Welfare to work: is it working?
The government's welfare-to-work scheme has provoked controversy since it was introduced in 2011. Dan Finn of the University of Portsmouth subjects the most recent results to scrutiny.
The Coalition government placed the Work Programme (WP) at the heart of its plans to tackle unemployment and provide return-to-work services via private and third- sector organisations. Between 2011 and 2016, the programme is expected to assist more than three million long-term unemployed and disability benefit claimants. The design and procurement of the WP has comprised a series of innovations, including the use of larger, well- capitalised prime contractors responsible for service delivery, and for managing an appropriate blend of subcontractors to meet the varied needs of claimants.
The contracts also give providers greater freedom to decide how best to help participants within the two-year period that is mandatory for most claimants. The payment-by-results (PbR) funding model is complex and diverse, spreading across nine different claimant groups, with higher payments linked to more difficult-to-place groups. Payments comprise an initial attachment fee; a job outcome fee, paid when someone has been in employment for either 13 or 26 weeks; followed by sustainment fees paid every four weeks for different fixed periods. The attachment fee was temporary and, from April 2014, prime contractors will be paid only for getting participants into employment and keeping them there...
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Ethosis aimed at public sector leaders, politicians, academics and policy specialists debating the future of public services today.
