Recommendations & Conclusions
13 items
2
Recommendation
Fifteenth Report - DWP Employment suppo…
Accepted
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 …
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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 100,000 new claims a day at its peak. The Department has also hired 13,500 new work coaches and in doing so has returned work coach caseloads to pre-pandemic levels. The Department believes that it is now better equipped to respond to any further wave of benefit claims when furlough ends and that it could again respond by diverting resources towards benefit administration. However, the Department effectively switched off many of the usual conditions attached to people’s benefits entitlements to manage the first surge in claims, meaning claimants could not meet their work coach, and employment support was not provided. Responding in this way in the event of another claimant surge may not be an option: if people are expected to return to work once furlough ends, the Department will reasonably be expected to maintain its employment support offer. Recommendation: By October 2021, the Department should write to us with an explanation of how its contingency plans will ensure it can continue to provide its employment support alongside administering new claims in the event of a second surge in new claims, and avoid the scarring effect of unemployment and disruption to the recovery.
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Government response AI summary
The government accepted the recommendation and stated it was implemented, having provided a letter to the committee on 29 September 2021. The response detailed its contingency plans, including increased staff, estate expansion, a resilient digital service, and flexible service delivery to ensure employment support continues …
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HM Treasury
3
Recommendation
Fifteenth Report - DWP Employment suppo…
Accepted
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 …
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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 Employment support 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%. The Department could not readily explain this shocking inequality. The Department has relatively few programmes targeted directly at people from minority ethnic communities, and instead expects work coaches and providers to tailor their national programmes to individuals. Shortcomings in the Department’s data on diversity and disadvantage among Universal Credit claimants presents a potential barrier to evaluating the effectiveness of its schemes for different groups robustly. The Department also lacks unemployment data on other disadvantaged groups such as homeless people and rough sleepers, and people with issues related to drug and alcohol addiction, and it does not have data ‘flags’ to identify disadvantaged people within the benefit system. 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 and working for everyone, and ensuring that no groups are left behind. 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 Department next appears before us in September.
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Government response AI summary
The government accepts the recommendation, stating it has changed how diversity data is collected for Universal Credit, will ensure evaluations consider diversity characteristics, and is working with the ONS to monitor unemployment trends by ethnicity and age.
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HM Treasury
6
Recommendation
Fifteenth Report - DWP Employment suppo…
Accepted
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 …
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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 expertise to the extent that it could, and risks a disconnect between its national view and local stakeholders’ priorities. Local authorities value their relationship with the Department and local jobcentres, but have also experienced a lack of clarity on the links between employment and skills provision nationally, short-notice changes to the Department’s policy and programmes, and inconsistent engagement with the Department. The Department does not share its ‘district provision tool’, which lists the employment support provision available within local areas, with local partners, meaning that local partners cannot identify gaps in provision or duplication of effort. The Local Government Association considers that a more localised approach would deliver better outcomes by targeting all funding streams at local communities’ needs, while the Co-op group calls for a more collaborative approach between businesses, local education providers and the government. 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; • Publish its district provision tool so others can see and comment on and complement the range of local provision; and • Ensure its employment support meets the needs of the local economy. 8 DWP Employment support
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Government response AI summary
The government agrees with the recommendation, highlighting its existing regular engagement with local authorities and employers in designing and implementing schemes. It also commits to regularly publishing a list of locally available provision, including information from the District Provision Tool, by December 2022.
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HM Treasury
8
Conclusion
Fifteenth Report - DWP Employment suppo…
Accepted
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 …
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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 staff into claim-handling roles, and announced a recruitment drive that has since seen it hire an additional 13,500 work coaches.19 This recruitment drive has brought the number of ‘intensive work search’ claimants—those claimants expected to complete the most work search activity—that each Universal Credit work coach looks after to levels similar to that seen before the pandemic. The average intensive work search caseload was 115 in February 2020, and after rising to 224 in May 2020 and as high as 424 in Surrey and Sussex, it was at 117 in March 2021.20
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Government response AI summary
The government states the recommendation is implemented, detailing how it successfully managed the initial claims surge and has built flexibility through recruitment, digital services, and expanded estate to ensure preparedness for any future increase in claimants.
