1. Supporting Jobseekers Who Have Completed The Work Programme
Jennifer Bradley, Labour Market Strategy, DWP

2. Jobcentre Plus – Pre-Work Programme Support
There are 8.9 million people aged who are economically inactive and 1.17 million people on Jobseekers allowance.
Jobcentre plus has been delivering a new flexible support model for claimants since April 2011 which is made up of three elements:
- regular face to face meetings
- flexible work coach support
- flexible menu of support options including skills provision, help with job searches and getting ready for work core modules.
The model is continuing with the introduction of Universal Credit.
If claimants are at risk of long term unemployment, they will be referred to the Work Programme.
1) Note that claimants can be referred to the Work Programme at any time e.g. ex-Military personnel and young people at risk of long term unemployment can be referred at any time.
2) Emphasise that the model that JCP has adopted seeks to meet the needs of individuals. Job Centre plus work coaches are being employed to judge which work search interviews are most appropriate to meet the needs of individuals.
2) Evaluation of the new model has shown that from an organisational perspective the implementation has been successful. It provides greater autonomy for job centres and focuses on off flows.
Areas identified for improvement included a lack of availability and awareness of local provision, limited confidence and knowledge of the provision available, access to non-contracted funding and challenges purchasing services from other organisations.
There were also specific challenges sourcing suitable support for clients with complex issues especially for ESA claimants with health related needs.

3. Moving From Pre-work programme support to Work Programme
JSA claimants can be referred to the Work programme at different times depending on a number of factors for example:
- age
- if they are not in education, employment or training
- if they have claimed JSA or JSA (incapacity benefit) before
Referral to the work programme is mandatory
Participation on the work programme is mandatory
Moving from pre-work programme to work programme does not change conditionality, e.g. people will still have to sign on.
You may want to explain what mandatory actually means and how this impacts on claimants.

4. The Work Programme
The Work Programme is the biggest welfare to work programme this country has ever seen.
It is a universal programme that has already supported 1.5 million claimants who are at risk of long term unemployment across England, Scotland and Wales.
Of every 100 people who start to claim JSA, 90 will leave before they reach the Work Programme.
The Work Programme is trying to help the final 10%
Providers work with individuals over 2 years and try to tackle underlying issues.
Since its launch in 2011, a quarter of a million jobseekers have found work.
Lasting work is defined as over 6 months.

5. Support for Post-Work Programme Claimants
The Work Programme is supporting claimants to move off benefit and into work, but we always knew there would be Jobseekers Allowance (JSA) claimants returning who would be amongst the hardest to help.
In 2011 we ran a small-scale trial to understand how best to support them.
The Support for Very Long Term Unemployed (SVLTU) trailblazer ran from November 2011 to July 2012 to test two new elements of support for long-term claimants:
the On-going Case Management (OCM)– offered claimants a more intensive level of adviser support from Jobcentre Plus.
and Community Action Programme (CAP) – six month work placements of community benefit, alongside provider-led jobsearch.
The evaluation showed significant positive results for both treatment groups.
Trials ran from November 2011 to July 2012 testing two elements of support – Community Action Programme and Intensive Job Centre support (on-going Case Management) across four Job Centres – Derbyshire, Lincolnshire, Rutlant and Nottinghamshire, East Anglia and Leicester and Nottinghamshire.
The trailblazers will be picked up by the next Speaker so all that is required here is a highlight.

6. Impact on Benefit Receipt
Probability of claiming any benefit before / after random assignment
76%
74%
81%
65%
70%
75%
80%
85%
90%
95%
100%
-104 wks
-96 wks
-88 wks
-80 wks
-72 wks
-64 wks
-56 wks
-48 wks
-40 wks
-32 wks
-24 wks
-16 wks
-8 wks RA
+8 wks
+16 wks
+24 wks
+32 wks
+40 wks
weeks before / after random assignment %
CAP
OCM
JCP Offer
After 41 weeks the treatment groups spent 9 (CAP) or 12 (OCM) days fewer on benefit than the control group.

7. Impact On Soft Outcomes
Claimants on OCM and those on CAP who had a work placement were more likely to report a positive impact on soft outcomes than the control group:
59% OCM group and 63% of the CAP placement participants reported an increase in motivation to find work (vs 50% of the control group);
54% of OCM group and 48% of CAP placement participants reported that the programme had helped to move them closer to work (vs 44% control);
84% of OCM group and CAP placement participants reported a positive shift in their attitude to work (vs 76% control).
46% of the OCM group and 56% of CAP placement participants reported an increase in work related ambitions (vs 39% control).
76% of CAP placement participants reported a sense of satisfaction from being in a work routine and 69% cited a sense of achievement from being on placement.
The findings were particularly positive given the length of time participants were on benefit.
Read the report:
The trailblazer found that claimants who took part
Were more motivated and were considering, or doing more training courses and wanted to become qualified in certain areas.
Had greater work-related ambition.
Those who attended community placements - benefited from the routine of work.
Spent more time in work and less time on benefit than a control group.

