Employability services to help those most at risk of long-term unemployment will receive up to £113 million of funding.
To deliver the ambitions set out in the National Strategy for Economic Transformation and the Child Poverty Delivery Plan, tailored services based on local needs will ensure the right help is given to ensure people are supported to move towards and into work.
The No One Left Behind approach – which includes the Young Person’s Guarantee – sees services funded through Local Employability Partnerships (LEPs) bringing together local government, Skills Development Scotland, Department for Work and Pensions, colleges, the third sector and other partners to provide support that meets both individual and labour market needs in each area. This is crucial to achieving shared aims around tackling poverty and inequalities.
The National Strategy for Economic Transformation aims to build a fairer and more equal society by ensuring economic transformation which tackles inequality, drives up working standards and improves pay. It also outlines how partnership working can support people into jobs by tackling labour market inequalities and unlocking Scotland’s economic potential.
Employment Minister Richard Lochhead said: “Redesigning services with the user in mind is part of the bold steps we’re taking to achieve the goals of the National Strategy for Economic Transformation.
“If delivering on our objectives involves change to get a better outcome for the people of Scotland, we won’t duck from that challenge.
“We have always been clear that No One Left Behind places people at the centre of employability services and support, to give them help tailored to their specific needs. I’m pleased that in 2022/23 we are able to invest up to £113 million to support those at risk of long-term unemployment.
“This investment will build on existing support to deliver more localised help around employability and skills to people most disadvantaged in the labour market. It will also align more closely with other local services in housing, justice, advice, and health.”
The closure of the Bathgate Department of Work and Pensions office will be a “huge blow to local people” according to Lothian MSP, Lorna Slater, who has warned that the extra costs and travel time will be particularly harsh for parents and young people.
Lorna wrote this in a letter to the UK Minister for Employment, Mims Davies MP following an announcement that the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) is set to close 40 offices across the UK. This follows warnings from the Scottish Government that the closures could impact up to 3,000 jobs.
The changes will force workers to travel to the nearest DWP office in Falkirk but, as Lorna notes in her letter, this will be unaffordable for many workers.
In a letter to Mims Davies MP, Lorna Slater wrote: “It is extremely disappointing that yet again the UK Government is moving jobs out of West Lothian. We have recently seen the closure of the Livingston HMRC office with staff forced to start commuting to Edinburgh or face redundancy.
“Many families in Bathgate are already struggling to make ends meet due to the brutal austerity of the UK Government and the consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic. I am particularly worried for parents and younger people. The timing of this closure could not be worse for them.
“Commuting between Bathgate and Falkirk can be difficult, particularly when relying on public transport. By train this journey can take upwards of an hour and when relying on buses this can be even longer.”
The Department for Work and Pensions is laying emergency regulations today (Monday 21 March 2022) so those arriving in the UK from Ukraine as a result of the Russian invasion can access Universal Credit and jobs support immediately.
Ukrainians will also be eligible for Housing Benefit, Pension Credit, Personal Independence Payment, Child Disability Living Allowance and Carers Allowance, and Attendance Allowance. Contributions-based Employment and Support Allowance (ESA), and Jobseekers Allowance (JSA) are also available for those Ukrainians who meet the criteria.
Translation services are available to help new arrivals with phone applications, with Work Coaches in DWP Jobcentres on hand to support people making claims online.
DWP staff are also delivering additional face-to-face assistance to those who need it – including tailored support to find work and advice on benefit eligibility – and will continue to do so.
Without the emergency legislation people arriving from Ukraine would be subject to the Habitual Residence Test, meaning they would have to wait up to three months before being able to receive income-related benefits, including Universal Credit.
Secretary of State for Work and Pensions Thérèse Coffey said: “My priority is that people fleeing the unimaginable horrors in Ukraine to seek safety here get the support and help they need from day one to move forward in their lives immediately.
Financial Secretary to the Treasury Lucy Frazer said: “It is vital that families coming from Ukraine can support their children from the moment they arrive, and by adjusting child benefit rules and ramping up our support, the tax system is pivoting to ensure this happens.
Salvation Army Refugee Response co-ordinator Major Nick Coke said: “We welcome the news that Ukrainians coming to the UK will be able to access benefits immediately and for those who are able, help to find suitable work.
