Covid-19 pandemic. Whilst DWP offers a range of support for unemployed people who are in receipt of benefits there is almost no support Plan for Jobs and employment support 83 available to individuals who are economically inactive and outside the benefit system. We are concerned that a lot of people who are not in work but are capable of working, are not being supported to re-enter the labour market. DWP should expand the eligibility requirements of future support programmes that target groups with high levels of economic inactivity to include people who are not in receipt of benefits.

The Restart scheme has seen an underspend against its budget since it was launched in 2021. Despite this, strict eligibility criteria mean that many people who would benefit from the support of the programme are not able to access help. Where there are programme underspends or lower than expected uptake of schemes, as seen with Kickstart and Restart, the Department should allow people who are economically inactive and meet the programme’s other criteria to access support. These programmes need to be well publicised in places that have regular contact with the key demographics. This might include advertising in GP surgeries, youth centres and housing associations to ensure economically inactive people are made aware of the available help.

We have heard numerous positive reports about Kickstart, however, without a comprehensive analysis of Kickstart or any publication of data on employment outcome, it is not possible to say with any assurance how successful the scheme has been or what value it delivered for participants. We look forward to the statistical release which DWP has said it will publish “before the end of term”. DWP should apply the lessons of its forthcoming evaluation in considering possible future schemes along the lines of Kickstart.

We welcome that the Department has already responded positively to our request to publish Restart statistics regularly. The previous lack of transparency around how the programme was performing and its employment outcomes for participants had prevented valuable external assessment of the scheme and limited DWP’s accountability for the programme outcomes. The move to publish regular statistics for Restart is a good step towards increased transparency.

Access to Work is seen as being a very successful programme with positive impacts for claimants. However, employer awareness of the scheme is limited and there are many more people with a disability or health condition who could benefit from the support. In line with our recommendations in the Disability employment gap Report, DWP should In line with our recommendations in the Disability employment gap Report, DWP should launch a marketing campaign targeted at employers and disabled people to raise awareness of the scheme.

DWP should roll out the Work Adjustment Passport for everyone who receives support from Access to Work to support people transitioning into work or between jobs. This would make it easier to access support and obtain adjustments quickly.

The Access to Work system is outdated and often unable to accept online document submission or e-signatures. A system that requires applications and claims must be 84 Plan for Jobs and employment support sent in by hand acts as a practical barrier to support. DWP needs to update the Access to Work document submission process so that all documentation can be submitted online. It should do this by the end of 2023.

In line with our recommendation in our Disability employment gap Report, we recommend that DWP should review the number of DEAs and the support that Jobcentre Plus staff receive on supporting disabled people. DWP need to ensure that there is adequate access to specialist advice for disabled people in Jobcentres which covers specific needs of different groups.

With the withdrawal of the New Enterprise Allowance (NEA), there is no longer a dedicated self-employment support programme provided by DWP. Many people, including older people and disabled people, would benefit from the opportunity to start their own business as a way to engage with the labour market. DWP should evaluate the NEA and consult with external organisations who operate self- employment support schemes to design a new self-employment support programme that offers effective support and is inclusive of the needs of both disabled people and older people.

The move from ESF to UKSPF is of significant concern for external support providers. Whilst the Government’s eventual decision to lift the restriction on the use of the UKSPF for people and skills spending is welcome, there is still expected to be disruption due to comparatively less funding under the UKSPF, especially to the services that smaller organisations deliver. This puts services at risk of collapse and will impact the extent of support available to economically inactive people. The Flexible Support Fund (FSF) offers organisations access to a limited amount of funding for delivery of employment support programmes. DWP should expand FSF to help mitigate the loss of essential services for economically inactive people.

The Way to Work campaign focused on moving people into work as quickly as possible, without considering whether this work was suitable or sustainable in the long-term. This approach may reduce unemployment in the short-term, but the long-term positive impacts are not evidenced. It can also dissuade employers from using Jobcentres as a resource for finding new employees. DWP should re-focus on getting people into sustainable and suitable employment that enables them to stay in work long-term. DWP should undertake an analysis to understand the long-term employment outcomes of each of its programmes. For future programmes, DWP should create metrics around long-term employment outcomes, measure these outcomes for participants and publish this data.