8. Help to Work
Building on the evidence of the trailblazer, Help to Work is a package of comprehensive support designed to address the multiple barriers of the long term unemployed. It was introduced on 28 April 2014.
Help to work is a referral to one of these modes of support:
Daily Work Search Reviews (phased introduction until December 2014)
Attending a Jobcentre Plus every day to sign on for 3 months
For claimants with motivational barriers
Community Work Placement (CWP)(previously CAP)
Mandatory work placements of community benefit for 6 months
For claimants with a lack of work experience
Mandatory Intervention Regime (MIR)(previously OCM)
More JCP adviser time for longer, more frequent interventions
For claimants with multiple/complex barriers to work
Work coaches discuss each option with claimants and decide which of the three options would be most appropriate.
Daily work search reviews will last for 3 months at a job centre to ensure claimants are undertaking the requirements and meeting conditionality for benefit. If claimants are still in receipt of benefit after 5 months they will be transferred to MIR.
Whilst on the Help to Work the participants are in receipt of Jobseeker’s Allowance (or Universal Credit) and therefore will still be on the Claimant Count (or UC figures). They will still continue to be expected to look for work.
Help to work is not about daily or weekly signing - Its about daily and weekly interventions that provide useful steers, hints, tips, motivation and the challenge of a critical friend that moves our claimants closer to sustained work.

9. Community Work Placements
Community work placements are for claimants whose key barrier to work is lack of work experience
Placements can be in a wide range of organisations doing activities such as: helping the elderly with their gardens, refurbishing second hand items and helping ‘Meals on Wheels’ projects
Community work placements will be delivered by providers contracted to DWP and will have to benefit the community and must not displace paid jobs
Community work placements will start in late May
Providers for Community Work Placements will be paid in increments for hosting placements with the final payment being dependent on the claimant sustaining employment.
Community work placements will take place for 30 hours per week and participants will also have provider-led supported jobsearch of up to 10 hours per week.
If claimants are still in receipt of JSA/UC after six months they will be transferred to MIR.
Community work placements are delivered by providers because ESF funding requires contracted out provision.

10. Mandatory Intervention Regime
MIR is an intensive form of support for claimants. Work coaches use a range of interventions e.g. training and local provision to help the claimant get back into work. It is over and above the standard regime.
All JSA and Universal Credit claimants who are subject to intensive work search requirements and complete the Work Programme will have access to MIR.
MIR is not timebound but lasts until the claimant’s barriers to employment have been addressed.
The work coach decides when a claimant is job ready and no longer requires additional support.

11. Supervised Jobsearch Pilots
Alongside the help to work package there will be two supervised Jobsearch pilots led by providers in England.
One testing the approach on long-term claimants who remain on benefit even after a period of intensive support through Help to Work
One testing the approach on those who might benefit from this intensive support earlier in their claim, prior to the Work Programme.
Claimants will be mandated to attend a local centre for 35 hours per week to undertake jobsearch and apply for jobs with expert support and supervision.
Supervised jobsearch pilots will be up and running by the end of 2014 and involve 3,000 participants per pilot.

12. Tackling Entrenched Worklessness
Entrenched worklessness is where worklessness has become a well established and deep rooted way of life.
Defined as the proportion of people who have been claiming one or more of the working age benefits e.g. JSA, ESA WRAG, for at least 3 out of the last 4 years.
At 31 March million people were considered to be in this group.
DWP’s Social Justice Division is tackling entrenched worklessness by first of all developing a number of ‘proof of concept’ initiatives to identify approaches that can be tested in more controlled pilots.
Six scoping exercises will be starting soon and are expected to run for a year implementing different delivery models to tackle entrenched worklessness across different locations e.g. seaside, rural and inner city locations.
The scoping exercises will be led by JCP districts working with local partners. Information, Governance and Security will secure a scan of the districts and categorise those falling into the entrenched workless category.
The scoping exercises are being run to provide a proof of concept around providing advisers with better information on those who are entrenched workless.
The Districts will take the information from IGS and design and run interviews with individuals to find out what barriers exist to them finding and keeping work.
Regular informal discussions will be conducted with JCP staff to understand how the information they receive helps them tailor their services.
The scoping exercise should help determine whether a more formal set of pilots is viable.

13. Looking Ahead – The Next Phase of the Work Programme
DWP Ministers are now considering how they would like to develop the next phase of the programme, learning the lessons and building on the best practice in the current phase.
We will need to refresh policy to make sure that we’re getting the best for claimants in future labour markets, and making the most of the opportunities that Universal Credit will bring.
We will be learning from Help to Work.
We will be building on the evidence obtained from the Supervised Jobsearch Pilots and other evidence-based exercises.
1) A best practice team has been convened which includes key stakeholders and partners.