“With offices on the ground in Ukraine and the border countries providing emergency food and shelter, The Salvation Army sees first-hand the trauma those displaced by war have experienced.
“It is fitting that they receive targeted help when seeking refuge in the UK.”
Thousands more jobseekers can now access tailored face-to-face job support and meet local employers as 150 new jobcentres are opened, ‘levelling up’ opportunities across the country.
These will be at the heart of the UK Government’s Way to Work Campaign to encourage more people across Great Britain into jobs.
Towns and cities from Falkirk to Torquay are now home to over 150 new temporary jobcentres and over 150 Youth Hubs, with more to follow, as the government pledges to get 500,000 people a job by the end of June.
Two of the new temporary Jobcentres are in Edinburgh city centre.
Work Coaches at jobcentres are at the forefront of the government’s drive to help people access the support they need to get into work, and many of the team recently joined the Department for Work and Pensions as part of the rapid recruitment drive to hire 13,500 new Work Coaches to boost job seeker support as we recover from the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.
A further 50 jobcentres are expected to open to the public in the coming months as efforts ramp up to get jobseekers into work faster, through the Way to Work campaign, by bringing them face to face with employers and encouraging them to look for work in a sector they may not have previously considered.
Work and Pensions Secretary of State, Thérèse Coffey, said: “We know how much people benefit from getting into work – both financially and for their wellbeing. And from getting any job first, they can get a better job next and then progress to a career.
“Jobcentres and Youth Hubs are crucial to get people into work, and will help level up opportunity across the country as through our Way to Work campaign we invite employers wherever they are to work with us and help find 500,000 people a job by the end of June.”
Driving the new Way to Work campaign, Work Coaches will help those who are capable of work search more widely for jobs from the fourth week of their claim, rather than from three months as is currently the case.
This clearer focus will ensure that, if people are not able to find work in their previous occupation or sector, they are expected to look for work in another sector and this will be part of their requirements for receiving their benefit payment.
Work Coach at Wigan Mesnes House Jobcentre Plus, Mike Cook said: “Being able to provide support and guidance to people in the local community on their journey to gain sustainable long-term employment, and therefore improving their lives, is the most rewarding and important aspect of my job as a Work Coach for the Department for Work and Pensions.“
There are also over 150 Youth Hubs now up and running across the country helping young jobseekers access local training and job opportunities, as well as a range of services to address wellbeing needs.
Investing in the skills and opportunities of young people and helping people into work at every stage of their lives is an integral part of the government’s ambitious plans for levelling up, which will transform the economic geography of the UK.
Youth Hub Work Coaches are working with jobcentre-based Youth Employability Coaches and tailored employment programmes, including Kickstart, to ensure quality, joined up support is accessible to those who need it.
Youth Work Coach at Barrow Youth Hub, Lisa Wicks said: “I have found working as a Youth Hub Work Coach both challenging and rewarding. To be able to offer support to some of our most vulnerable young people and to watch them grow in confidence and capability is a real privilege.
“This has been supported by partnership, working both within the DWP and with external partners, and is making a real difference to the lives of the young people accessing the support available.”
The government’s Plan for Jobs agenda is supporting jobseekers into work and those on low-pay to progress and earn more. The new Way to Work campaign will ‘turbocharge’ this national effort by getting half a million people into work over the next five months.
EDINBURGH’s new temporary Jobcentres can be found at:
Edinburgh
11-15 North Bridge, Edinburgh, EH1 1SB
Edinburgh Waverley Bridge
Unit L23, Waverley Mall, Waverley Bridge, Edinburgh, EH1 1BQ
A new target to move half a million people into jobs by the end of June launches today under UK Government plans to ‘turbo-charge’ our national recovery from COVID-19.
As we move out of the pandemic, with restrictions lifted and life returning to normal, the ‘Way to Work’ campaign will focus on getting job-ready people off Universal Credit and into work, rapidly filling vacancies which are at a record high.
Targeted predominantly at those in the intensive work search group on Universal Credit, Way to Work will support people back into work faster than ever before and filling vacancies more quickly. Latest figures from the ONS show that the demand for workers is there, with a record 1.2 million vacancies to fill, 59% higher than pre-pandemic levels.
