36th Report - Jobcentres

We are concerned that the Department will continue to not have enough work coaches to meet the growing demand for support. The shortage of work coaches has been caused by the Department securing inadequate funding from HM Treasury and by recruitment and retention challenges. Looking ahead, the demand for work coach support is expected to continue to increase and claimants’ needs are expected to become more complex. The proposals for reform set out in the November 2024 white paper and the March 2025 green paper have significant implications for jobcentres. 4 They include setting up a new jobs and careers service as a universal service not just support for benefit recipients, and providing tailored employment, health and skills support for claimants with a work-limiting health condition or disability. The Department envisages a ‘pyramid’ of support where many people will be able to access and self-serve using digital services, what it called a ‘jobcentre in your pocket’. It foresees that this will help to free up jobcentre resources to provide face-to-face support to those who need it. However, the Department acknowledges that redeploying 1,000 work coaches in 2025–26, to provide intensive support to around 65,000 people with health conditions and disabilities, will reduce the support available for other Universal Credit claimants. recommendation The Department should develop a workforce plan within twelve months and as part of its work to design and set up the new jobs and careers service. The plan should include details of the steps that the Department will take to make sure it has enough work coaches to provide face-to-face support to people who need it.

The Department does not publish data on work coach numbers or into-work rates, which means it is not clear how well local jobcentres are supporting claimants to work. The Department publishes data on its Stat-Xplore platform relating to the number of claimants in each Universal Credit labour market category at jobcentre level. It does not, however, publish data on work coach numbers compared with need or on jobcentre performance in helping people move into work. The NAO report presented work coach data for the Department’s seven regions and performance data for the regions and for the 37 districts. These data show substantial variation between different parts of the country. For example, from December 2023 to November 2024, the district into-work rate ranged from 5.5% in Birmingham and Solihull to 10.8% in Northern Scotland. There is also variation in the shortfall of work coaches at jobcentre level, and the Department seeks to manage the impact of the variation by having jobcentres with more work coaches support those with fewer. recommendation The Department should set out how it will increase transparency around jobcentres, for example by regularly publishing jobcentre level data on its Stat-Xplore platform, including data on work coach numbers against need and into-work rates. This regular reporting should start before the end of 2025. 5

The Department has not evaluated the effectiveness of its approach to supporting claimants to work for a decade. The Department does not have an up-to-date evidence base from which to assess the suitability of its current approach to supporting claimants to work. Its most recent evaluation is from 2015, before Universal Credit was rolled out. The Department considers it to be challenging to develop a new evidence base using randomised control trials, which it describes as the gold standard, bearing in mind how long it takes to carry out the trials and get the results. It is currently assessing alternative arrangements for delivering its services, where possible using randomised control trials. Specifically, it is testing using video and other channels rather than face-to-face communication, and reducing the frequency of work coaches’ engagement with claimants. It expects the results of these trials to be available between June 2025 and November 2026. The Department is also comparing and contrasting the evidence that it gathers over shorter time periods – for example, it is using its core support model in one place and a different approach in another place thereby creating groups of claimants that it can compare. It wants to get test results quickly in order to help develop the new jobs and careers service. recommendation The Department should, within six months, publish its strategy for evaluating the impact of its reforms to the employment support system and for refreshing its evidence base regularly.

It is not fully clear how the Department is spending the £55 million allocated for 2025–26 to test elements of the new jobs and careers service. In the 2024 Autumn Budget, the government allocated £55 million for the Department to invest in developing and testing elements of the jobs and careers service in 2025–26. The Department is spending some of this money on a coaching academy to upskill its work coaches, on ‘pathfinder projects’ in some parts of the country and on developing digital services, but has not yet allocated all of the £55 million. The Department says that funding is available for good proposals coming forward from different parts of the organisation. But it did not indicate how much of the £55 million has so far been committed and how much is left to be allocated. We are now several months into the financial year so it is important that the Department works out quickly how to make best use of the funding, rather than making rushed decisions at the last minute. recommendation Alongside its Treasury Minute response, the Department should write to us setting out how much of the £55 million has been committed and what its plans are for using the remainder of the money. 6

