Recommendation 28

HM Government Deferred

UKSPF is a Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities fund. UKSPF provides £2.6 billion of new funding across the UK for local investment by March 2025 and was clearly identified as the key source of local funding to tackle economic inactivity, however it is for lead authorities to determine how UKSPF is best invested locally. Before the restrictions were lifted, lead authorities in England were given flexibility to invest in people and skills interventions in 2022–23 and 2023–24 where the voluntary and community sector were at risk of funding from the European Social Fund ending before 2024–25. The Flexible Support Fund (FSF) is a discretionary fund with a value of £60m per year that jobcentre staff can use to help benefit claimants move into or progress in work or to move closer to the labour market. It is available to local teams to purchase services to tailor support to the needs of individuals and the local area as identified by local jobcentre staff. As such it is not the most appropriate mechanism for supporting economically inactive individuals, many of whom will not be on benefits or in regular contact with Jobcentre Plus and are often supported through voluntary, community and social enterprise organisations which local areas are empowered to fund through their UKSPF allocations. At Spring Budget 2023 we have announced an additional comprehensive package of cross- government support targeted at increasing workforce participation and reducing economic inactivity. This includes investment aimed at groups who are more likely to be or at risk of becoming economically inactive, including those who are long term sick or disabled, parents and over 50s. For example, we have developed the WorkWell Partnerships Programme. This pilot programme will deliver integrated work and health support to disabled people and people with health conditions, who want help to remain in, return to or take up work. Transforming support Conclusion and recommendation 29 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. (Paragraph 181a) Response DWP has comprehensive support in place to help people start, stay and succeed in work, including face-to-face time with work coaches who provide a package of interventions to help claimants prepare for, look for and move into work which are tailored to individual capability and circumstances. Beyond getting people into work, DWP is committed to supporting individuals to progress in work, helping them increase their earnings and move into better paid, quality jobs. Support provided through the voluntary In-Work Progression offer focuses on removing barriers to progression and providing advice such as considering skills gaps and identifying training opportunities. In addition, Restart provides intensive, tailored support to long-term unemployed people to help them into sustained work. There are contractual job outcome expectation measures for Restart, set at the start of the contract with providers. Under the terms of the scheme, job outcomes represent sustained employment, and between July 2021 and April 2023, 84,000 individuals achieved a job outcome. In addition, Spring budget 2023 announced Universal Support which utilises the concept of ‘place, train and maintain’ that helps match someone to a job that is right for them at the earliest opportunity, trains them to do the job in the way the employer wants it done and provides personalised, ongoing support to sustain their employment for the longer-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. (Paragraph 181b) Response The Plan for Jobs package of employment support includes comprehensive programmes of analysis and evaluation, in some cases including programme impact analyses. This analysis includes reporting programme impact on longer term employment and benefit outcomes, building on previous evaluations, and cost-benefit analysis. DWP employment programmes have employment outcomes aligned with programme policy intent. These are measured during the programme life and reported externally where there are published statistics for these schemes (for example, for the Work Programme, Work and Health Programme, Restart Scheme, and Work Choice). The longer-term employment outcomes may be assessed through comprehensive programmes of evaluation which, where appropriate and drawing on