To support people into work faster those who are capable of work will be expected to search more widely for available jobs from the fourth week of their claim, rather than from three months as is currently the case.
This clearer focus will ensure that, if people are not able to find work in their previous occupation or sector, they are expected to look for work in another sector and this will be part of their requirements for receiving their benefit payment.
For the vast majority of people who are already engaging fully with Jobcentre Plus, this could be the extra support they need to secure a job. However, for the small minority who do not engage, the sanctions regime will operate as usual.
They will be supported in this with more time spent face to face with a Work Coach to receive better, tailored support. We know work is the best way for people to get on, to improve their lives and support their families because people are at least £6,000 better off in full time work than on benefits.
Work and Pensions Secretary Thérèse Coffey said: “Helping people get any job now, means they can get a better job and progress into a career.
“Way to Work is a step change in our offer to claimants and employers, making sure our jobcentre network and excellent Work Coaches can deliver opportunities, jobs and prosperity to all areas of the country.
“As we emerge from COVID, we are going to tackle supply challenges and support the continued economic recovery by getting people into work. Our new approach will help claimants get quickly back into the world of work while helping ensure employers get the people they and the economy needs.”
Chancellor of the Exchequer, Rishi Sunak said: “It’s important that everyone has the opportunity and support to find a good job to help them get on in life.
“That’s why we’re doubling down on our Plan for Jobs with this new campaign to harness the talent of jobseekers and support employers to fill vacancies, find work and create new opportunities.
“Together we will boost this country’s jobs-led recovery.”
Building on the ‘success of the flagship Kickstart Scheme’, DWP will work with a wider range of employers to cement positive relationships and show them the good quality of candidates coming through jobcentres.
This includes through direct engagement with employers across booming sectors like construction, haulage and logistics and social care, and over 350 jobs fairs mobilised across every region in the coming months.
Major employers including Balfour Beatty, Whitbread Group, TalkTalk, Bourne Leisure, Ocado and Kier are already throwing their weight behind the campaign.
Ian Nicholas, Global Managing Director, Reed said: We’ve been working closely with the Department for Work and Pensions for a number of years and in the drive to get people into work, this is now more important than ever.
“Working closely with the DWP has provided us with valuable access to people looking for work. Those not already working closely with the department should consider the benefits it can bring both for business and the UK economy.”
Tony Ellender, Head of Professional Development, Balfour Beatty said: “Balfour Beatty is delighted to be working with DWP to promote our wide range of opportunities in construction.”
Lisa Taylor, Head of Resourcing, Whitbread said: “Many of those who have joined us from the jobcentres during our time working closely together have gone on to build a successful career with us or maintain long term employment.
“At Whitbread, we passionately believe that by working together with Jobcentre Plus we can make a real difference to the lives of jobseekers in this country through our no barriers to entry and no limits to ambition approach, as well as being a force for good in our local communities.”
Daniel Kasmir, Chief of People and Procurement at TalkTalk said: “We are happy to be working with DWP in exploring all recruitment solutions to look to fill our vacancies and will continue to do so with this push for jobs.”
Bleu Stessia, Kickstart Manager, Haven.com said: “Work Coaches have enabled us to link with over 50 jobcentres across the UK supporting our parks from Scotland to Cornwall.
“Understanding the great opportunities in hospitality, the DWP has also provided extensive support for our recruitment programme referring candidates and providing, support for interviews, for assessment days and job fairs.”
“Shameful shambles” of DWP’s long term underpayment of state pensioners with “little interest” in consequences
The Department for Work & Pensions (DWP) estimates it has underpaid 134,000 pensioners, mostly women, over £1 billion of their State Pension entitlement, with some of the errors dating as far back as 1985.
In January 2021, DWP started an official exercise to correct the errors, the ninth such exercise since 2018. The errors, which mostly affect widows, divorcees and women who rely on their husband’s pension contributions for some of their pension entitlement, happened because of the Department’s use of outdated systems and heavily manual processing. Small errors that were not recognised each time added up over years to significant sums of money.
DWP will only contact pensioners when it finds through these exercises that they have been underpaid, and admits that many more are not receiving their due – these “risk missing out on significant sums”, with “little guidance for those currently claiming State Pension who are concerned that they have been underpaid” and people left “in the dark over their entitlement”.
