Source · Select Committees · Public Accounts Committee
36th Report - Jobcentres
Public Accounts Committee
HC 823
Published 2 July 2025
Recommendations
2
Accepted
Develop a workforce plan to ensure sufficient work coaches for the new jobs and careers service.
Recommendation
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 …
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Government Response Summary
The government agrees and commits to developing a strategic workforce plan within 12 months as part of the Jobs and Careers Service Programme, which will anticipate workforce needs and ensure appropriate work coach resourcing.
HM Treasury
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4
Accepted
Publish a strategy for evaluating employment support reforms and regularly refreshing the evidence base.
Recommendation
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 …
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Government Response Summary
The government agrees and states the recommendation is implemented, pointing to its recently published Evidence and Evaluation Strategy 2025. It details ongoing Universal Credit trials with findings due by the end of 2026, and an evaluation strategy for the Jobs and Careers Service is under development.
HM Treasury
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5
Accepted
Write to the Committee outlining committed and planned spending of £55 million for jobs service.
Recommendation
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 …
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Government Response Summary
The government agrees and confirms the recommendation is implemented, providing a detailed breakdown of how the £55 million for 2025-26 has been allocated across tests and trials (£15m), alternative delivery solutions (£5m), digital activity (£20m), and resources/staffing (£13m, including a £2m contingency).
HM Treasury
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Conclusions (2)
29
Conclusion
Accepted
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
Government Response Summary
The government states that it has already set out a roadmap in the Get Britain Working White Paper and highlights the Pathways to Work programme and other cross-government initiatives that contribute to the 80% employment rate ambition.
30
Conclusion
Accepted
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%, …
Government Response Summary
The government states that it has already set out a roadmap in the Get Britain Working White Paper and highlights the Pathways to Work programme and other cross-government initiatives that contribute to the 80% employment rate ambition.