Recommendations & Conclusions
22 items
2
Conclusion
Fifteenth Report - DWP Employment suppo…
Any second surge in new benefit claims and unemployment as the furlough scheme comes to an end could disrupt the Department’s ability to provide employment support. At the start of the pandemic, the Department moved around 10,000 extra staff into claim-handling roles to respond to a surge which reached over …
Government response. 2: PAC Conclusion: Any second surge in new benefit claims and unemployment as the furlough scheme comes to an end could disrupt the Department’s ability to provide employment support. 2: PAC Recommendation: By October 2021, the Department should write to …
HM Treasury
3
Conclusion
Fifteenth Report - DWP Employment suppo…
We are concerned that the Department does not know why the unemployment impact of the pandemic has hit groups such as young people from minority ethnic backgrounds harder. In March 2021, the Office for National Statistics produced striking statistics showing unemployment for young black people aged 16–24 had 6 DWP …
Government response. 3.1 The government agrees with the Committee’s recommendation. Recommendation implemented 3.2 The department has made a change to the way it collects diversity data as part of a Universal Credit claim, to encourage claimants to provide this information as stated …
HM Treasury
4
Conclusion
Fifteenth Report - DWP Employment suppo…
The Department’s focus on getting people into any form of employment risks neglecting its wider ambitions around supporting disabled people to work and supporting people on low pay to progress. The Department’s current focus is on minimising the impact of the downturn on unemployment, particularly on young people and the …
Government response. 4.1 The government agrees with the Committee’s recommendation. Recommendation implemented 4.2 The National Disability Strategy was published on 28 July 2021. It includes wide- ranging measures to support disabled people in employment and to progress. A range of Department for …
HM Treasury
5
Conclusion
Fifteenth Report - DWP Employment suppo…
The Department is not sufficiently transparent about the impact and take-up of its schemes at a local level. We recognise that good-quality evaluations can be challenging to deliver, and that measuring the impact of a programme can take years. We are pleased that the Department is developing its plans to …
Government response. 1. The BBC appears complacent about the threat it faces from declining audiences. Each year people spend less time watching BBC TV and 200,000 more households choose to opt out of paying for the licence fee. Yet when pressed, the …
HM Treasury
6
Conclusion
Fifteenth Report - DWP Employment suppo…
The Department does not make the most of local authorities’ and employers’ in depth knowledge of local needs and priorities. Experts such as local authorities and employers have in-depth knowledge of local needs and priorities that can make employment support programmes more effective. However, the Department is not using local …
Government response. 6.1 The government agrees with the Committee’s recommendation. Recommendation Implemented 6.2 The department has regular engagement with local leaders and stakeholders, Mayoral Combined Authorities and Local Authorities to understand place-based labour market issues and reflect feedback in the department’s design …
HM Treasury
7
Conclusion
Fifteenth Report - DWP Employment suppo…
The quality of claimants’ experience with the Department and whether they receive the right support will depend on the Department’s ability to integrate the additional 13,500 new work coaches into its organisation and manage their performance effectively. The Department’s employment support is mainly accessible to people on benefits via their …
Government response. 7.1 The government agrees with the Committee’s recommendations. Target implementation date: December 2022 7.2 The department systematically gathers feedback on customer satisfaction through its Customer Experience Survey, which it carries out annually. This measures customers’ satisfaction and experiences with the …
HM Treasury
1
Conclusion
Fifteenth Report - DWP Employment suppo…
On the basis of a report by the Comptroller and Auditor General, we took evidence from the Department for Work and Pensions (the Department) about the employment support it provides to people who need help.1
Government response. Based on a report by the National Audit Office, the Committee took evidence on Thursday 17 June 2021 from the Department for Work and Pensions. The Committee published its report on 8 September 2021. This is the government’s response to …
HM Treasury
8
Conclusion
Fifteenth Report - DWP Employment suppo…
In the event of a further surge of claimants when the furlough scheme ends, the Department would need to continue to process new claims for benefits, as well as providing the employment support schemes it is now delivering.18 During the initial surge in claimants the Department moved around 10,000 extra …
Government response. 2.1 The government agrees with the Committee’s recommendation. Recommendation implemented 2.2 The department wrote to the committee on 29 September 2021. 2.3 During the pandemic the department saw an unprecedented increase in new claims. The department successfully managed this through …
HM Treasury
9
Conclusion
Fifteenth Report - DWP Employment suppo…
The Department also effectively switched off many of the usual conditions attached to people’s benefit entitlements early in the pandemic, meaning claimants did not have to demonstrate that they were searching for work to be eligible to receive benefits.21 Claimants were also not able to meet their work coach, and …
Government response. 2.1 The government agrees with the Committee’s recommendation. Recommendation implemented 2.2 The department wrote to the committee on 29 September 2021. 2.3 During the pandemic the department saw an unprecedented increase in new claims. The department successfully managed this through …
HM Treasury
10
Conclusion
Fifteenth Report - DWP Employment suppo…
The Department does not have complete data on diversity or disadvantage of the people it supports. The National Audit Office reported that in February 2020, before the pandemic, the Department only had ethnicity data for 40% of claims made since January
Government response. 3a: PAC Recommendation: The Department must obtain good-quality diversity data for all claimants and ensure that its evaluations of all of its employment support programmes include an assessment of the impact for different groups, whether employment support schemes are reaching …