There is currently no formal plan for contacting the next of kin where a pensioner who was underpaid is now deceased.
DWP is only paying those it has identified as having a legal entitlement to arrears, in some cases many years after the event, and has been inconsistent in paying interest. It has shown little interest in understanding the further knock-on consequences, including on social care provision, for those it underpaid.
Fixing DWP’s mistakes itself comes at great cost to the taxpayer – expected to cost £24.3 million in staff costs alone by the end of 2023. Experienced, specialised staff have been moved away from business-as-usual and as a result DWP is already experiencing backlogs in processing new applications.
The risk remains that the errors that led to underpayments in the first place will be repeated in the correction exercise, if not also in new claims.
Dame Meg Hillier MP, Chair of the Public Accounts Committee, said: “For decades DWP has relied on a State Pension payment system that is clunky and required staff to check many databases – and now some pensioners and the taxpayer are paying in spades.
“Departments that make errors through maladministration have a duty to put those it wronged back in the position they should have been. In reality DWP can never make up what people have really lost, over decades, and in many cases it’s not even trying. An unknown number of pensioners died without ever getting their due and there is no current plan to pay back their estates.
“DWP is now on its ninth go at fixing these mistakes since 2018, the specialised staff diverted to fix this mess costing tens of millions more to the taxpayer and predictable consequences of delays in new pension claims. And there is no assurance that the errors that led to these underpayments in the first place will not be repeated in the correction exercise.
“This is a shameful shambles. The PAC expects DWP to set out the step changes it will make to ensure it is among the last.”
A £510 million funding boost targeted at fraudsters lying to the DWP about their benefit claims has been announced by the UK Government.
The money will be used to improve the department’s capability and capacity to detect and deter benefit fraud and catch fraudsters, recovering more taxpayer money that funds essential public services.
This crackdown will include 2,000 trained specialists to review claims by carrying out property checks, following up earning declarations of self-employed claimants and cross-checking bank details.
It builds on the department’s highly skilled and agile counter-fraud team and investigators in cyber security and serious and organised crime.
They led government action to tackle organised crime groups seeking to exploit support during the pandemic, shutting down systematic attacks on the benefit system and preventing at least £1.9 billion in benefits from being paid to people trying to scam the system.
Thérèse Coffey, Secretary of State at the Department for Work and Pensions, said: “Investing in measures to fight fraud protects honest taxpayers’ money and stops criminals funding their illicit activities off the back of our welfare system.
“We know the characteristics of a suspicious claim. This half a billion-pound cash injection is a clear message to fraudsters and criminal gangs. Anyone trying to con us will get caught out.”
A recent case handled by the counter-fraud team supported a high value fraud bust with police in Stratford-upon-Avon. Operation Iggy was a sting on a woman who had made 14 Universal Credit claims using false identity documents for a total of £270,000.
She was arrested, with the false documents found in her house, and sentenced to 30 months in prison, with DWP now recovering the money.
Capita plc has announced that it has secured a £7.7m 8-month extension to its contract to run the Job Entry Targeted Support (JETS) programme in Scotland. Capita will continue to run the programme to March 2023.
Capita launched the Scottish JETS programme in January 2021 and since then, it has successfully supported over 4,000 job seekers, who had become unemployed due to the Covid 19 pandemic, into new roles in sectors, such as, hospitality, retail, care and construction.
JETS is a Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) programme designed, following the pandemic, to support jobseekers across the UK, who have been unemployed for more than 13 weeks, find work.
Over the course of the extension, Capita will continue to work with Scottish supply chain partners – including The Wise Group, The Lennox Partnership and Reed in Partnership– to match jobseekers with skilled advisers who will provide specialist and local support tailored to their needs.
All jobseekers referred to JETS meet every 10 days with their adviser, who works with them to make them job ready and improve their knowledge, skills and confidence. JETS participants benefit from digital interview training and access to a Capita-developed online portal which features:
• Online learning which provides users with opportunities to get new qualifications for sectors of the economy that are growing.
• A skills library which enables users to measure their existing skills and knowledge to help them decide what the most appropriate online courses are for them to complete. • An AI-powered CV builder which links a user’s CV to a job feed to enable them to access employment opportunities.