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HM Treasury
9
Conclusion
Fifteenth Report - DWP Employment suppo…
Accepted
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 …
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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 employment support was not provided.22 Responding to another surge in claimants in a way that reduces the Department’s overall offering to claimants may not be an option: if people are expected to return to work once furlough ends, the Department will reasonably be expected to maintain its employment support offer. The Department told us that it hoped it could continue to provide employment support and process new claims “without causing an increase in backlogs in other service lines”.23 The differing impact on different groups
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Government response AI summary
The government agreed with the underlying concern and stated the recommendation (from a similar context) was implemented, detailing how it managed past claim surges through easements, recruitment, and estate expansion. It highlighted its resilient digital service and increased flexibility to ensure continued support for claimants …
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HM Treasury
10
Recommendation
Fifteenth Report - DWP Employment suppo…
Accepted
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
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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
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Government response AI summary
The government accepted the recommendation and stated it was implemented, having changed its diversity data collection method for Universal Credit claims, resulting in an increasing declaration rate above 70%. It committed to ensuring evaluations consider diversity characteristics and collect ethnicity and disability data during research.
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HM Treasury
11
Recommendation
Fifteenth Report - DWP Employment suppo…
Accepted
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 …
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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 an ‘ad-hoc’ release, and are not published on a regular basis. The Department agreed that the findings were “stark”, but was not able to explain such an uneven unemployment impact on different ethnic groups. The Permanent Secretary said that “there were different groups, different demographic groups, different ethnic groups and different communities in the same group. I know there are lots of different issues going on. I think you can generalise on some issues around aspiration, barriers and unconscious bias. There are all sorts of things going on”.28
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Government response AI summary
The government accepted the recommendation and stated it was implemented, confirming it is working with the Office for National Statistics to understand how best to monitor unemployment trends by ethnicity and age, while acknowledging data limitations due to small sample sizes.
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HM Treasury
16
Conclusion
Fifteenth Report - DWP Employment suppo…
Accepted
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 …
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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 claimants, and is not designed to ensure absolute consistency across every interaction with a customer.45 However, the National Audit Office has previously found that this means the Department cannot know if it is providing a consistent service over time, or between jobcentres, and the Social Security Advisory Committee has said that the Department should develop a more rigorous approach to ensuring that work coaches apply discretion fairly and systematically.46 The National Audit Office has also highlighted that the Department does not systematically gather feedback from claimants on the quality of its services.47 The Department responded to the surge in benefit claimants early in the pandemic by hiring an additional 13,500 work coaches. Ensuring that these new work coaches can offer a consistently high-quality services to claimants will be extremely challenging in a system built around individual discretion.48 Priority given to getting people into work
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Government response AI summary
The government responded that it already systematically gathers feedback via its annual Customer Experience Survey, with recent reports being finalised. It also stated it has work underway to evaluate the effectiveness of work coaches and inform its future delivery strategy, addressing the concern about consistency.
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HM Treasury
17
Conclusion
Fifteenth Report - DWP Employment suppo…
Accepted
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 …
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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 32 43 Q 48 44 Qq 32–33; Government webpage, Help with moving from benefits to work, available at: Help with moving from benefits to work: Starting or running your own business - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk) 45 Q 10; C&AG’s Report ,pg 32 46 Social Security Advisory Committee, Occasional Paper No.24, A review of the COVID-19 temporary measures, pg 15, available at: A review of the COVID-19 temporary measures - Occasional paper 24 (publishing.service.gov.uk) 47 C&AG’s Report, Supporting disabled people to work, Session 2017–19, HC 1991, 28 Month 2019, para 2.6 48 C&AG’s Report , pg 34 DWP Employment support 15 looking for work without already having work experience.49 Over the longer term, the Department wants to prioritise a wider set of issues, many of which were challenges even before the COVID-19 pandemic. These include addressing health and disability issues, and helping people already in work to earn more (which the Department refers to as in- work progression).50
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Government response AI summary
The government states the recommendation is implemented, detailing how it successfully managed the pandemic's claims surge through recruitment, digital services, and expanded Jobcentre Plus estate, confirming it is already taking action to address the priorities and challenges outlined.
