Cicero Policy Briefer

Issue 18, November 2007

In work, better off—next steps to full employment

By Jane Mansour, Director of Policy and Research, WorkDirections UK and Ingeus Europe

This summer’s Green Paper on welfare reform reiterates a commitment to contracting out some programme delivery, describes a new(ish) employer initiative and promotes enhanced conditionality for lone parents. It raises questions at every turn. Important questions, such as how these proposals will be effectively delivered and efficiently funded, will need to be answered in the coming months.

The Green Paper underpins its proposals with plans for a more extensive partnership across the public, private and voluntary sectors. Specifically, it is intended that this competition will drive performance, and possibly provide choice, through the delivery of Flexible New Deal for those people unemployed for 12 months or more.

Increased engagement with employers is planned through Local Employer Partnerships (LEPs). These see employers guaranteeing job interviews for benefit claimants and helping to design and deliver pre-employment training programmes. LEPs do have the potential to open up opportunities for those most disadvantaged within the labour market.

However, finding the vacancy is rarely the problem. Indeed, many of the employers that have signed up currently make their vacancies available through Jobcentre Plus and other providers.

Discerning opportunities with sufficient flexibility to enable individuals to continue to meet their family commitments or manage their health is more difficult. It is this that makes a difference to an individual’s success in finding sustainable employment. LEPs would have significantly more impact if employers were recruited for, and supported with developing, the opportunities they offer for flexibility and progression.

There is a shift in emphasis in the conditionality applied to lone parents—the suggestion here is to bring forward the point at which they make a Jobseeker’s Allowance claim. This moves away from more recent policies of mandating initial engagement towards one of dictating levels of ongoing activity. There are some practical obstacles to lone parents meeting the conditions of JSA—availability for an immediate start, for example—and a question as to whether a change in benefit entitlement is the best mechanism to deliver higher rates of lone parent employment.

This highlights the need for a clear and consistent message from all Government departments about the expectations of parents, not only in terms of employment, but also time spent with children, and, for example, involvement with school and homework.

The success of any labour market intervention needs to be considered in the long term—employment outcomes hold little value if they do not last. Ultimately, this is the measure against which the proposals in the green paper need to be judged: will they ensure that more people have the chance of decent, sustainable work?

Jane Mansour is the Director of Policy and Research at WorkDirections UK and Ingeus Europe and can be contacted here.

Back to main policy briefer