5th Report - Get Britain Working: Creating a new jobs and careers service

Careers advice helps people achieve their potential, improving employment outcomes, as well as unlocking huge productivity gains with significant economic benefits. However, careers advice in England is a patchwork of services that lacks cohesion and is confusing and fragmented. Overall responsibility for adult careers guidance has fallen between the Department for Education (DfE), the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) and local government, with no coherent guiding strategy. (Conclusion, Paragraph 24)

DWP and DfE should work together to develop a strategy for adult careers guidance. This should be based on an audit of the current career offerings and an assessment of the population’s needs. It should provide an overarching framework and objectives for any careers-related initiatives to follow. The strategy should also set out how the Government will balance providing a universal service while still focusing on those people and areas who most need support. The Government should produce this strategy before it launches the new jobs and careers service, to help ensure the new service is more than just a rebrand of existing careers support. (Recommendation, Paragraph 25)

The National Careers Service (NCS) is an under-valued and under-utilised resource. Due to a lack of funding and pressure to meet unhelpful targets, careers advisers often can’t spend enough time with people and have to focus on low impact interventions. There is also limited awareness of careers advice among Jobcentre staff and the public. The Government must address the current challenges faced by the NCS if it is to unlock the full economic potential of careers advice. (Conclusion, Paragraph 26)

DWP should review the funding and funding model for careers advice. It should develop a more strategic model that funds additional sessions for those for whom it will deliver the greatest impact and value for money, and in areas with greatest need. As it develops its new jobs and careers service, DWP should also review its incentives model for careers advice providers, ensuring it is aligned with the Government’s wider employment goals. (Recommendation, Paragraph 27) 18 Delivering a new jobs and careers service

Integrating careers advice into Jobcentres is an exciting opportunity: the culture of careers advice, with its focus on the individual and long-term outcomes, offers a blueprint to improve the culture of Jobcentres. However, there are risks that DWP will have to manage. Careers advice is a skilled profession, requiring qualities distinct from employment support. It must not become the poor relation of employment support or swallowed up by Jobcentres. (Conclusion, Paragraph 35)

As part of the new service, DWP should protect the distinct role and skills of careers advisors. It will also need to define the future relationship between careers advisers and work coaches, which will be critical to the success of the new service. In its response to this report, DWP should set out its plans to support and develop careers advisers within the new jobs and careers service. This should include developing a training pathway for careers advisers(in addition to its planned coaching academy for work coaches) that continues to take advisers through their professional qualifications. (Recommendation, Paragraph 36)

In the next 6 months, DWP should write to us with details of how it will measure the performance of the new jobs and careers service. This should include outcome measures for careers advice that capture the steps people take as part of their career journey, and which will encourage advisers to focus on longer-term, personalised support. (Recommendation, Paragraph 37)

DWP has yet to set out how it will bring together Jobcentres and the NCS, putting service delivery at risk. NCS providers are operating under uncertainty, with no clarity about the future of contracts that are currently managed by DfE. The Government is also yet to clarify how the new service will operate in devolved administrations or where accountability will sit. The lack of detail has also led to significant concern for staff, whose buy-in will be vital to delivering the plans. The Government must urgently fill this information void. (Conclusion, Paragraph 43)

In its response to this inquiry, the Government should provide clarity on: • the accountability arrangements for its new jobs and careers service and for adult careers services generally, including any joint arrangements between DfE and DWP; • the planned arrangements for the jobs and careers service in Scotland and Wales, where careers support is a devolved matter, including how it will ensure consistency across Great Britain and avoid duplication in devolved settings; and 19 • any eligibility criteria for accessing careers support through the new jobs and careers service, including age limits. (Recommendation, Paragraph 44)

The Government must also provide more certainty to staff and contractors. In the next 6 months, DWP should publish a transition plan for the NCS, setting out how it will be integrated into a new jobs and careers service and how contracts will be managed in the meantime. It should also commit to consulting with the unions representing staff in Jobcentres and the NCS. (Recommendation, Paragraph 45) 20