Source · Select Committees · Work and Pensions Committee
Recommendation 4
4
Accepted
Jobcentre shift from compliance to personalised support lacks clear implementation plan.
Conclusion
We were encouraged to hear that the Government wants to shift the focus of Jobcentre appointments away from monitoring benefit compliance and towards personalised employment support. This shift is urgently needed. The Department now needs to expand on how it will deliver this change. 52 It is not clear how Jobcentre appointments will change and whether there will be a new process for monitoring benefit compliance. We are concerned that without meaningful change in these areas the opportunity of these reforms will be lost. (Conclusion, Paragraph 30)
Government response summary AI-generated
The government states that work coaches already tailor commitments to personal circumstances and are constantly reviewing training. While they are testing broader commitments within the Pathfinder program, they have no current plans for further research into new approaches and reaffirm their belief in conditionality and sanctions.
Summary of the government's response below — read the verbatim text to verify.
Government Response
Accepted
HM Government · verbatim extract
Accepted
Partially accept As part of our reforms to develop a new Jobs and Careers Service, we will focus on providing genuine support for people, rather than primarily monitoring compliance and benefits administration. As part of the Pathfinder, we are exploring alternative approaches to how claimants demonstrate they are meeting their conditionality requirements. For those who are digitally capable, this may include agreeing to provide evidence of their work search activity through their Universal Credit account, for example. Throughout the new service we are exploring how digital tools can better support customers to get into and on in work. We partially accept this recommendation as the testing is in the very early stages, and we will gather both claimant and work coach feedback throughout. Once we have initial findings, we will review the policy and decide on next steps. We will set out next steps in the report on delivering the Jobs and Careers Service in spring 2026.
Read the full response on Parliament ↗