Achieving an employment rate of 80% is likely to be very challenging. The Government’s long-term ambition is to achieve an employment rate of 80%. This would represent a considerable increase – from May 2018 to October 2024, the employment rate fluctuated between 74.3% and 76.4%. The Department says that in some local areas the 80% employment rate is already being achieved. Its focus will be on those areas with a much lower employment rate, and the characteristics of the individuals in those areas. In April 2025, the Department published eight metrics focusing on places and groups with employment rates of less than 80%, which it will use to track performance in the context of the reforms set out in the 2024 white paper. For example, there is a metric about reducing the gap between the median employment rate and the bottom 10% in terms of localities, plus other metrics that are about characteristics, such as bringing down the health-related inactivity rate and reducing the proportion of young people not in education, training or employment. The Department has said it will publish data on these metrics annually, starting in October 2025. recommendation The Department should, within six months: a. work with other departments to publish a roadmap for achieving the government’s long-term ambition of an 80% employment rate; and b. set out the specific contribution of jobcentres to this ambition, including the arrangements for monitoring their performance. 7 1 Availability of work coaches and support Introduction

On the basis of a report by the Comptroller and Auditor General, we took evidence from the Department for Work and Pensions (the Department) on jobcentres.1

For the first six months of 2024–25, the Department assessed it would need on average 18,900 work coaches but had funding for between 17,600 and 18,000.9 The Department told us it forecasts demand on a six-monthly cycle but plans resource over a longer timeframe – funding for 2024–25 was originally set in November 2021. It also said it has a judgement to make on resourcing, to balance work pressures facing jobcentres against the pressures in other service lines.10 The Department pointed to Figure 5 in the NAO report which shows the Department had fewer work coaches than it estimated it needed over the period April 2022 to September 2024, with the exception of May 2022. Despite this, the Department told the committee it has been able to meet the broad trend of demand over the last 12 months while acknowledging it may never have the right number of work coaches in any one place.11 6 The Department for Work and Pensions, Get Britain Working, CP 1191, November 2024, paras 2, 10 7 The Department for Work and Pensions, Pathways to Work, CP 1297, March 2025, paras 4, 19-20 8 C&AG’s Report, paras 11, 2.12 9 C&AG’s Report, paras 11, 2.10, 2,12 10 Qq 17, 28 11 Q 17; C&AG’s Report, Figure 5 9

The Department has also had fewer work coaches than it has had funding for, which it attributed to factors such as challenges with recruiting and retaining staff. The turnover rate for the Department’s executive officers working in jobcentres, including work coaches, was 8.5% in 2023–24.12 The Department told us that it takes a national and local approach to recruitment, including using local employment forums and specialist websites.13 The Department told us it tended to see higher attrition in those areas where there are buoyant labour markets.14 It explained that retention issues were around salaries and the availability of other roles locally.15 It cited examples of what it is doing to improve retention, including through performance management to make sure that teams know what is expected of them, and leadership development so that teams feel invested in.16

In November 2024, the government published its Get Britain Working white paper that set out plans for reforming employment support including a new jobs and careers service, bringing together jobcentres with the National Careers Service in England. The Department aims to create a universal service that will provide support for anyone who is looking to work, to get on in work, change career or retrain, not just claimants by 2028–29.17 This includes customers who do not use the jobcentre at the moment, including people with health conditions and people who are not on benefits at all but who need help finding a job.18

We asked the Department how realistic its plan is for a universal jobs and careers service given the current shortage of work coaches. The Department said it envisages a ‘pyramid’ with, at the top, a larger number of people who can access support and self-serve digitally and with minimal contact with a work coach. It described a fully online ‘jobcentre in your pocket’ which should complete roll-out in 2028. The Department also explained that, at the other end, it is about providing tailored support or signposting people to specialist support in local areas. Work coaches could then spend their time more intensively on those customers for whom a more in-depth conversation is more appropriate.19 The Department told us that tests carried out so far on its new fully online PIP claim service launched in July 2023 have shown 12 C&AG’s Report, para 2.12 13 Q 31 14 Q 32 15 Q 39 16 Q 32 17 The Department for Work and Pensions, Get Britain Working white paper, CP 1191, November 2024, para 146, Q 66 18 Q 58 19 Qq 56-58 10 initial decisions reached, on average, 20 days faster. Further work is needed to establish how far these technological and process changes will reduce overall processing times and improve services.20