• An action plan, devised with a user’s JETS employment adviser, and online calendar to track their progress.
Mims Davies MP, Minister for Employment, said: “It’s wonderful to see over 4,000 people, like Adam, across Scotland getting back into work thanks to our DWP JETS scheme.
“The £500m expansion of our Plan for Jobs will continue to deliver for people of all ages across the country – giving them tailored support to find that next opportunity and really progress in their careers.”
Andy Start, CEO Capita Public Service, said: “We are delighted that we have secured this extension to our JETS contract. I am proud that our team has helped over 4,000 jobseekers in Scotland into work.
“Every person Capita has supported into a new role, through our digital tools and our advisers, is now pursuing a rewarding career and developing their expertise further. In the coming months, we will help many more jobseekers get job ready by giving them the advice, support and skills they need to re-enter the workforce.
“The Covid-19 pandemic is not over and as we continue the rebuilding process, programmes like JETS are vital to securing the UK’s economic recovery. We will continue to use our extensive experience of delivering digital services, which support diverse groups of vulnerable people, to fulfil our role on the JETS programme in Scotland.”
Adam, a JETS participant who Capita has placed in work, said: “I hadn’t done many job interviews and I found them nerve wracking. I was in a very difficult cycle before I was with JETS, interviews wouldn’t go well and I didn’t know what to focus on for the next one. The JETS mock interviews and online training courses really helped to build my confidence.
“My JETS advisor always made me feel like there was time for me and she was giving me the help that I needed. I’ve already recommended the JETS scheme to other people in my life as a helping hand really does make a world of difference.”
Some of Capita’s JETS participants are dealing with mental health challenges. Capita offers these jobseekers free access to a digital mental health platform, designed by Kooth Digital Health, that provides immediate, anonymous access to self-help materials, an online community and professional support via accredited counsellors and emotional wellbeing practitioners.
Additionally, as part of Capita’s commitment to reducing its carbon footprint, the business has pledged to fund the planting of a tree for each jobseeker it places in sustainable employment.
The trees will be planted through Revere, an innovative nature restoration finance organisation, across the Cairngorms, Loch Lomond and Trossachs National Parks and will help to combat climate change and biodiversity loss.
First Minister Nicola Sturgeon has joined with the First Minister of Wales and the First Minister and deputy First Minister of Northern Ireland to demand Prime Minister Boris Johnson “do the right thing” by reversing the decision to withdraw the £20-a-week uplift to Universal Credit.
In a rare joint intervention, the leaders of the devolved nations have warned in a letter that the UK Government “is withdrawing this lifeline just as the country is facing a significant cost-of-living crisis.”
They have urged the Prime Minister to “consider the moral, social and economic harms” of the of this cut, and “do the right thing” and reverse his government’s decision to withdraw this funding which will harm around 6 million people across the UK.
The First Minister, along with Welsh First Minister Mark Drakeford and Northern Ireland First Minister and deputy First Minister Paul Givan and Michelle O’Neill say the move, which comes into effect this Wednesday, 6 October, is short sighted at a time of increases in the cost of food and fuel, rising inflation, the end of the furlough scheme, and imminent rise in National Insurance contributions.
First Minister Nicola Sturgeon said: “I do not think there has been anything quite so morally indefensible in UK policy in recent times as the proposed cut to Universal Credit.
“At a time when we are facing the impact of the pandemic, Brexit and soaring costs, removing £20 per week from the lowest-income households simply cannot be defended in any way, shape or form.
“The planned cut represents the biggest overnight reduction to the basic rate of social security in more than 70 years and would sever a crucial lifeline for countless households across the UK at a time when budgets are already facing an unprecedented squeeze.
“It is an immoral, ill-thought out and ultimately counterproductive policy which simply must be stopped.
“Those on low incomes are going to find it difficult to feed their children, heat their homes, and pay their rent if the cut goes ahead. We have therefore united as the leaders of Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland to say to the Prime Minister: ‘Do not do this.’”
The full text of the letter is included below:
Dear Prime Minister
We are writing to call on you, with the utmost urgency, to reverse your Government’s short-sighted decision to withdraw the £20-per-week uplift to Universal Credit.
