Purnell: Specialists must
help the long-term unemployed not just find work but stay in work
DEPARTMENT FOR WORK
AND PENSIONS News Release (Reference EMP-063) issued by The
Government News Network on 28 February 2008
Employment experts
in the public, private and voluntary sectors will be paid to not
just help the long-term unemployed into jobs - but to keep them
there, Work and Pensions Secretary James Purnell announced today.
Publishing the department's 'Commissioning
Strategy', James Purnell announced a much greater focus on
payments by results when awarding welfare-to-work contracts to the
public, private and voluntary sectors in Great Britain.
The strategy means contractors working together to deliver
solutions to the hardest to reach.
James Purnell said:
"The private and voluntary sector already plays a role in
delivering our work programmes. I want to take this to the next
level, free them from central control and allow them to innovate.
Their involvement is here to stay and set to grow.
"For the providers the rewards will be high, with longer
contracts and a growing market, but in return I will set high
expectations with payment on results.
"I want to see solutions which focus on every single
individual, not just the ones who are motivated to work.
Increasingly providers will be rewarded when someone has been in
work for at least 6 months in the first instance, rising
potentially to 18 months further down the line."
According to the new strategy, organisations will have to offer
jobseekers more creative and innovative ways of helping them to
overcome their specific problems.
An increasingly significant proportion of the rewards paid to
these specialist providers will be paid when someone has been in
work for at least 6 months in the first instance, rising
potentially to 18 months further down the line.
This compares to the current system where only the first three
months of a person's employment are taken into account. In
return, providers will be rewarded with longer and larger
contracts. These contracts will last up to 5-7 years, instead of
the current average of 3 years.
David Freud, who has been advising the DWP on the commissioning
strategy since he was appointed as the department's welfare
reform adviser in January, said:
"Contractors will be paid by results and customers will get
the long-term support they need to ensure they get into the world
of work and stay there.
"The new strategy also has the potential to open up a whole
new type of competition in the market place, offering openness and
transparency where competitors can measure each others successes -
I welcome this."
The strategy also builds on James Purnell's announcement
last week that the long-term unemployed claiming jobseekers
allowance will have to undertake a minimum of four-weeks full-time
work-related activity or lose their benefits from next year as
part of the Flexible New Deal (FND).
The strategy also shows how the concerns of smaller organisations
and charities will be addressed, to ensure that the department
continues to utilise their expertise in helping those furthest
from the labour market get back into work.
Notes to editors
1. The full Commissioning Strategy can be found at the following
link: http://www.dwp.gov.uk/publications/dwp/2008/com-strategy/cs-rep-08.pdf .
2. The FND will be the first employment programme to be
contracted under the new strategy. We will shortly be calling on
public, private and voluntary sector organisations to bid for this
programme, with advertisements placed in the Official Journal of
the European Union.
Website http://www.dwp.gov.uk