In March 2025, the government published a green paper, Pathways to Work, which set out proposals to reform health and disability benefits and employment support, with the aim of providing tailored employment, health and skills support for claimants with a work-limiting health condition or disability.21 The Department plans to redeploy 1,000 existing work coaches in 2025–26 to provide intensive employment support to around 65,000 people with health conditions and disabilities.22 We asked the Department to what extent will the redeployment of 1,000 work coaches result in a further reduction in support available for other Universal Credit claimants. The Department acknowledged that the redeployment does do that.23 The impact of reductions in work coach support

To help deal with the shortfall in work coaches, the Department allows jobcentres that are under the most pressure in terms of work coaches’ caseload to reduce the support they provide for claimants. In September 2023, the Department introduced a local flexibility framework which sets out five measures that jobcentres can implement in order. For example, the first measure involves shortening the initial meeting with claimants from 50 to 30 minutes and the second measure is to reduce the frequency with which some claimants meet a work coach from weekly or fortnightly to monthly. The Department allows jobcentres to implement measures in the framework if their work coaches have a caseload of more than 110 cases and this position is forecast to continue for at least three months. From September 2023 to November 2024, more than half (57%) of jobcentres used the framework at some point to reduce the support they provide to claimants to help manage their workload.24

We asked the Department how concerned we should be that over half of jobcentres have had to reduce their support for Universal Credit claimants due to the shortage of work coaches. The Department told us that we should not be concerned because, where there are not enough 20 Letter from the Department for Work and Pensions, 29 May 21 The Department for Work and Pensions, Pathways to Work, CP 1297, March 2025 22 The Department for Work and Pensions, Government bolsters employment support to unlock work for sick and disabled people, 06 March 2025 23 Q 63 24 C&AG’s Report, paras 2.17-2.20 11 work coaches, it has reduced the frequency of interventions in areas that it thinks make the least difference to outcomes, primarily the outcomes about getting people into work.25 The Department also told us that the impact that the reduction in support has had on claimants has been minimised because the flexibility framework preserves the core support and only focuses on activities that do not impact getting people into work. The Department referred to an evidence base to support that assertion but did not explain what that was.26 The most recent evidence for its central support model dates from 2015 and so did not cover Universal Credit claimants, which the Department rolled out for new claims nationwide in 2018.27

However, the Department also told us that it was concerned about the into-work rate, which has been declining since 2021–22.28 The rate increased to 9.7% in 2021–22, but declined in the following two years, to 8.2% in 2023–24. The Department said that external factors, like the labour market and the fall in the number of vacancies, are were making it more difficult and leading to a reduction in into-work rates.29 It also said that work coaches are seeing a more complex caseload, with customers who are further away from the labour market.30

The Department said that, even when implementing all the measures up to level five of its flexibility framework, including to meet all Intensive Work Search claimants fortnightly after 13 weeks rather than some of them weekly, its work coaches can still have quality conversations with claimants and achieve the same outcomes.31 However, in written evidence, third sector organisations raised concerns with us about the quality and consistency of support offered at jobcentres. Child Poverty Action Group and Changing Realities told us it has evidence that parents and carers using jobcentre services often do not receive the quantity or quality of support that they need.32 Education Development Trust stated that appointments with work coaches only last ten minutes which limits building lasting relationships and trust with claimants.33 25 Q 17 26 Qq 20, 21 27 C&AG’s Report, paras 8, 1.13 28 The into-work rate measures, based on earnings, the proportion of Universal Credit claimants in the Intensive Work Search category who move into work each month, having not been in work in the previous month. 29 Q 47; C&AG’s Report, para 15 30 Q 50 31 Q 21 32 JOB0003 33 JOB0001 12

The Department is examining whether some of the measures in the local flexibility framework could be made permanent to help manage demand pressures without adversely affecting outcomes for claimants.34 We asked the Department what measures could be made permanent and when. It said it would see what the impact of putting the measures in place is, it could then take a view about whether it wants to keep them in future.35 34 C&AG’s Report, para 2.21, Q 19 35 Q 24 13 2 Jobcentre performance The lack of public data on local jobcentre performance

The Department requires its jobcentres to provide a nationally consistent, centrally defined service that it judges will maximise employment and earnings for Universal Credit claimants.36 In November 2023, the Department introduced a new performance framework to monitor the operation of its jobcentres. The framework includes six key performance indicators of particular relevance to jobcentres’ role in supporting people to work. The only one of the indicators with data held before November 2023 is the into-work rate. The into-work rate measures, based on earnings, the proportion of Universal Credit claimants in the Intensive Work Search category who move into work each month, having not been in work in the previous month.37