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HM Treasury
18
Conclusion
Fifteenth Report - DWP Employment suppo…
Accepted
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 …
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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 work in the 10 years to 2027, however the National Audit Office pointed out in 2019 that the movement towards such a goal could not be linked directly to any particular government policy, and that any such movement was likely to be due to more people already in work reporting a disability than more disabled people moving into work.52 The Department told us however that it had made good progress towards this goal until the pandemic hit, and that as we come out of the pandemic the Department wanted to “redouble our efforts” to support disabled people.53
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Government response AI summary
The government states the recommendation (framed in its response as 4a) is implemented, confirming the National Disability Strategy was published on 28 July 2021 and detailing various existing DWP initiatives that support disabled people in employment.
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HM Treasury
19
Conclusion
Fifteenth Report - DWP Employment suppo…
Accepted
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 …
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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 National Strategy for Disabled People and told the Work and Pensions Select Committee in May 2021 that the Green Paper was very close to being ready and that, were it not for the pandemic, it would have been launched just before Summer 2020.55 After we asked about progress on this in our evidence session, the Department published the Green Paper Shaping Future Support – The Health and Disability Green Paper, on 20 July 2021. The Green Paper said that the National Disability Strategy would be published “shortly”, and that this will “outline practical changes to tackle the day-to-day challenges disabled people face” and “set out the Government’s vision to transform the lives of disabled people by tacking action across Government and wider society.56
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Government response AI summary
The government states the recommendation (framed in its response as 4a) is implemented, confirming the National Disability Strategy was published on 28 July 2021 and outlining existing DWP initiatives that support disabled people into and within employment.
Read full response →
HM Treasury
21
Recommendation
Fifteenth Report - DWP Employment suppo…
Accepted
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 …
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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 of schemes and a national set of interventions, and local delivery, which means that [the Department] can then tailor those schemes and draw them together in terms of how they work on the ground.”60 However, there is a risk of a disconnect between the national approach the Department is taking to employment support, and the needs of local areas.61 While noting positive relationships between local authorities and local jobcentres, and the involvement of local authorities in the review process of bids for the Department’s Restart scheme, the National Audit Office report provided examples of how some local authorities feel that the relationship with DWP could be improved. In particular, local authorities want more opportunities for early involvement in the design and commissioning of the Department’s national programmes, they want to be informed in advance of changes to the Department’s central policy so they can ensure their own provision complements rather than duplicates the Department’s, and they want more consistent engagement with the Department, less reliant on individual staff relationships.62
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Government response AI summary
The government agreed with the recommendation but stated it was already implemented, describing existing regular engagement with local leaders and employers for understanding labour market issues and shaping employment programmes. It highlighted current collaborations and delegated commissioning in some areas.
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HM Treasury
22
Recommendation
Fifteenth Report - DWP Employment suppo…
Accepted
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 …
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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 told us that it would “find a way” to do this.64 The Local Government Association also told us that it would like local mapping of provision, so that there is a clear picture of how new support schemes will add value to and align with local activity, and the Co-op group said that ‘continuing engagement and co-creation with employers’ should be a key component of the Department’s employment support strategy.65 58 Department for Work and Pensions, Call for evidence and good practice on in-work progression, available at Call for evidence and good practice on in-work progression - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk) ; Supporting progression out of low pay: a call to action In-Work Progression Commission, 1 July 2021, available at: Supporting progression out of low pay: a call to action (publishing.service.gov.uk) 59 Q 45 60 Q 49 61 Qq 69, 73 62 C&AG’s Report, pg 38 63 Qq 82–83 64 Q 87 65 DES0006, Local Government Association submission, page 5; DES0007, Co-op Group submission, para 4.2 DWP Employment support 17
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Government response AI summary
The government accepted the recommendation, committing to regularly publish a list of locally available provision, including the District Provision Tool, by December 2022. It also stated Jobcentre Plus staff will continue working with local authorities to ensure up-to-date information.
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HM Treasury