In its consultation on Welfare to Work Reform the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) proposes that, apart from severely disabled people, or those with full-time caring responsibilities, the government expects everyone receiving benefits to take active steps towards employment and to take up suitable employment. They are introducing skills assessments and will make it compulsory for people receiving Job Seekers Allowance to take up training if the assessment shows that they need it. (They are consulting on whether training should be compulsory for people receiving Invalidity Benefit). They propose that people on JSA for more than 2 years will be required to take up unpaid work in the community. With the introduction of the Employment Support Allowance, people who are assessed as being in the Work Related Activity Group will be required to participate in Work Focussed Interviews and will receive personalised support to gain work. People in the Support Group will be able to access this support if they wish. Access to Work funding will be doubled and the government has since announced that some of this funding will be used to help support people to stay in work, as well as being used to help people back into work.
In our response we have stressed that the Government needs to focus on increasing jobs and other employment opportunities because relying on job placement activities for people at most disadvantage in the labour market will not be sufficient in a deteriorating economic climate. Investment in Social Firms is more pertinent than ever. We have welcomed the increase in Access to Work funding, and have called for greater flexibility in the way that it can be used, for example, to be pooled to fund a support worker if an organisation has a collective need. We have urged clarity and caution about how any “work for your benefit” programme is designed, in order to avoid stigmatising those people who are on the programme and voluntary workers more generally. Related to this we have asked the Government to clarify the statutory rights and responsibilities of volunteers and the organisations they work for. We have emphasised that personalised support should be just that – employment advisers need to be fully trained and have access to expert advice so that they offer support that is appropriate and timely according to individual needs.