DWP and the Government should consider and provide a response to the Good Jobs Project recommendation that the Government remove the requirement for employers to pay employer National Insurance for 12 months for new employees who were in receipt of certain benefits.

DWP’s employment support services do not currently offer much support beyond the point of securing employment. People who have multiple or complex barriers to employment or who have been unemployed for a long time are often seen as Plan for Jobs and employment support 85 undesirable employees. People can also fall out of work if they are not supported during the transition into work. DWP should offer continued support beyond employment to claimants at greater risk of falling back into unemployment such as those with complex barriers to employment or those who have been unemployed for a long time. Support should be withdrawn gradually over the first three to six months of employment, depending on need, to support individuals as they establish themselves at work.

Support that is tailored to the needs of the individual produces better long-term results that not only gets people into work but helps them overcome the barriers to employment that were preventing them from gaining and sustaining employment. If these challenges are not dealt with effectively and individuals are not adequately prepared for the workplace, people run the risk of falling back into unemployment. However, to feel able to access wraparound support, trust needs to have been established between the person accessing the support and the person providing support. The Jobs Plus programmes we visited in the US seemed to have built that trust and rapport by using a community development approach to delivery. DWP should adopt a person-centred approach to future support initiatives which not only help people to find work but also to overcome barriers to employment. Schemes should bring together a range of services necessary to help address physical and mental health problems, intensive employment coaching, support for acquiring skills and qualifications, debt support and transport solutions. To achieve this, the Government should introduce a pilot of the Jobs Plus programme in the UK. Priority should be given to holding pilots, using a community development approach, in areas of high unemployment and high inactivity.

The current centralised delivery model for employment support does not make the most of local knowledge or expertise and promotes a one-size-fits-all approach to support design. A more devolved approach to support design and delivery would allow support to be better tailored to the individual and could be designed to take advantage of local opportunities and existing networks, and meet regional vacancy needs. DWP should, as standard, devolve all future employment support programmes to groups of local authorities. In line with the recommendation in our Disability employment gap Report, we suggest that these be based on the NHS integrated care system boundaries to allow better integration between mental health support and employment support.

DWP should establish a system of devolved support that sits within a National Framework where DWP maintains oversight of programmes to ensure that delivery is of a high and consistent standard, that value is delivered to the taxpayer and that consistent performance data is published for each area. DWP must make sure that lessons learned are shared by regions that are already operating under a more devolved model as devolution is broadened and accelerated.

The two-fold responsibilities of DWP to both provide employment support and administer benefits can deter people from seeking support and damage the trust that claimants have in support services. A more devolved model of support should be used to engender greater separation of employment support and benefit administration.

We welcome the recent publication of Restart statistics but there is more work to be done to if the Department is to provide transparent accountability across the range of DWP employment services. DWP lacks transparency around programme performance, making proper evaluation of schemes unfeasible. This makes it difficult to hold the Department to account or make detailed recommendations around its programmes. DWP should release results for each of its employment programmes on a quarterly basis, as it does for the Work and Health Programme. This would allow external evaluation of the schemes which would help DWP make informed decisions about how to implement changes or continue successful practices. This data release should start no later than 1 January 2024.

DWP does not consistently set clear targets for its programmes or produce results against these targets. Where it has set targets previously, such as for Way to Work, these have been criticised as being inadequately defined and the results against these targets unsubstantiated. DWP should follow guidance from the Office for Statistics Regulation to establish targets and measure performance against these for all its programmes going forward.

The Government’s Plan for Jobs and DWP’s response to the pandemic introduced a number of measures to support the recovery of the labour market and help people return to work. Although these initiatives have shown some success at helping people re-enter the labour market, they have not been able to reverse the significant increase in economic inactivity, particularly among young people, older people and people with disabilities or long-term health conditions. In this Report we have looked at how successful the Plan for Jobs and DWP’s other employment support programmes have been at supporting people into work; we have proposed a number of measures to help combat economic inactivity among those groups experiencing higher levels of worklessness; and we have made recommendations about how DWP should aim to transform its approach to support.