In terms of the performance of jobcentres over time, the average monthly into-work rate reduced during the COVID-19 pandemic from 8.8% in 2018–19 to 7.2% in 2020–21. The rate then increased to 9.7% in 2021–22, but declined in the following two years, to 8.2% in 2023–24.38 There is substantial variation in performance across the Department’s seven jobcentre regions and 37 districts. At regional level, in the 12 months from December 2023 to November 2024, Southern England had the highest average monthly proportion of Universal Credit claimants moving into work (8.7%) while London and Essex had the lowest proportion (7.3%). At district level, Birmingham and Solihull had the lowest average monthly into-work rate at 5.5% and Northern Scotland had the highest at 10.8%.39

We asked the Department how concerned it was about the drop in the into-work rate nationally in the last two years and what the reasons are for the decrease. The Department told us it was concerned but that there are external factors that impact the into-work rate, including job vacancy numbers, which it said correlated with the increase in the into-work rate 36 C&AG’s Report, para 1.11 37 C&AG’s Report, para 14 38 C&AG’s Report, para 15 39 C&AG’s Report, para 16 14 after the COVID-19 pandemic.40 It also explained that it is seeing a more complex caseload which will impact the into-work rate, such as claimants with health conditions and disabilities.41 The committee notes though that the into-work rate relates only to claimants in the intensive work search category, it excludes claimants with no work-related requirements, including due to health conditions and disability.42

We asked the Department why it does not publish information at a more granular level, particularly relating to the shortfall of work coaches. The Department told us that there is a lot of data available on its Stat-Xplore platform including data about Universal Credit caseload at jobcentre level.43 In written evidence provided after our evidence session, the Department provided the Committee with data on the number of claimants in each Universal Credit labour market category for the Weymouth jobcentre.44 The Department does not, however, publish data on work coach numbers compared with need or on jobcentre performance in helping people move into work, which the NAO obtained from unpublished management information.45 The Department said it has a huge amount of data, a lot of which it includes in its annual report and accounts, and it is just a question of what to publish.46

We followed this up by asking whether within districts there are areas that are performing better. The Department confirmed that within districts there is variation in headcount numbers at jobcentre level.47 The Department emphasised that it manages performance and attrition at all levels and that there is collaboration between jobcentres within clusters and districts. It explained that, where there is a shortfall in work coaches, other jobcentres are helping. For example, it asked jobcentres in Scotland to support jobcentres in the Southern and London and Essex regions with non-core activities that could be done virtually. It said this helped to smooth resource but also created the opportunity for learning between jobcentres.48 40 Qq 47, 50 41 Q 50 42 C&AG’s Report, para 3.8, Figure 11. There are 2.9 million Universal Credit claimants with ‘No work-related requirements’, which means the Department does not expect them to work or meet with a work coach because, for example, they are too ill, are over State Pension age, or have significant caring responsibilities (C&AG’s Report, Figure 3). 43 Q 34 44 Letter from the Department for Work and Pensions, 29 May 45 C&AG’s Report, Appendix One, paras 8-10, 13-14 46 Q 34 47 Qq 35-36 48 Q 36 15 Evaluating the effectiveness of jobcentre support

The Department designed its central support model at jobcentres based on evaluations it carried out from 2005 to 2015. These evaluations were randomised control trials that assessed the impact of adjusting aspects of the meetings between claimants and work coaches.49 The Department acknowledges that there are limitations in the evidence base. Its trials covered Jobseeker’s Allowance claimants and did not cover claimants of Universal Credit, which it rolled out for new claims nationwide in 2018.50

We asked the Department why its evidence base for its current model for supporting claimants is so old. The Department told us it is challenging to develop a new evidence base using randomised control trials, which it describes as the gold standard, bearing in mind how long it takes to carry out the trials and get the results.51

The Department is working to enhance its evidence base and explore the impact of potential changes to its support model. It has carried out research to identify which aspects of work search review meetings between work coaches and claimants make them effective, including the effectiveness of different means of interaction for different groups of claimants. Where possible using randomised control trials, the Department is also assessing alternative arrangements for delivering its services. Specifically, it is testing the impact on outcomes for claimants when it allows work coaches to choose the channel of communication (face to face, telephone or video) for their weekly meetings with claimants, and when it reduces the frequency of appointments for some claimants in the first 13 weeks from weekly to three-weekly. The Department expects the results of these trials to be available between June 2025 and November 2026.52