HM Treasury
11
Conclusion
Fifteenth Report - DWP Employment suppo…
In March 2021, the Office for National Statistics produced statistics showing that unemployment for young black people aged 16–24 had increased from 24.5% in the period October-December 2019 to 41.6% over the same period in 2020, while unemployment for young white people increased from 10.1% to 12.4%.27 These statistics were …
Government response. 3b: PAC Recommendation: The Department should work with the Office for National Statistics to provide more regular statistics on the claimant count and unemployment rates broken down by ethnicity and age. We expect an update on this work when the …
HM Treasury
12
Conclusion
Fifteenth Report - DWP Employment suppo…
The Department’s current flagship programmes are aimed at youth unemployment, and the long term unemployed. There are relatively few schemes targeted at people from an ethnic minority background.29 The Department did tell us about its 20 challenge areas, which are 20 areas within England, Scotland and Wales with a high …
HM Treasury
13
Conclusion
Fifteenth Report - DWP Employment suppo…
The Department explained that it is planning to evaluate the impact of its new schemes, beginning with the Kickstart programme, building on the evaluation work it completed for its previous schemes, which informed its current programme.34 We heard that the Department expects to use methodologies that allow it to separate …
HM Treasury
14
Conclusion
Fifteenth Report - DWP Employment suppo…
While the Department publishes selective statistics about some of its support schemes, such as information about the work and health programme, it does not produce regular data on its schemes to allow Parliamentarians or its partners to scrutinise performance in real time, who instead have to wait for formal evaluation …
Government response. 5: PAC Conclusion: The Department is not sufficiently transparent about the impact and take-up of its schemes at a local level. 5: PAC Recommendation: The Department should produce a quarterly statistical publication and regular data updates on measures such as …
HM Treasury
15
Conclusion
Fifteenth Report - DWP Employment suppo…
The Department’s employment support is mainly accessible to people on benefits, and they will usually be referred to that support via their jobcentre work coaches. Work coaches have considerable discretion to tailor their support to claimants, including discretion around: the frequency and form of their meetings with claimants; the support …
HM Treasury
16
Conclusion
Fifteenth Report - DWP Employment suppo…
The Department told us that a real advantage of delivering employment support through its work coaches is the flexibility that those work coaches have to identify and draw on the right tools to help the claimant. The Department’s approach relies on work coaches’ ability to provide the right service to …
HM Treasury
17
Conclusion
Fifteenth Report - DWP Employment suppo…
The Department told us that its “top priority” now is getting people into work through the pandemic, and that it wants to avoid the risk of ‘scarring’ that unemployment can have on a person’s chances of getting a job – particularly young people who may be 42 C&AG’s Report, pg …
HM Treasury
18
Conclusion
Fifteenth Report - DWP Employment suppo…
People with health and disability issues continue to face major challenges in the workplace, including issues around workplace accessibility, negative attitudes, and a lack of assistive technology.51 In 2017, the Department, alongside the Department of Health & Social Care, set a goal of getting 1 million more disabled people into …
Government response. 4a: PAC Recommendation: The Department must now use the consultation and the Health and Disability Green Paper to clarify how it will support disabled people and people with health conditions, and publish the National Disability Strategy. 4.1 The government agrees …
HM Treasury
19
Conclusion
Fifteenth Report - DWP Employment suppo…
The Department, and the Department of Health & Social Care, ran a consultation from July to October 2019 seeking views on the different ways in which government and employers can reduce ill health-related job losses.54 The Department has committed to producing a Green Paper on the topic and a related …
Government response. 4a: PAC Recommendation: The Department must now use the consultation and the Health and Disability Green Paper to clarify how it will support disabled people and people with health conditions, and publish the National Disability Strategy. 4.1 The government agrees …
HM Treasury
20
Conclusion
Fifteenth Report - DWP Employment suppo…
The Department has established a Commission to review the evidence base around in-work progression and make recommendations to better support people in low-pay employment to progress.57 This consultation ended in December 2020, and its results were published on 1 July 2021. In the foreword to the publication, the Department committed …
Government response. 4b: PAC Recommendation: The Department must also respond to the recommendations made by the in-work progression Commission to support people in low-pay employment to progress. In doing this, the Department needs to set out how it will tackle the long-term …
HM Treasury
21
Conclusion
Fifteenth Report - DWP Employment suppo…
The Department told us that it recognises that the needs of local areas differ, and said that it “is about working closely” with the local authority, local employers and local enterprise partnerships and mayoral combined authorities. We heard that the Department’s approach is for there to be “a national set …
Government response. 6a: PAC Recommendation: The Department should seek regular structured feedback from local authorities and employers on its employment support and: • Involve them in the design and commissioning of schemes; • Ensure its employment support meets the needs of the …
HM Treasury
22
Conclusion
Fifteenth Report - DWP Employment suppo…
We asked the Department whether it could be more proactive in sharing basic information such as its district provision tool—essentially a list of local provision—with partners, so they could see what people were being referred to, and to see if they could plug gaps or offer alternative provision.63 The Department …
Government response. 6b: PAC Recommendation: The Department should seek regular structured feedback from local authorities and employers on its employment support and: • Publish its district provision tool so others can see and comment on and complement the range of local provision …
HM Treasury