Recommendation 22

DWP needs to rebuild trust with employers. This will require making better use of its network of Jobcentres and the employer advisers who work in them. To start, DWP should consider setting individual Jobcentres targets for engaging local employers. This engagement should go beyond a surface-level relationship and focus on understanding the needs of these employers, providing information to improve work coaches’ job-matching. 56 As part of this, Jobcentres, particularly the existing employer advisers, should be encouraged to work with local employers to identify how their services can be made more demand-led. We believe that improving the quality of liaison with employers could improve the impact of Jobcentres, as could more innovative practice, such as Paisley Jobcentre’s ‘take a job to work day’. In areas of greatest need, DWP should consider recruiting an additional role of a specialist employer liaison officer, who would have experience of national and local business and would be tasked with building deep relationships with local employers and opening up more opportunities for good jobs for service users. (Recommendation, Paragraph 107)