We asked how the Department will make sure it provides a better service without evidence.53 The Department said it wants to conduct evaluations in a different way, to get test results quickly in order to help develop the new jobs and careers service. The Department said it is comparing and contrasting the evidence that it gathers by taking different approaches. It gave an example where it is using its core support model in one place and a different approach in another thereby creating groups 49 C&AG’s Report, para 1.12 50 C&AG’s Report, para 1.13 51 Q 75 52 C&AG’s Report, para 1.14 53 Q 76 16 of claimants for whom it can compare outcomes. The Department said it would use this approach to see if an intervention is less effective than the core regime, and if so it can be stopped.54 54 Qq 75, 76 17 3 Planned reforms The investment in reforms to employment support

In the 2024 Autumn Budget, the government allocated £55 million for the Department to invest in developing new digital services and testing elements of the jobs and careers service in 2025–26.55 We asked the Department what progress has been made in deciding how to use the extra £55 million in funding it had been allocated.56 It told us that it was spending some of the money on a coaching academy to upskills its work coaches on what the jobs and careers service is going to be, on its ‘pathfinder projects’ around parts of the country, and on developing digital services for the new jobs and careers service.57

The Department explained it has a phased approach to the jobs and careers service. It said its ‘pathfinder projects’ are part of the first phase, testing new ways of delivering its services. In phase two, in 2026–27, it told us it would roll out further the things it has tried that have worked.58 The Department told us, for example, that it is trialling putting work coaches in GP surgeries and engaging people outside of jobcentres. The Department referenced a success story from Poplar in London, where it has seen positive results of people having conversations with a work coach in a setting that is not the jobcentre and getting different types of support. It said that it has a presence in the GP surgery and community centre, and that it is running practical and skills classes. It stated that results in the Poplar example seems to be making a big difference for people who are long-term unemployed.59

The Department emphasised that its investment committee closely controls how it allocates the £55 million funding, and that it commits money for different proposals in packets. The Department also said, however, that it has not fully allocated the £55 million in extra funding, and that funding 55 C&AG’s Report, para 1.18 56 Q 71 57 Qq 43, 57, 71 58 Q 57 59 Qq 74, 76 18 is still available for good proposals coming forward from different parts of the organisation. It also did not indicate how much of the £55 million has so far been committed and how much is left to be allocated.60 Implementing Government’s long-term ambition for an 80% employment rate

In its November 2024 white paper Get Britain Working, the government described its plans to reform employment support as the first steps to achieving its long-term ambition to achieve an 80% employment rate. From May 2018 to October 2024, the employment rate fluctuated between 74.3% and 76.4%.61

We asked the Department how big a challenge it will be to get to 80%. The Department told us that it clearly is a stretching aspiration. The Department explained that, to achieve an 80% employment rate, its focus is on areas and groups where the employment rate is below 80%, and that it is acting to narrow the gap through its planned reforms. It said that there are areas and localities with an 80% employment rate, but there are also some with a much lower rate.62

We asked the Department how it would measure the success of the new service and how it would measure the sustainability and quality of employment that people move into.63 In April 2025, the Department published Get Britain Working outcomes setting out eight outcome metrics that the government will monitor as it implements its reforms.64 The Department told us its eight metrics focus on the particular areas, groups and characteristics of individuals with a much lower employment rate than 80%. It has, for example, a metric about reducing the gap between the median employment rate and the bottom 10% in terms of localities. It also has other metrics that are about characteristics, such as bringing down the health-related inactivity rate and reducing the proportion of young people not in education, training or employment.65 The Department told us it plans to use these metrics to track performance and to identify where the barriers are as part of a place-based and characteristic-based strategy. The Department has said it will publish data on these metrics annually, starting in October 2025.66 60 Qq 72, 73 61 C&AG’s Report, para 1.15 62 Qq 68, 69 63 Qq 66-67 64 The Department for Work and Pensions, Get Britain Working outcomes, April 2025 65 Qq 68, 69 66 The Department for Work and Pensions, Get Britain Working outcomes, April 2025 19