Your Government is withdrawing this lifeline just as the country is facing a significant cost-of-living crisis. This winter millions of people are facing an untenable combination of increases to the cost of food and energy, rising inflation, the end of the furlough scheme, and an imminent hike to National Insurance contributions.
There is no rationale for cutting such crucial support at a point when people across the UK are facing an unprecedented squeeze on their household budgets.
Within the last month, an overwhelming majority of elected members in Holyrood, the Senedd, Stormont and Westminster have voiced their opposition to this cut to Universal Credit, as have the four social security committees of each parliament. The four Children’s Commissioners of each nation, numerous charities and faith groups have also expressed their grave concerns as have millions of people who face additional and unnecessary hardship because of this cut to Universal Credit against the backdrop of a winter of hardship.
We note your Government’s announcement of a Household Support Fund – an acknowledgment that too many people will be unable to make ends meet this winter. Unfortunately, a £500 million fund handed out on a discretionary basis is wholly inadequate to making up the £6 billion shortfall in social security expenditure that will result from the cut to Universal Credit.
Your Government has repeatedly refused to conduct any impact analysis on the biggest overnight reduction to the basic rate of social security for more than 70 years.
As such, it is important that we draw your attention to the growing body of evidence and analysis about the harm this cut will inflict. Research by the Resolution Foundation and the Trussell Trust has highlighted the significant and devastating impact the cliff-edge withdrawal of the £20-a-week uplift to Universal Credit will have on family incomes, with an associated rise in food insecurity.
The Legatum Institute has produced sobering analysis highlighting that the £20-per-week uplift has kept 840,000 people, including 290,000 children, out of poverty in Q2 of 2021. It makes no sense at all to knowingly pursue a policy that will result in this immense and needless rise in child poverty and we ask you to consider the lasting harm and costs of this cut accordingly.
It is important to note that this will increase poverty and hardship without delivering any tangible social or economic benefits. The UN Special Rapporteur on Extreme Poverty and Human Rights said – when calling upon you to reverse this cut – that for a healthy and well-qualified workforce to emerge, your Government must provide adequate levels of social protection. Years of a freeze on benefits means Universal Credit has not kept pace with rising living costs. Further to this, rising inflation means that a basic rate of Universal Credit after this cut will hold less purchasing power than it did in March 2020.
To support a meaningful recovery from this pandemic we must first ensure the needs of our most vulnerable are met. This cut threatens to undermine the recovery by diminishing the capacity of six million people to make ends meet.
It is not too late for you to reverse the decision to take money out of the pockets of the poorest in society at a time when they are facing a serious cost of living crisis.
We, with the full support of the Northern Ireland Executive and the Scottish and Welsh Governments, urge you to consider the moral, social and economic harms of this cut, and do the right thing and reverse your decision to withdraw this lifeline.
A copy of this letter is being sent to the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, the Chancellor of the Exchequer and relevant Secretary of States for the devolved nations.
Yesterday, Lothian MSP, and Scottish Greens Co-leader, Lorna Slater joined the overwhelming majority of MSPs in voting to oppose the cruel Tory £20 cut to universal credit that is being inflicted by Westminster.
The cut will impact tens of thousands of families in Lothian, cutting their income by £1,040 per year.
Lothian MSP and Scottish Greens Co-leader Lorna Slater said:“The Tories have shown their true colours. This is one of the biggest social security cuts ever seen in this country and could plunge tens of thousands of families in Lothian into despair.
“It is particularly unwelcome at a time when so many people are still struggling with the impact of the pandemic.
“£20 a week may not be a lot to the Prime Minister and his colleagues, but for far too many families it is crucial to their budgeting and their wellbeing. For many people across this city, it could be the difference between a warm home and a cold one this winter
“Many people claiming universal credit are in fact in work. The so-called uplift was not an act of generosity, but an admission of failure – an admission that the system had been so damaged by cuts that it was no longer able to provide adequate support for people needing help with their incomes for reasons beyond their control.
“The cut is symbolic of a UK government that knows the price of some things but the value of nothing. It shows why Scotland needs the powers to chart a different path that prioritises human need and builds a fairer, greener recovery for all.”
Holyrood Social Security Minister, Edinburgh Northern & Leith MSP Ben Macpherson, closed yesterday’s debate:
