RESEARCH PAPER 05/62 30 SEPTEMBER 2005

Employment and Training Programmes for the Unemployed Volume II: Other programmes and pilots

This Research Paper, in two volumes (RP 05/61 and RP 05/62), provides an overview of the main Government-funded employment and training programmes. It also contains brief notes on earlier programmes in operation since 1945 and on recent policy developments. The Paper updates Research Note 90/25 (Training, Enterprise and Employment Schemes) and Research Papers 93/40, 94/114, 95/51, 96/66 97/98, 98/111, 00/81 and 03/13 (Employment and Training Schemes for the Unemployed).

Edward Beale

ECONOMIC POLICY AND STATISTICS SECTION

HOUSE OF COMMONS LIBRARY

Recent Library Research Papers include: 05/47 Unemployment by Constituency, May 2005 15.06.05

05/48 The Racial and Religious Hatred Bill [Bill 11 of 2005-06] 16.06.05

05/49 The Violent Crime Reduction Bill [Bill 10 2005-06] 17.06.05

05/50 Regulation of Financial Services (Land Transactions) Bill 17.06.05

[Bill 7 of 2005-06]

05/51 Civil Aviation Bill [Bill 12 of 2005-06] 23.06.05

05/52 The Immigration, Asylum and Nationality Bill [Bill 13 of 2005-06] 30.06.05

05/53 Economic Indicators, June 2005 01.07.05

05/54 Unemployment by Constituency, June 2005 13.07.05

05/55 The London Olympics Bill [Bill 45 of 2005-06] 14.07.05

05/56 Armed Forces (Parliamentary Approval for Participation in 08.08.05

Armed Conflict) Bill [Bill 16 of 2005-06]

05/57 Unemployment by Constituency, July 2005 17.08.05

05/58 Zimbabwe after the 2005 parliamentary election 18.08.05

05/59 Employment tribunals (Representation and Assistance in Discrimination 26.08.05

Proceedings) Bill [Bill 14 of 2005-06]

05/60 Unemployment by Constituency, August 2005 14.09.05

05/61 Employment and Training Programmes for the Unemployed - 30.09.05

Volume 1: Recent developments and the New Deal programmes

Research Papers are available as PDF files: • to members of the general public on the Parliamentary web site, URL: http://www.parliament.uk • within Parliament to users of the Parliamentary Intranet, URL: http://hcl1.hclibrary.parliament.uk

Library Research Papers are compiled for the benefit of Members of Parliament and their personal staff. Authors are available to discuss the contents of these papers with Members and their staff but cannot advise members of the general public. Any comments on Research Papers should be sent to the Research Publications Officer, Room 407, 1 Derby Gate, London, SW1A 2DG or e-mailed to PAPERS@parliament.uk ISSN 1368-8456

Summary of main points The purpose of this Research Paper is to provide a brief account of the many Government-funded training, employment and job search programmes which form part of the strategy to alleviate the problem of long-term unemployment. It is intended as a reference work rather than necessarily to be read from cover to cover. The Government’s policy framework underpinning its Welfare to Work agenda aims to include:1

• active labour market policies – tailored and appropriate help for those without work, to prevent long term detachment from the labour market;

• policies that reduce barriers to work – including education, skills, childcare and training policies to create an adaptive, flexible and productive workforce; and

• policies that make work pay. This paper broadly covers the first two of these elements. The third element, which includes reform of the tax and benefit system, and the introduction of the National Minimum Wage to improve incentives to work, is not covered by this paper. The paper has been split into two separate volumes. Volume I (RP 05/61) discusses recent developments such as the establishment of Sector Skills Councils and the Building on the New Deal proposals. Each of the six individual New Deal programmes which are central to the Government’s welfare-to-work strategy are also summarised in this volume. Volume II (RP 05/62) summarises all of the other programmes and pilots which are currently available. This volume also provides brief details of employment and training programmes implemented since the 1945, as well as listing the major sources used in compiling the paper.

1 HM Treasury, Budget 2005, March 2005, HC 372 2004/05, Chapter 4, pp81-82

CONTENTS

I Current Programmes 7

A. Work Based Learning for Adults 7

B. Work Based Learning for Young People 11

C. Career Development Loans 20

D. Employment Zones 23

E. Action Teams for Jobs 34

F. Programme Centres 39

G. Travel to Interview Scheme 42

H. Work Trials 45

I. Job Grant 46

J. Employment Retention and Advancement Scheme 47

K. StepUP 49

L. Progress2Work 54

M. Ethnic Minorities Outreach Initiative 57

N. Rapid Response Service 61

O. Working Neighbourhood Pilots 63

P. Ambition 66

II Training and Employment Schemes since the War 68

III Further sources 80

IV List of abbreviations 81

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I Current Programmes This part of the paper provides individual summaries of non-New Deal employment and training programmes and pilots currently in operation. These all form part of the Government’s policy framework which underpins its Welfare to Work agenda. As stated previously, this paper has been written as a reference work whereby all sections can be read independently of each other. A. Work Based Learning for Adults

Work Based Learning for Adults (WBLA) is a voluntary programme designed to help the long-term unemployed back into work. The programme was known as Training for Work until April 1998 and Work Based Training for Adults from 1998-99. A revamped scheme was introduced in 2001. Training is a devolved matter, and WBLA is known as Work Based Learning (WBL) in Wales,2 and as Training for Work (TfW) in Scotland.3 Since 2001, Jobcentre Plus has been responsible for the delivery of WBLA.4 WBLA programmes are free standing and can be delivered outside of the New Deal programmes or as part of, or preparation for, a New Deal programme.5 1. Eligibility

WBLA is aimed at people aged 25 or over who have been unemployed for six months or more and are claiming Jobseeker’s Allowance (JSA) or another qualifying benefit.6 However, there are exceptions to these criteria and certain groups can gain early entry at the discretion of Jobcentre Plus personal advisers. These include:

• People with disabilities or special needs. • Those who need basic skills training or help with spoken English. • Those returning to the labour market (for example after looking after a child or

sick relative). • Lone parents. • Victims of large-scale redundancies. • Those who have been in the Armed Forces and have either begun resettlement

leave, terminal leave or have been continuously unemployed since discharge. • Ex-offenders. • The homeless. • Those who can be described as belonging to one of the New Deal groups.

2 See: http://www.elwa.org.uk/elwaweb/elwa.aspx?pageid=455 3 See: http://www.scottish-enterprise.com/sedotcom_home/stp/careersadvice/develop-your-skills-work-based-

training-2/trainingforwork.htm?siblingtoggle=1 4 Prior to this WBLA was delivered by Training and Enterprise Councils (TECs). 5 For more information on the various New Deal programmes see the ‘New Deal’ subject page of the

Library intranet. 6 Income Support, Incapacity Benefit, Maternity Benefit, Severe Disablement Allowance, National

Insurance credits.

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2. Programme details

The key objectives of the programme are:7

• To help adults without work and with poor employability skills move into sustained employment;

• to help long-term unemployed people to gain the occupational skills needed to fill local skill shortage vacancies;

• to enable long-term unemployed people to make a success of self-employment; • to provide basic employability training for jobless people with severe literacy and

numeracy problems to remove their barriers to employment and enable them to gain employment.

Jobcentre Plus personal advisers will assess the suitability of participants for one of the following four options available through WBLA:

• Short job-focused training (SJFT) – offers courses of up to six weeks duration for the most ‘job-ready’.

• Longer occupational training (LOT) – is for those with benefit claims of a year or more and provides longer-term training to address more fundamental needs.

• Basic employability training (BET) – those with basic skills needs and is expected to last for 26 weeks.

• Self-employment support (SEP) – offers help and support for those wishing to move into unsupported self-employment.

All training is contracted out by Jobcentre Plus to local training providers. As WBLA is voluntary, participants are paid a training allowance which consists of any existing benefit payments received plus an additional £10 or £15 training premium. Additional assistance may also be available at the discretion of the Jobcentre Plus personal adviser to help cover the cost of travel and childcare. Details of the provision available are given in a Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) Press Release:8

Support for training through WBLA increases with length of unemployment. People unemployed for 6-12 months are allowed up to 6 weeks training. This includes short courses like fork lift truck driver, intruder alarm installation, IT skills updates, call centre training and the 4 week basic skills course. From 12 months until entry into New Deal at 18 months, people can access up to 12 months training. This is usually a package of training aimed at helping individuals overcome whatever barriers they face to getting jobs. Packages can include basic skills training, work placements, work trials, motivational training and occupational training leading to vocational qualifications. WBLA is also a vehicle for tackling the basic skills and other barriers to employment faced by people with the most severe basic skills problems (i.e. those with a reading/numeracy assessment

7 DWP Press Release, Jobcentre Plus Delivered Government Supported Work-Based Learning for Adults,

29 August 2002 8 ibid.

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under the level of an average 7 year old). Provision up to 6 months in duration is available for this client group - but the key aim of the provision remains to move people into work. WBLA also offers support for self-employment similar to that offered in New Deal 25 plus. People who do not find work before the end of their WBLA course are offered Programme Centre provision to help with job search.

3. Cost and numbers

Statistics on WBLA are published quarterly by the DWP. The statistics given below are for England only. The key findings from the most recently released figures are as follows:9

• In the three months to March 2005, there were 26,400 starts to WBLA. Cumulatively, there have been 339,600 starts to WBLA since the programme began in April 2001.

• Since April 2001, 21% of starts were to BET, 18% were to SJFT, 25% to LOT, and 36% to SEP.

• To December 2004, 39% of all leavers from WBLA had moved into a job. 4. Evaluation

The DWP has commissioned a range of qualitative research into the performance of WBLA since the introduction of the revamped scheme in 2001. Research published in July 200210 concluded that:11

In terms of the overall effectiveness of WBLA, staff feel that the programme can provide useful skills to individuals that are interested/willing to take part, and is helping a reasonable proportion into work. However, the fact that they cannot make participation compulsory does limit its scope to help a large proportion of the clients that they see.

More recently the 2004 report, Work-based Learning for Adults: an evaluation of labour market effects12, found that:13

• SJFT participants were most job-ready and BET participants were least job-ready.

• SJFT had no long-term effects on employment. Its main impact was to accelerate entry into work, especially full-time work. The effects on clients aged over 50 were more enduring. Considering wages, no effect was evident. Participation did improve IT skills and level of vocational qualification. It also increased the chances of being economically active.

• LOT significantly increased the chances of working 30 or more hours a week. No such effect was found for any-hours work, although the trend suggested one

9 http://www.dwp.gov.uk/asd/wbla.asp 10 Winterbotham et al., Evaluation of the Work Based Learning for Adults Programme since April 2001

Qualitative Interviews with ES staff, Providers and Employers, DWP Report WAE 128, July 2002 11 ibid. p4 12 Anderson et al., Work-based Learning for Adults: an evaluation of labour market effects, DWP, ESR187 13 Key findings from summary of report: http://www.dwp.gov.uk/jad/2004/187sum.pdf .

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might emerge in the longer-run. There was no wage impact. The effects on IT skills and vocational qualifications were greater than for SJFT, while the economic activity effect was less.

• BET had no effect on employment. Again, there was no effect on wages. Employability was increased: basic skills were improved as were IT skills, vocational qualifications (to a minor degree) and economic activity.

• The lack of employment effects for BET reflects the fact they are a hard-to-help group. Two-fifths had problems with English.

• Employment effects were not accompanied by income effects. The impact on standard of living may be limited, unless individuals work longer hours.

• There were some signs that jobs found were low-paid and offered few other benefits.

• For those who had not found work, SJFT participants were more confident about their prospects than those who had participated in LOT or BET.

5. Further reading

1 Anderson et al., Work-based Learning for Adults: an evaluation of labour market effects, 2004

2 DWP, Work Based Learning for Adults (WBLA): The Selection Process, June

2003

3 Winterbotham et al, Evaluation of the Work Based Learning for Adults Programme since April 2001 Qualitative Interviews with ES staff, Providers and Employers, July 2002

4 Ecotec Research and Consulting/BRMB, Evaluation of Work Based Learning for

Adults Qualitative Research with non-JSA clients, August 2002

5 “Starts on Work-based Learning for Adults plummet”, Working Brief, October 2001.

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B. Work Based Learning for Young People

Work Based Learning for Young People (WBLYP) is a programme of government-supported training comprising Apprenticeships, Advanced Apprenticeships, Entry to Employment (E2E)14, and NVQ Learning. 1. Introduction

Apprenticeships offer a combination of on-the-job training with the chance to gain qualifications. Modern Apprenticeships were introduced in 1994. In May 2004, the then Secretary of State for Education and Skills, Charles Clarke, announced a series of reforms.15 The changes include the introduction of Young Apprenticeships for 14-16 year olds, making Apprenticeships available to people aged over 25 and renaming Foundation Modern Apprenticeships and Advanced Modern Apprenticeships as Apprenticeships and Advanced Apprenticeships respectively. The Learning and Skills Council (LSC) took over responsibility for WBLYP in England from Training and Enterprise Councils (TECs) on 26 March 2001. Similar training is provided in Scotland through the Local Enterprise Companies.16 There is a separate Scottish Modern Apprenticeship scheme funded by the Scottish Executive and run by Scottish Enterprise and Highlands and Islands Enterprise.17 Modern Apprenticeships in Wales are the responsibility of Education and Learning Wales (ELWa)18 and in Northern Ireland of the Department for Employment and Learning.19 The remainder of this section describes the provision of WBLYP in England. 2. Background

Apprenticeships have been the subject of a number of reviews over the last few years. a. Cassels Report

In 2000, the then DfEE ran a consultation on reforming Modern Apprenticeships. In March 2001, Tessa Blackstone, then Education and Employment Minister, announced the establishment of the Modern Apprenticeship Advisory Committee under the chairmanship of Sir John Cassels.20 The DfEE Press Release set out its task:21

14 E2E was previously referred to as Life Skills and includes Work Based Learning below Level 2. E2E has

now replaced all other training from Entry Level to NVQ Level 1 for all 16-18-year-old learners. 15 DfES Press Notice, New Apprenticeships will widen opportunity and boost business – Clarke, 10 May

2004 16 See: http://www.scottish-enterprise.com/sedotcom_home/stp/careersadvice/develop-your-skills-work-based-

training-2.htm?siblingtoggle=1 , or: http://www.hie.co.uk/youngpeopleskills.htm 17 http://www.scottish-enterprise.com/modern-Apprenticeships 18 See: http://www.elwa.org.uk/elwaweb/elwa.aspx?pageid=645 19 See: http://www.delni.gov.uk/index.cfm/area/information/page/ModernApprenticeships 20 DfEE Press Release, Tessa Blackstone announces extra £180 million for thousands more Modern

Apprenticeships, 27 March 2001 21 ibid.

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It is charged with drawing up a three-year action plan for the development, promotion and delivery of modern Apprenticeships. It has also been asked to advise on arrangements for replacing ‘other training’ - work-based training not covered by apprenticeship frameworks - with more suitable provision.

The Committee’s report, Modern Apprenticeships – the Way to Work,22 was submitted to the DfES and Learning and Skills Council (LSC) on 28 September 2001. It contained a number of recommendations covering a national framework for Apprenticeships, content and certification, delivery and promotion of Apprenticeships. In November 2001, the Government announced that it would deliver key recommendations made by the Committee including:23

• a national framework for Apprenticeships which defines basic standards and strengthens the relationship between the employer and apprentice;

• an entitlement to a Modern Apprenticeship place for all 16 and 17 year olds with five or more GCSE passes at grades A* to G, from September 2004;

• a £16 million marketing campaign, over three years from January 2002 to promote Apprenticeships and boost take-up among employers and young people;

• new technical certificates for Modern Apprenticeships which ensure in-depth technical knowledge is a key component of the Apprenticeship Diploma; and

• a new leaflet calling on public sector organisations to embrace the next generation of Apprenticeships.

b. Modern Apprenticeships Task Force

The Modern Apprenticeships Task Force was announced in November 2002. It was described in the 2002 Pre-Budget Report as follows:24

Employer involvement in MAs is critical to ensuring that the new post-16 participation target is met, and that MAs continue to meet the needs of UK firms while providing young people with high quality training opportunities in a work environment. The Government is therefore launching a National Modern Apprenticeship Taskforce to champion the MA scheme and report on key policy issues. The taskforce will be led by Sir Roy Gardner, CEO of Centrica, and will include individuals from across business and the education and training sector. It will report to the Chancellor, the Secretary of State for Education and Skills and to the Chairman of the Learning and Skills Council (LSC) on a range of important policy issues, building on the work of Sir John Cassels and his committee. These issues will include the involvement of SMEs in MAs, the MA framework, particular problems faced by some sectors in recruiting and training young people, and measures to support improved completion rates. The taskforce will be supported by its own secretariat.

22 Report of the Modern Apprenticeship Advisory Committee, Modern Apprenticeships – the Way to Work,

Spetember 2001 23 DfES Press Release, Morris, Brown and Hewitt announce new plans for Modern Apprenticeships, 29

November 2001 24 HM Treasury, Pre-Budget Report, November 2002, HC 592 2001/02, para 3.86

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c. Skills Strategy

The Government’s 2003 Skills Strategy raised some concerns about Apprenticeships:25

Our best Modern Apprenticeship programmes already match the best in the world. But there have been concerns about the quality of some programmes, the completion rates, and the wide variation between sectors in the quality of training and outcomes. We must ensure that all Modern Apprenticeships are of sufficiently high quality to attract many more learners and employers.

The Skills Strategy set out the measures the LSC is taking to address these problems.26 It also set out the steps being taken by the LSC to engage employers in providing Apprenticeships and ensuring they are relevant to employers.27 3. Apprenticeships

Modern Apprenticeships were announced by David Hunt, then Secretary of State for Employment in November 1993.28 In February 2000, David Blunkett, then Secretary of State for Education and Employment, announced the reform of the Apprenticeship framework and the new Foundation and Advanced Modern Apprenticeships.29 In May 2004, the Government announced that Foundation and Advanced Modern Apprenticeships would be known as Apprenticeships and Advanced Apprenticeships respectively.30 Those aged 16 to 24 are eligible provided they are not in full-time education. Until August 2003, a Modern Apprenticeship had to be completed by the age of 25. Since then, those starting Apprenticeships at any point before their 25th birthday may complete it. The Government has announced its intention to open up Apprenticeships to adults (see section 7 below). Apprenticeships are available in a wide range of subjects. A list is available on the Apprenticeships website.31 There is no pre-determined duration but Apprenticeships usually take at least 12 months to complete and Advanced Apprenticeships at least two years. Apprenticeships and Advanced Apprenticeships lead to NVQ qualifications at level 2 and 3/4 respectively, key skills qualifications (such as IT and communication) and technical certificates.32

25 DfES, 21st Century skills , July 2003 Cm 5810 see para 5.23 26 ibid. para 5.24 27 ibid. para 5.25 28 DfES, David Hunt announces new modern apprentice scheme to boost Britain’s skills, 30 November

1993 29 DfEE Press Release, Blunkett announces major expansion of reform of vocational learning, 16 February

2000. Foundation Modern Apprenticeships replaced National Traineeships. National Traineeships were introduced in September 1997 see HC Deb 27 March 1996 c1032.

30 DfES Press Notice, New Apprenticeships will widen opportunity and boost business – Clarke, 10 May 2004

31 http://www.Apprenticeships.org.uk/Apprenticeships/whatcanilearn/index.html 32 Technical certificates are vocation qualifications which provide the underpinning knowledge of the NVQ.

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In addition to receiving on-the-job training, apprentices usually spend time with a training provider (for example a local Further Education college) gaining key skills related to the job market, and studying for a technical certificate (i.e. NVQ levels 2 and 3 as outlined above) which provides further knowledge and understanding of the job. The training provider will receive financial assistance from the LLSC towards the cost of an apprentice’s training only. Under Apprenticeship rules, an apprentice will either be paid a wage by their employer,33 or will receive a ‘training allowance’ from the Local Learning and Skills Council (LLSC) of at least £50 per week. The DfES website34 states that additional funding may be available for individuals participating in Apprenticeships from training providers or LLSCs to provide help with training related expenses. This is awarded on a discretionary basis and is known as the Learner Support Fund (LSF). The LSF help towards direct costs incurred from participating in a course; for example childcare, travel costs or costs associated with buying equipment and/or clothing necessary for training. Apprentices wishing to receive LSF funding are required to contact their LLSC35 or the Student Support Officer at the college that they attend. The DfES website also states that:36

Employed apprentices may be subject to the national minimum wage entitlement if they are over the age of 19. The national minimum wage does not need to be paid to apprentices who are under the age of 19, or to apprentices aged 19-25 and in the first year of their apprenticeship.

LLSCs may provide employers with further financial assistance if there is an agreement in place to take on apprentices on a regular basis.37 Furthermore, employers with over 1,000 employees are eligible for additional assistance under the Apprenticeships scheme. This is outlined on the Apprenticeships website:38

Large businesses are supported by our National Contracts Service which can put you in touch with a suitable learning provider, work with you to customise your existing training programme, or help you to develop a new one. The National Contracts Service provides a single point of contact for large, multi-site employers who operate in a number of local Learning and Skills Council areas and who have more than 1,000 employees. The National Contracts Service can help you get the best out of Apprenticeships and arrange all your training needs. They can advise on available qualifications, appropriate Apprenticeships, Quality Assurance and Health and Safety issues. They can also assist you with funding.

33 The LSC recommends that employed learners receive at least £70 a week, with incremental rises based

on competence, achievement and productivity to the organisation. 34 http://www.dfes.gov.uk/financialhelp/quickguide/uploads/docs/final%20version.pdf 35 http://www.lsc.gov.uk/humber/Partners/default.htm 36 http://www.dfes.gov.uk/financialhelp/quickguide/uploads/docs/final%20version.pdf 37 http://www.Apprenticeships.org.uk/Employer/HowWillItHelpMe/YourQuestions/default.htm#WhoPays 38 http://www.Apprenticeships.org.uk/employers/employerover1000/howcanwehelp/

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4. Entry to Employment (E2E)

In May 2004, the DfES announced that a “Pre-Apprenticeship” offer:39

… will be based around the very popular ‘Entry to Employment’ programme for young people that have potential but are not yet ready or able to enter an Apprenticeship or maybe currently disengaged and disenfranchised from learning.

The Entry to Employment (E2E) scheme was described as follows in a document published by the Treasury alongside the 2004 Budget:40

A.27 In September 2001, Sir John Cassels’ Modern Apprenticeship Advisory Committee proposed the establishment of pre-employment provision for those young people not immediately able to enter a Modern Apprenticeship or other employment. In July 2002 the DfES announced that a pathfinder E2E programme would be introduced to help develop more effective work-based learning, enabling more young people to progress to higher learning opportunities. Eleven pathfinders, which encompass local Learning and Skills Council (LSC) and Connexions Service partnerships, ran across all Government Office regions and E2E was launched throughout England in August 2003. A.28 E2E supports learners in the achievement of level 1 qualifications (or other equivalent achievement) as a building block towards attainment at level 2 and progression to MAs or other appropriate provision. All level 1 training in England is now within E2E framework. Although there is no set time for completing E2E, it depends on individual progress, on average a participant will spend 16-22 weeks on an E2E programme. A.29 The E2E framework, from which individual programmes will emerge, includes: formal learning opportunities to achieve accredited qualifications including basic or key skills; practical and vocational learning; employability skills and career management; informal and personal development activities and work experience, with an emphasis on young people playing a full part in planning and reviewing their learning. E2E provides support to young people who have been disaffected for example as a result of school exclusion or low levels of school achievement or disadvantaged by circumstances or characteristics, such as homelessness, offending behaviour, health issues, care history or family difficulties.

E2E participants are paid a ‘training wage’ of £40 per week.41 Additionally, travel expenses and childcare cost may be claimed back.42

39 ibid. 40 HM Treasury, Supporting young people to achieve: towards a new deal for skills, March 2004 41 The receipt of such a ‘training wage’ may affect the receipt of some benefits. 42 More information on E2E may be found at: http://www.lsc.gov.uk/National/Partners/PolicyandDevelopment/EntrytoEmployment/default.htm

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5. NVQ Learning

NVQ learning is defined as provision on the WBLYP route at levels 2 and 343 outside of the Apprenticeships framework.44 E2E has now replaced all other training from Entry Level to NVQ Level 1 for all 16-18-year-old learners. In 2004/05, the LSC expected that NVQ learning would be required in only two circumstances:45

Sectoral requirements. This would apply where a framework is not available in a particular sector. Here a programme of study, including NVQ learning and key skills, should be agreed with the local LSC under a heading of ‘temporary framework’. This will be funded as an Apprenticeship. Individual requirements. This would apply where, for particular reasons, an individual learner cannot benefit from a framework programme. In this case, the provider should contact the local LSC, which may agree an individual programme. Providers should note that suitability to complete an NVQ usually indicates suitability to complete a full framework.

6. Young Apprenticeships

The introduction of Young Apprenticeships was announced by the Secretary of State for Education and Skills on 10 May 2004. The accompanying Press Release said:46

[Young Apprenticeships] will be a high quality opportunity for motivated pupils who could spend up to two days a week in the workplace learning a trade. Initial opportunities will be in engineering, automotive industries, business administration, logistics, and the arts and creative industries.

Young Apprenticeships have been available since September 2004 for those starting Academic Year 10. 1,000 students have been recruited for the first year, and it was announced in December 2004 that the scheme would be expanded from September 2005 to accommodate an intake of a further 2,000 students.47 All participants on the initial scheme must satisfy minimum standards at Key Stage 2 and 3. The recent 14-19 education and skills White Paper highlighted Young Apprenticeships as one way in which 14-16 year olds will be able to pursue the new employer-led Diplomas outlined in the White Paper.48

43 Level 2 refers to any qualification equivalent in standard and breadth to 5 GCSEs at A* to C. Level 3

refers to any qualification equivalent in standard and breadth to two A level passes. 44 Formerly known as ‘Other training’. 45 LSC, Requirements for Funding Work-based Learning for Young People 2004/05, 2004, para 61 46 DfES Press Notice, New Apprenticeships will widen opportunity and boost business – Clarke, 10 May

2004 47 DfES Press Notice, Historic Young Apprenticeship programme in action, and more 14 year olds to start,

14 December 2004 48 See: DfES, 14-19 Education and Skills, February 2005, Chapters 6 and 7

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7. Apprenticeships for adults

Until August 2003, participants on Apprenticeships had to complete the programme before their 25th birthday. The Government’s 2003 Skills Strategy announced that the age limit would be lifted. It said:49

On the age cap, public funding for Modern Apprenticeships is currently limited to those aged 24 and under. Many sectors are concerned that this age cap is a significant barrier to meeting skill needs. We recognise the force of these arguments, and agree that the Apprenticeships approach has much to offer for adults. So we are committed to removing the age cap. As a first step, we will change the rules with immediate effect so that young people who start their Modern Apprenticeship at any point up to their 25th birthday can complete it. Beyond that, the implementation of this change will need to be managed over a period of time. Firstly, the current budget for Modern Apprenticeships is limited, so we need to discuss with the LSC the scope for redeploying and making better use of funds over time to support expansion through development of the budgets for work-based learning. Secondly, we need to consider how far the design of Modern Apprenticeships needs changing to reflect the different needs of adults. The Modern Apprenticeship model was designed to meet the needs of younger learners, and we do not want to compromise its rigour. So the same standards need to apply, and the same targeting on those who need help to raise their skills and qualifications. But adults have a higher base of existing skills, knowledge and competence. The design of Modern Apprenticeships for adults should reflect this through greater flexibility in the way the principles are applied. To take this forward, we will invite the Sector Skills Councils (SSCs) to review, with employers and others including the QCA, how they would like to design and implement a Modern Apprenticeship programme for adults in their sector, and come forward with proposals. That work would form part of the sector skills agreements discussed in chapter 3. As well as looking at design issues, it would cover the contributions which the employers themselves would make to the costs, and ways of securing high standards combined with high levels of retention and achievement.

In May 2004, the DfES said:50

We are working with SSCs that are either already licenced and up and running, or are expected to be so in the near future to develop appropriate provision for learners over the age of 25.

Trials of Apprenticeships for Adults are currently in operation in three sectors: health and social care; construction; and engineering. These trials are focussed on level 3 and will run until March 2006.51 49 DfES, 21st Century skills , July 2003 Cm 5810 para 5.28 to 5.31 50 DfES Press Notice, New Apprenticeships will widen opportunity and boost business – Clarke, 10 May

2004

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8. Statistics and costs

a. Cost

The cost to the DfES of Apprenticeships was around £700 million in 2003/04. The DfES estimates that this will have risen to £920 million in 2005/06. In addition to this, £165 million was spent on Entry to Employment in 2003/04, rising to £181 million in 2005/06.52 b. Participants

A 2005 written answer stated that in 2004 245,000 individuals were participating in Apprenticeships, up from 75,000 in 1997.53 Further data from 2000/01 broken down by type of WBLA is provided in the following table:

Work-based Learning for Young People: participantsThousands; annual averages

2000/01 2001/02 2002/03 2003/04

Advanced Apprenticeships(a) 125.7 111.8 110.5 101.4Apprenticeships(b) 86.6 101.7 124.8 143.8NVQ learning 49.5 49.3 40.6 27.9E2E(c) 7.0 8.0 12.1 3

Total 268.8 270.8 288.0 303.8

Notes: (a) Known as Advanced Modern Apprenticeships prior to May 2004.(a) Known as Foundation Modern Apprenticeships prior to May 2004.(c) Known as Life Skills prior to May 2004.

Source: Learning and Skills Council, ILR/SFR05

0.7

The DfES also has a PSA target for at least 28% of young people to start an Apprenticeship by age 22 by 2004. This is based on starts in the 2004/05 academic year which will be reported in December 2005. In 2003/04, 24.5% of young people started an Apprenticeship for the first time.54 c. Completion/success rates

The latest figures on completion and success rates are provided in the table below:

51 DfES, Skills: getting on in business, getting on at work, March 2005, part 2 52 DfES and LSC, 21st century Apprenticeships, May 2004 p9 53 HC Deb 24 Feb 2005 c467-8 54 HC Deb 13 June 2005 c213W

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Work-based Learning for Young People: completion/success rates

2001/02 2002/03 2001/02 2002/03 2001/02 2002/03 2001/02 2002/03

Advanced Apprenticeships(a) 26% 32% 10% 11% 36% 44% 65,400 60,800Apprenticeships(b) 22% 24% 11% 13% 34% 37% 91,800 105,200

All Apprenticeships 24% 27% 11% 13% 35% 40% 157,200 166,000

Notes: (a) Known as Advanced Modern Apprenticeships prior to May 2004.(a) Known as Foundation Modern Apprenticeships prior to May 2004.(c) Early apprenticeship leavers who achieved an NVQ but no framework.

Source: Learning and Skills Council, ILR/SFR04

Framework completion rate NVQ only(c) NVQ success rate Total leavers

9. Further reading

1 Apprenticeships website: www.Apprenticeships.org.uk 2 For Wales, see: http://www.elwa.ac.uk/elwaweb/elwa.aspx?pageid=645

3 For Scotland, see: http://www.scottish-enterprise.com/modernApprenticeships

4 For Northern Ireland, see:

http://www.delni.gov.uk/site.cfm?WebsiteID=1&deptID=5&siteID=24

5 DfES and LSC, 21st Century Apprenticeships, End to end Review of the Delivery of Modern Apprenticeships, 17 May 2004

6 DfES Skills Strategy: DfES, 21st Century skills, Cm 5810, July 2003 7 Modern Apprenticeships: The Way to Work, The Report of the Modern

Apprenticeship Advisory Committee (chaired by Sir John Cassels), September 2001

8 Modern Apprenticeship Task Force: http://www.employersforapprentices.gov.uk

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C. Career Development Loans

A Career Development Loan (CDL) is a deferred repayment commercial bank loan designed to help fund up to two years of vocational education or learning plus (if relevant) up to one year’s practical work experience where it forms part of the course. The loan can be used to cover up to 80 per cent of course fees plus any related expenses. 1. Background

CDLs were first introduced on a pilot basis in April 1986. National rollout was announced on 20 July 1988 by the then Secretary of State for Employment, Norman Fowler:55

Mr. Fowler: From today career development loans are available throughout Great Britain. We have piloted career development loans from April 1986 in four areas. Evaluation has shown that they are a very useful addition to the training infrastructure of the country. During the pilot a total of almost £1.4 million pounds has been lent to more than 650 people to undertake a wide range of vocational training. Career development loans will continue to be run in partnership with the three banks which participated in the pilot, Barclays, the Clydesdale and the Co-operative. Anyone aged 18 or over who lives or intends to train in Great Britain will be able to apply. The Government provide an incentive to borrowers by paying the interest on the loan during the period of training and for up to three months afterwards and guarantee a proportion of the loans to make it easier for the banks to consider lending for vocational training. The costs of the expanded scheme will be met from within the existing resources of the Department.

2. Eligibility

In order to be eligible for a CDL applicants must be aged 18 or over; not in receipt of a mandatory award for education or training; and intending to use the training to work in the United Kingdom or elsewhere in the European Community. Applicants must live in the UK or intend to learn in Great Britain. Residents of Northern Ireland may apply if their learning will occur in Great Britain. The course must be vocational and designed to help the applicant get a job. It is possible to apply after starting the course, but an individual will not be eligible for a loan if there is not enough time to process the application before the course ends. It is important to stress that eligibility for the scheme does not guarantee that an applicant will be successful. 3. Terms

Applicants must apply to a participating bank - Barclays, the Co-operative, or the Royal Bank of Scotland - before the start of the course. There is a minimum loan of £300 and a maximum of £8,000. The banks have the right to refuse a loan application. Loans generally cover up to 80% of course fees, plus the cost of books and materials for

55 HC Deb 20 July 1988 c620W

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courses lasting up to two years. The DfES pays the interest on CDLs while the individual is learning and for up to one month afterwards. If an individual finishes a course before the agreed date, the repayment holiday will end up to one month after their last day of training. The loan is then repaid to the bank over an agreed period at a fixed rate of interest. Since 1 September 1996, CDLs have also been available for three year sandwich courses involving two years’ tuition and one year’s practical work experience.56 Applicants who have been out of work for three months or longer (e.g. unemployed, returning to the labour market, a student or sick) may now apply for 100% course fees. Applicants may also be able to borrow money to help with living expenses if the costs are not already covered by other grants or state benefits and the training provider has indicated that the course is full-time. In addition, applicants must not undertake part-time work involving more than 30 hours per week. No loan repayments are required during the training period and for up to one month afterwards. After that, the loan is repaid on the terms agreed with the bank. Certain groups may be able to defer the start of their loan repayments:

• Those who are unemployed and claiming related benefits; • Those who are employed and receiving Income Support, Working Tax Credit,

Housing Benefit, Council Tax Benefit or Pensions credit; • Those who are taking part in a Government Training Programme and in

receipt of Training Allowance; • Those who have to attend a course for longer than expected (due to ill health

or other special circumstances). Any postponement must be agreed with the bank, and decisions are made on a ‘case-by-case’ basis. However, the bank may ask the DfES CDL policy section for advice on whether to approve deferrals, or, alternatively may pass deferral cases entirely to the DfES CDL policy section. The DfES provides all banks that offer CDLs with a detailed guide of how they should be administered. 4. Statistics

Since 1988, over 200,000 loans have been made. The table below displays the number of CDLs made since their inception by year. The average value of each loan by year is also shown:

56 DfEE Press Release, Career Development Loans reach out to more students, 28 June 1996

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Career Development Loans: 1984-2004Number of loans

givenAverage loan value

(£)

1988(a) 1,503 2,5191989 5,441 2,4091990 7,833 2,4961991 9,933 2,6581992 10,739 2,7421993 12,481 2,8891994 15,148 3,4811995 13,348 3,6351996 11,992 3,5961997 11,815 3,8511998 11,935 3,9481999 15,339 3,8632000 18,955 3,7732001 16,247 4,0122002 17,463 4,3442003 16,845 4,2922004(b) 17,331 3,843

Note: (a) From start of programme in July 1998.(b) Number of loans for year ending 31 March 2004. Average loan value as at 13 May 2004.

Source: HC Deb 18 May 2004 cc906-7W In the year ending 31st March 2004:57

• 17,331 loans were taken out; • £74 million was borrowed; • 42% of courses funded were full-time; • 22% of courses funded were distance learning; • 36% of courses were part-time.

Further information on Career Development Loans can be found at http://www.lifelonglearning.co.uk/cdl/, or from the CDL Information line 0800 585 505.

57 http://www.lifelonglearning.co.uk/cdl/news.htm

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D. Employment Zones

Employment Zones are designated areas of high long-term unemployment that have been given the flexibility to use existing funding to help eligible long-term unemployed people to return to, and retain, work. There are currently thirteen Employment Zones in operation. 1. Policy background

The Labour Party discussed the idea of using a combination of benefit and training money more flexibly in one of its Road to the Manifesto documents in 1996. This document proposed a “new approach which brings resources for jobs and benefits closer to the communities they exist to serve”.58 It went on to outline how the new approach would work:

We will launch a specific pilot scheme to make flexible local use of benefit and training money. This will allow local decision-makers flexible use of resources for benefits, training and special employment measures for individual claimants. For each claimant a nominal figure - equivalent to the expected expenditure on government training schemes and benefit income for people in their circumstances - will be "given over" to case managers to be used in agreement with the individual in the best way to promote their job prospects. Money may be spent on further education or training, support services, incentives to employers, job search expenses, or whatever is in the best interests of the individual concerned. The aim must always be to assist in the most effective way possible the transition into employment.59

This proposal to set up pilot schemes, to be known as Employment Zones, was included in the Labour Party's manifesto for the 1997 General Election:60

We favour initiatives with new combinations of available benefits to suit individual circumstances. In new and innovative 'Employment Zones', personal job accounts will combine money currently available for benefits and training, to offer the unemployed new options - leading to work and independence. We will co-ordinate benefits, employment and career services, and utilise new technology to improve their quality and efficiency.

In a press release on 15 September 1997, Andrew Smith, then Minister of State at the DfEE, said:61

Concentrated areas of unemployment still corrode some communities even though headline unemployment is falling. That is why we said in our manifesto that we would create Employment Zones, targeting help to those who need it most. I am today inviting the communities in eight areas to draw up action plans to become the first Employment Zones, pioneering a new approach to tackling unemployment.

58 Labour Party, Getting welfare to work: a new vision for social security, 1996, p4 59 ibid. 60 New Labour because Britain deserves better, Labour's manifesto for the 1997 General Election, p19 61 DfEE Press Release, Employment zones: new help from welfare to work, 15 September 1997

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In Employment Zones, new help for long-term unemployed people will be designed by local partnerships of organisations from the public, private and voluntary sectors. All bids must include plans for:

- Learning for Work - training and education to improve employability; - Business Enterprise - help with moving from welfare into self-

employment; - Neighbourhood Match - doing work which benefits the wider community. But beyond these three core strands, we want to see innovative pathways into sustainable work. For example an unemployed person might be given help gaining a specific qualification or certificate, a grant or loan for equipment or clothing, or training in skills that local employers need. Employment Zones will give communities the flexibility to devise local solutions which best meet local needs. They will have our full support: not least in the £33 million earmarked between February 1998 and April 1999.

Five prototype Zones ran from February 1998 to April 2000 in Glasgow, North Wales, South Teeside, Liverpool and Plymouth. Provision in these areas included variants on the three options outlined in Andrew Smith’s original press release. Participation was voluntary and the Zones operated within existing legislation that limited the way budgets could be used. 2. Employment Zones from April 2000 to September 2002

Section 60 of the Welfare Reform and Pensions Act 1999 provided for Employment Zones. The purpose of the primary legislation is set out in the Government’s Explanatory Notes on the Act:62

•

•

•

First, Employment Zones are concentrated on specific areas of high long term unemployment; yet existing legislation limited the Secretary of State's powers to offer different types of service in different areas; Second, a key feature of Employment Zones not available in the prototypes is the "Personal Job Account". This will be an account set up for individual participants in the Zone, which will allow them to anticipate up to six months' worth of spending on training and jobsearch - with the aim of getting them back to work more quickly. It will combine funding equal to the payments that they would normally receive from JSA, with money for training and jobsearch. Third, legislation is required so that, when people do not participate in an Employment Zone, without good cause, their JSA payments could be withheld.

Fifteen Employment Zones started in April and May 2000. Initially, to be eligible for Employment Zone provision, claimants had to be over the age of 25, live in one of the 15 designated areas and have been unemployed for a specified period. Originally, the Zones for those out of work and claiming JSA for 12 months were in the following

62 DSS, Explanatory Notes: Welfare Reform and Pensions Act 1999, 1999, p 127

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Jobcentre Plus districts: Southwark; Nottingham City; Newham; Haringey; Doncaster; Birmingham; Plymouth; and Heads of the Valleys and Caerphilly (HOVAC).63 The Zones for those out of work and claiming JSA for eighteen months were in: Tower Hamlets; Brent; Liverpool and Sefton; Brighton and Hove; Middlesbrough, Redcar and Cleveland; North West Wales; and Glasgow. An Employment Zone programme is a designated programme under regulation 75 of the Jobseeker’s Allowance Regulations 1996 and therefore participation was compulsory. 3. The current system of Employment Zones

The power to establish Employment Zones is contained within the Welfare Reform and Pensions Act 2000. Employment Zones pool funds for training, Jobcentre Plus support and the equivalent of benefit to maximise flexibility and in order to give individuals the best chance of obtaining and keeping work. There are substantial payments for contractors who can help participants achieve this.64 Participants are guaranteed an income equivalent to their net weekly benefit entitlement for as long as they remain unemployed on an Employment Zone programme. It was originally planned that the Zones would operate under contract until the end of March 2002 with a final recruitment intake of participants in June 2001.65 The 2002 Spending Review White Paper and the Pre-Budget Report announced the extension of Employment Zones to lone parents and to New Deal 18–24 returnees and the testing out of multiple provider arrangements66 in certain Employment Zones from October 2002. New contracts have since been awarded to run Employment Zones until 2009. 4. Employment Zone Contracts

There are now two types of Employment Zone (single and multiple provider) that include the new client groups of mandated New Deal 18-24 returnees and lone parent volunteers in addition to claimants aged over 25. There are currently 13 Employment Zones in operation. a. Single Provider Employment Zones

In these Zones one contractor has been chosen to deliver the Employment Zone service. Single provider Employment Zone contracts currently run from October 2003 to March 2009. The contractors and Employment Zones involved are outlined below:67

63 HOVAC changed from an 18 month zone to a 12 month zone from August 2000. Source: DWP Press

Release Employment Zones: statistics to end December 2001 28 March 2002. 64 See section ID.9 of this paper. 65 DfEE, Bidding for Employment Zones: invitation to tender, 1999 66 These are Employment Zone services provided in defined Employment Zone areas by more than one

contractor. See section C1b of this Note. 67 http://www.employmentzones.gov.uk/contractors.htm

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Single Provider Employment Zones ContractorBrighton Working LinksDoncaster and Bassetlaw Reed in PartnershipHeads of the Valleys, Caerphilly and Torfaen Working LinksMiddlesbrough, Redcar and Cleveland Pertemps Employment AllianceNorth West Wales Working LinksNottingham City Work directionsPlymouth Working Links

b. Multiple Provider Employment Zones

In these areas, more than one contractor delivers the Employment Zone service. To ensure each contractor gets a fair share of the work, jobseekers are randomly allocated to a contractor. The specific aims of multiple provider Employment Zones are:68

• to drive up overall performance in each Employment Zone; • to increase the number of providers; • to evaluate the effect of same labour market competition between several

providers, in particular the effect on overall sustained job performance; • to evaluate the performance standards each provider within each Employment

Zone can achieve in the light of such competition; • to test out the effect of client choice within the multiple provider model for lone

parents in London. Multiple provider Employment Zone contracts currently run from April 2004 to April 2009. The contractors and Employment Zones involved are outlined below:69

Multiple Provider Employment Zones ContractorsBirmingham Pertemps Employment Alliance(a)

Working LinksWork Directions

Glasgow Working LinksReed in Partnership(a)

The Wise GroupLiverpool and Sefton Reed in Partnership(a)

Pelcombe Training LtdPertemps Employment Alliance

Tower Hamlets and Newham Working Links(a)

Reed in Partnership(a)

TNG Workzone(a)

Brent and Haringey Reed in Partnership(a)

Working Links(a)

Work Directions(a)

Southwark Reed in Partnership(a)

Work Directions(a)

Note: (a) denotes contractor also provides EZ service to lone parent volunteers 68 DWP, Invitation to tender for multiple provider Employment Zones, May 2003, p9

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5. Eligibility

Employment Zones remain a mandatory programme for participants, aged 25 or over, receiving JSA who have been unemployed for 18 months. The Employment Zone approach was extended in the latest contracts to include young people aged 18-24 years, who have already participated on New Deal for Young People, on a mandatory basis. Furthermore, since the new contracts commenced in October 2003 and April 2004, lone parents have been eligible to volunteer to participate in Employment Zones. There are also a number of groups who may be considered for early entry to Employment Zones. a. JSA claimants aged 25 or over

Jobcentre Plus will refer jobseekers to Employment Zones if:

• they are currently in receipt of JSA; and • they have been in receipt of JSA for 18 months out of the last 21 months.

Such individuals must take part in their local Employment Zone programme. b. JSA claimants aged 18-24

Jobcentre Plus will refer jobseekers to Employment Zones if:

• they have previously finished a period of New Deal for Young People provision; and

• they have been in receipt of JSA continuously, or cumulatively for at least 6 months without breaks totalling more than 28 days.

Similarly, such individuals must take part in their local Employment Zone programme. c. Lone parents

Lone parents can volunteer for Employment Zone help at any time as long as:

• they are working on average less than 16 hours a week; and • they are not receiving income-based Jobseeker’s Allowance.

In the London Employment Zones all of the contractors provide the Employment Zone service to lone parents. Lone parents can choose the contractor in their Employment Zone that they wish to work with. This help is available instead of New Deal for Lone Parents (NDLP)70 in the London Employment Zones. In Employment Zones outside London NDLP continues to operate. Lone parents who work for less than 16 hours per week, who receive non-JSA benefits (excluding child benefit), usually undertake a second Work Focused Interview (WFI) six months after

69 http://www.employmentzones.gov.uk/contractors.htm 70 For more information on the NDLP see Volume I, Part II, Section F of this Research Paper (RP 05/61).

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establishing their claim to benefit. At this stage, and at subsequent WFIs, lone parents within non-London Employment Zones will be asked if they wish to volunteer to participate in their local Employment Zones programme. There is one contractor in each Employment Zone to provide the service to lone parents. Alternatively lone parents can choose to continue to receive help through NDLP.71 Lone parents in receipt of JSA who qualify for Employment Zones must take part. d. Early entry to Employment Zones

Some people have particular circumstances that make it harder for them to get work. They may be able to commence the Employment Zone programme early if they are already receiving JSA. Once they start the Employment Zone programme, participation becomes mandatory. Individuals that may be eligible for early participation include those:72

• with a physical or mental disability; • that need help with reading, writing or numbers; • whose first language is not English, Welsh or Gaelic; • is a lone parent that does not live with a partner and is responsible for at least

one child living in their household (by partner we mean a person somebody is married to or a person they live with as if they are married to them);

• who have served in the regular Armed Forces; • who were looked after as a child by a local authority; • with a criminal record; • with a drug problem; • who have participated in Progress2Work; • that have been told by the Home Office that they are officially a refugee; • that have been given exceptional leave to enter the United Kingdom by an

immigration officer. In multiple provider Employment Zones early entrants will not be able to choose the contractor that they wish to go to. They will be randomly allocated a contractor. 6. Employment Zone stages

Guidance sent out to organizations bidding for Employment Zone contracts from May 2003 provided details of how they would continue to operate.73 The current model operates through three distinct ‘stages’. Each participant will have a Personal Adviser appointed by their Employment Zone contractor. The participant works through the three ‘stages’ with their Personal Adviser:

71 DWP, Invitation to tender for multiple provider Employment Zones, May 2003, pp13-14 72 Office for National Statistics, Employment Zones: Background Information, p3: http://www.dwp.gov.uk/asd/emp_zones/march04/EZ_Background_Information.pdf 73 DWP, Invitation to tender for single-provider Employment Zones, May 2003

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First Stage – Each participant works on an Action Plan with their Personal Adviser. The Action Plan looks at their needs, and helps deal with any difficulties stopping them from finding work. This stage can last up to 4 weeks.

The Action Plan includes detailed job search plans and can include help with travel, training and clothes for work or interviews etc. It can also cover self-employment if the participant is interested in this.

Contractors will normally only consider training if it is directly linked to a particular job and it can be completed by the end of the programme.

While on Stage 1, mandatory participants continue to receive their benefits or entitlements from Jobcentre Plus. Second Stage – This is based on the Action Plan and can last up to 26 weeks. The participant follows the plan and carries out an intensive job search. The contractor provides the help agreed in the Action Plan.

While on Stage 2, mandatory participants receive payments from the contractor running the Employment Zone. These payments are equivalent to their benefit payments with the exception of 50p a week that Jobcentre Plus continues to pay (to ‘passport’ existing benefits such as Housing Benefit). Third Stage – This begins once the participant has started work. During this 13 week period, in work support is available from their Personal Adviser to help the person stay in work. Follow On – Mandatory participants who have not found a job by the end of Stage 2 return to their Jobcentre to claim benefit. However, they can volunteer to continue to receive help from the Employment Zone for another 22 weeks. 7. Sanctions

Mandatory Employment Zone participants must do certain things expected of them as part of the way Employment Zones work. This includes such things as attending appointments and carrying out the activities listed on their Action Plan. If they do not, the contractor running the Employment Zone can contact Jobcentre Plus and raise a doubt about the client’s participation and the participant will return to their Jobcentre Plus office. The Decision Making and Appeals process will then determine the action, if any, to be taken. The person’s JSA may be reduced or stopped for a period of time. 8. Lone Parents not receiving JSA

Each participant taking part has a Personal Adviser appointed by their Employment Zone contractor. The contractors provide an individually tailored plan and activities for each participant.

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For lone parents, who do not receive JSA and who have volunteered to take part in the Employment Zone programme, benefits and entitlements do not change.

9. Payments to Contractors

The payments made to Employment Zone contractors as jobseekers move through stages 1 and 2 with their Personal Adviser are outlined below. This information is taken from the July 2003 invitations to tender for single provider and multiple provider Employment Zones. First Stage – All contractors may claim a single payment of £300 for all mandatory participants who start stage 1. There are no payments to contractors on stage 1 for lone parent voluntary participants. Second Stage – Stage 2 payments to contractors are outlined below. The reader should note that some of the figures below are indicative ranges and are dependent on the location of the Employment Zone.74 In single provider Employment Zones payments to contractors are as follows: • For each JSA claimant between the age of 18 and 24 who begins stage 2 of the

programme, the contractor will receive a payment of between £902 and £1,017. • For each JSA claimant who is aged 25 years or older who begins stage 2 of the

programme, the contractor will receive a payment of between £1,386 and £1,655. • For each lone parent participant who begins stage 2 of the programme, the

contractor will receive a payment of £300. In multiple provider Employment Zones payment to contractors are as follows: • For each JSA claimant between the age of 18 and 24 who begins stage 2 of the

programme, the contractor will receive a payment of between £896 and £969. • For each JSA claimant who is aged 25 years or older who begins stage 2 of the

programme, the contractor will receive a payment of between £1,288 and £1,738. • For each lone parent participant who begins stage 2 of the programme, the

contractor will receive a payment of £300. For mandatory participants entering stage 2, the payments are equivalent to 21 weeks of the average JSA entitlement in the particular Employment Zone. Third Stage – When an individual enters employment as a result of the scheme, the contractor will receive a payment of £400. For each mandatory participant in single provider Employment Zones who stays in employment for at least 13 weeks, the contractor will receive: • a payment of £3,600 if the participant has been on a previous Employment Zone

cycle (i.e. gained a job through the scheme but not lasted 13 weeks and therefore re-entered the scheme), or if the client enters straight into employment at the end of stage 1; or

74 Payments to contractors in specific Employment Zones are available on request.

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• a payment of £2,400 if the participant enters employment out of a stage of the Employment Zone cycle other than stage 1, and has not previously completed an Employment Zone cycle.

For each mandatory participant in multiple provider Employment Zones who stays in employment for at least 13 weeks, the contractor will receive: • a payment of £3,000 if the participant has been on a previous Employment Zone

cycle, or if the client enters straight into employment at the end of stage 1; or • a payment of £2,000 if the participant enters employment out of a stage of the

Employment Zone cycle other than stage 1, and has not previously completed an Employment Zone cycle.

For each lone parent voluntary participant who stays in employment for at least 13 weeks, the contractor will receive £1,200. Finally if contractors achieve pre-set contractor-specific yearly targets they are entitled to a share of a yearly £1 million bonus in each Zone. 10. Cost and Numbers

The Department for Work and Pensions publishes statistics on Employment Zones every six months. Some of the key findings for the period to the end of March 2005 are:75

• 101,330 people have started on an Employment Zone for the first time since the Zones began in April 2000. 36,480 people have returned for a subsequent spell on an Employment Zone during this period.

• 84% of all entrants have been male, 67% have been white, and 24% have been recorded as having a disability.

• At the end of March 2005, there were 14,530 people participating on an Employment Zone.

• 54,160 Employment Zone participants have entered employment. This accounts for 39% of all Employment Zone participants.

• 42,180 Employment Zone participants have been employed for 13 weeks or more (i.e. sustained employment). This accounts for 31% of all Employment Zone participants.76

Information on the cost of Employment Zones is contained in a 2004 written answer.77 Employment Zones has received £428.5 million in funding since the programme’s inception to 2004/05. It is anticipated that Employment Zones will receive a total of £101 million in funding in 2005/06.

75 The latest statistics on Employment Zones may be found at: http://www.dwp.gov.uk/asd/emp_zones/emp_zones.asp 76 Please note that these statistics are for Employment Zone participants aged 25 years and over. DWP

releases do not currently contain data on the client group extensions of October 2002 because of the small numbers flowing through to date and because of the need for further quality assurances for the data.

77 HC Deb 1 April 2004 c1622W

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A 2005 written answer estimated the gross cost per job of Employment Zones at £3,115 without benefit payments and £6,027 with benefit payments.78 11. Evaluation

A recent DWP study into single provider Employment Zones found that unexpectedly low referral levels from Jobcentre Plus in some zones had inhibited implementation and development of provision. However, for the majority of participants who were referred:79

[…] the EZ experience compared favourably with Jobcentre Plus and New Deal. Most valued the personal service ethos of EZs, but the financial assistance available was believed by many to be the most important factor in helping them back to work.

An article in the Financial Times in October 2004 commented on the success of the Employment Zones programme:80

An independent evaluation of employment zones published late last year showed that they were almost half as successful again at getting people into work as the New Deal for over-25s, run by traditional Jobcentres. Those put through the privately-run programmes were "significantly more likely" to have full-time jobs 20 months after entering the programme, the study said.

The primary conclusion of the evaluation report was that:81

The evaluation has demonstrated that Employment Zones significantly increased the chances of participants gaining paid work compared to what would have been the case if New Deal 25 Plus had been the programme operating in these areas. The difference was most apparent within about the first year after referral. After that, the difference was smaller, but the participants in Employment Zones remained significantly more likely to have had full-time jobs about 18-20 months after becoming eligible.

An earlier DWP report82 carried out in 2002 concluded that many of those interviewed felt that the Employment Zone approach was successful in serving jobseekers for whom more traditional measures had often not worked. They did, however, struggle with the very hardest-to-help clients. Nevertheless they provide a “significant addition” to the range of measures available to tackle the problem of long-term unemployment. 12. Further reading

1. Griffiths et al., Evaluation of Single Provider Employment Zone Extensions to Young People, Lone Parents and Early Entrants, 2005

78 HC Deb 31 January 2005 cc610-11W 79 Griffiths et al., Evaluation of Single Provider Employment Zone Extensions to Young People, 2005, p4 80 “Tories set out plan to privatise Jobcentres”, Financial Times, 7 October 2004, p4 81 National Centre for Social Research, Evaluation of Employment Zones, November 2003 82 Hirst et al., Qualitative Evaluation of Employment Zones: A Study of Local Delivery Agents and Area

Case Studies, DWP Report WAE 124, July 2002

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2. National Centre for Social Research, Evaluation of Employment Zones,

November 2003

3. Hirst et al., Qualitative Evaluation of Employment Zones: A Study of Local Delivery Agents and Area Case Studies, DWP Report WAE 124, July 2002

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E. Action Teams for Jobs

Action Teams aim to increase employment rates among disadvantaged groups in deprived areas. Specifically, they focus on long-term unemployed and inactive people operating in 65 areas of the United Kingdom chosen because they have the highest unemployment and lowest employment rates and a high proportion of people from ethnic minority backgrounds. They were introduced partly as a response to a report by the Policy Action Team on Jobs.83 The report drew attention to concentrations of unemployment and economically inactive people in disadvantaged areas and among particular groups in the labour market. Particular problems facing the unemployed in finding work include:84

• skills; • racial discrimination; • accessing existing provision for the unemployed; • perception that the individual will be worse-off in work.

Action Teams were announced in the 2000 Budget:85

Action Teams will be set up in 20 of Britain's communities with the highest unemployment and lowest employment, along with additional support in the 15 Employment Zone areas. They will have access to a £40 million fund to work with long-term unemployed people in the most deprived areas, to identify suitable vacancies in neighbouring areas and to bring the two together. These Action Teams, bringing together the Employment Service and private and voluntary sectors, will use this additional funding to tackle barriers to employment, including funding for transport to enable people to access nearby vacancies. The Action Teams will operate initially for one year from autumn 2000 and will be extended on the basis of their effectiveness at getting people into work.

Pathfinder Action Teams in Thanet, East Ayrshire and Hartlepool started in June 2000 and a further 37 started in mid-October 2000. These initial areas were selected as they had low working-age employment rates, high claimant counts, a high percentage of people from ethnic minorities, and were Objective 1 areas. The initiative was originally for one year. However early performance secured additional monies in the 2001 Budget to support Action Teams through to 2004 in the existing areas. The number of Action Teams operating was increased to 53 in October 200186 and to 63 in January 2002.87 The 2004 Budget announced the extension of Action Team provision to 2006 and also

83 DfEE, National Strategy for Neighbourhood Renewal, Jobs for all (Report of the Policy Action Team on

Jobs) December 1999 84 ECOTEC Research and Consulting: Evaluation of Action Teams for Jobs, Employment Service Report

WAE114 April 2002 85 HM Treasury, Budget 2000, March 2000, HC 346 1999/00, para 4.28 86 HC Deb 10 December 2001 c609W 87 DWP Press Release: Action Teams for Jobs: A Great First Year and more new teams – Nick Brown, 7

January 2002

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the introduction of two additional action teams to bring the total to 65.88 It was also stated in the 2004 Budget that “Jobcentre Plus District Managers and Action Team contractors will have greater discretion to direct resources towards the most disadvantaged people in their area.”89 38 of the 65 Action Teams are led by Jobcentre Plus. The other 27 are led by the private sector, including Reed and Working Links. Details on each area are available on the Action Teams website.90 Action Teams operate in all the Employment Zone areas. 1. Eligibility

Action Teams for Jobs is a voluntary initiative that is additional to, and complements, other Jobcentre Plus and Government programmes. Action Teams target all people out of work within an area. This includes individuals on Jobseeker’s Allowance, Income support, Incapacity Benefit, or on no benefit at all. In particular Action Teams focus on those furthers away from the labour market who may experience particular barriers to employment, for example:91

• Ex-regulars in Her Majesty’s Forces (within the last two years) • People with health problems • Ex-offenders • People with serious and long established drug and alcohol problems • People lacking basic skills • Lone parents • Rough sleepers • People whose first language is not English, Welsh or Gaelic • Refugees and asylum seekers • People with a disability • People who have left local authority care homes within the last three years • People who have completed Employment Zone or New Deal 25 Plus participation

and face the prospect of returning to benefit • People who are 50 years old or more • Ethnic minorities people who have been jobless for more than 12 months

2. Delivery

The role of Action Teams was described in a document published by the Treasury and DWP at the time of the 2001 Pre-Budget Report:92

[Action Teams] … set out to improve the employability of those living in … disadvantaged areas by:

88 HM Treasury, Budget 2004, March 2004, HC 301 2003/04, Chapter 4, p95 89 ibid. 90 http://www.actionteams.gov.uk/index.cfm 91 Mansour et al., “Action Teams for Jobs”, Chapter 25, Welfare to Work Handbook, Second Edition, 2004,

pp334-336 92 HM Treasury and DWP, The changing welfare state: employment opportunity for all, November 2001

paras 4.18 and 4.19

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• Working closely with employers; • Using funding in more imaginative and innovative ways to overcome specific

local barriers; • Targeting areas and groups which need help the most, including ethnic

minorities; and • Working in partnership with private and voluntary sector organizations. Action Teams concentrate their resources on working with the long-term unemployed and economically inactive, searching for suitable vacancies and bringing the two together. Action Teams also tackle directly some of the principal barriers to employment, including providing funding for transport to enable people to take up nearby vacancies, which would otherwise remain inaccessible.

There is no single design which is seen as being the ideal model for all Action Teams. Local flexibility is an important part of Action Teams. And each team must identify what the local problems and key priority groups are for their services locally. An evaluation of Action Teams by Ecotec commented:93

The emphasis on local discretion and devising local solutions has been a key characteristic of the initiative. As anticipated, it has led to a variety of approaches to implementation being adopted.

One of the main objectives of Action Teams is to improve access to employment services as some unemployed people might be unwilling or unable to access existing services. To achieve this, Action Teams have developed “outreach” services in locations such as community centres, libraries and shopping centres.94 Some outreach facilities are used to target particular groups. For example, Thanet Action Team shares accommodation with refugee support services.95 Mobile services are used in rural areas such as West Wales and the Valleys. A survey of those helped by Action Teams found that the majority of clients preferred to access the Action Team in their neighbourhood than travel to the Jobcentre. Clients’ requirements are assessed in a more informal manner than other types of Jobcentre Plus assistance. Once the extent of clients needs is established, a variety of services are provided by Action Teams. These include:96

• Advice and guidance on job-search; • Support to overcome financial barriers to work, such as childcare costs; • Help with travelling to work, including provision of travel cards, taxis,

bicycles/mopeds and providing finance to help make cars roadworthy; and • Various types of training.

93 ECOTEC Research and Consulting: Evaluation of Action Teams for Jobs Employment Service Report

WAE114, April 2002 94 ibid. 95 ibid. 96 ibid.

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The characteristics of those using Action Team services as found by Ecotec’s evaluation report were as follows:97

• Two thirds were men; • More than half were aged 18-34; • 70 per cent were white; • More than half were claiming Jobseeker’s Allowance when first meeting the

Action Team and 27 per cent were not claiming any benefit; and • The most common form of disadvantage was postcode. Ethnicity, health

problems and disabilities were also barriers to work. Action Teams performance is assessed against three yardsticks:

• Increasing the employment rate among people of working age; • Achieving a clear improvement in the labour market position of the groups

identified as disadvantaged (through employment and unemployment rates); and

• Increasing the number in sustained employment through the efforts of the team.

3. Costs and Numbers

Expenditure on Action Teams for Jobs is displayed in the table below:

Expenditure on the Action Teams for Jobs£ million

Administrative Expenditure

Programme Expenditure

Total Expenditure

2000/01 5 6 112001/02 14 23 372002/03 23 30 532003/04(a) 17 30 472004/05(b) 17 30 472005/06(b) 17 30 47

Notes: All figures rounded to nearest £ million. (a) Estimated expenditure(b) Planned expenditure

Source: DWP, Departmental Report, 2004 Annual funding for individual Action Teams is available on the Action Teams website: http://www.actionteams.gov.uk/teamchart.doc To April 2005, 133,749 had been helped into work by Action Teams for Jobs.98

97 ibid. 98 HC Deb 12 September 2005 c2484W

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4. Evaluation

The performance of Action Teams was assessed in the aforementioned Ecotec research report.99 The report related to performance in the first year of their operation. Some of the main findings were as follows:

• Action Teams placed 15,000 people into work, from a total of 39,000 clients, although many were not in the hardest to help groups;

• Many of those who found work had been out of work for less than six months and/or were claiming JSA. Fewer clients on inactive benefits, out of work for longer or facing multiple barriers to labour-market participation found work; and

• Surveys suggest that around 80 per cent of clients finding work remained in their Action Team job for least three months.

More recently a report by the Social Exclusion Unit of the Cabinet Office assessed Action Teams effectiveness.100 The report found that “Employment Zones … and Action Teams for Jobs … have developed innovative approaches and proved effective at creating links between employers and jobseekers.” In particular, Action Teams were particularly effective at creating links between employers and clients:101

employers reported confidence in recruiting Action Team clients when they would be less confident about recruiting from the Jobcentre. Most employers interviewed said they would recruit from the team in future. Around a third of employers said that the team enhanced their ability to recruit new staff, most commonly by referring only suitable candidates.

However, the report also found that the “fit between the areas covered by Action Teams and concentrations of worklessness is poor.”102 5. Further reading

1. Social Exclusion Unit, Jobs and Enterprise in Deprived Areas, September 2004 2. Mansour et al., “Action Teams for Jobs”, Chapter 25, Welfare to Work Handbook,

Second Edition, 2004, pp334-336

3. ECOTEC Research and Consulting, Evaluation of Action Teams for Jobs, Employment Service Report WAE 114, April 2002

99 ECOTEC Research and Consulting: Evaluation of Action Teams for Jobs Employment Service Report

WAE 114, April 2002 100 Social Exclusion Unit, Jobs and Enterprise in Deprived Areas, September 2004 101 ibid. p111 102 ibid. p112

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F. Programme Centres

Programme Centres aim to help participants to acquire and/or update job search skills to enable them to get a job. As a result of taking part, participants should be able to demonstrate to potential employers that they are capable of undertaking and sustaining paid work. Since Programme Centres were first piloted in 1997/98 they have gradually replaced the network of Jobclubs and Jobplan Workshops.103 The Jobcentre Plus website states that:104

They [Programme Centres] represent a shift away from the traditional fixed length courses [i.e. Jobclubs and Jobplan Workshops] to the delivery of modules that can be tailored better to meet the needs of individual jobseekers. District Managers will have discretion to allow referrals of clients from 13 weeks of unemployment, but priority will be given to those of longer duration.

1. Introduction

There was no official announcement of the Programme Centre pilots. In April 1998, Leigh Lewis, the then Chief Executive of the Employment Service (ES), outlined the proposal in a letter to Steve Webb MP in response to a parliamentary question on Jobclub provision:105

In some areas we have also been looking at the advantages of combining some of our programmes, such as Jobclub and Jobplan, and delivering them through Programme Centres, which provide a one-stop shop with greater scope for the more efficient use of resources and individual packages of help for people. The funding allocated to Jobclubs and Programme Centres reflects the likely demand among those people aged 25 and over who have been unemployed for six months or more. This takes account of the fact that many young people who might previously have depended on this provision will now be able to take advantage instead of the much more extensive extra help provided by New Deal. My district managers have recently undertaken a consultation exercise with local New Deal partners with regard to our mainstream programmes, to determine which types of provision will be most effective to meet the needs of each locality. Where local partnerships decide that Jobclub or Programme Centre places should form part of the New Deal Gateway, they can purchase additional places on these programmes using New Deal funding.

Programme Centres were piloted in eight locations throughout Great Britain during 1997/98.106 They have operated nationally since April 1998 when "around 85% of ES districts decided to move to Programme Centre provision”.107 103 See Volume II, Part II of this Research Paper (RP 05/62). 104 Jobcentre Plus Programme Centres webpage. 105 HC Deb 7 April 1998 c226W 106 DfEE Press Release, New Government initiative gets more people off benefit, 11 November 1998 107 DfEE, Departmental Report – the Government’s Expenditure Plans 1999-00 to 2001-02, March 1999, Cm

4202, p133

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2. Eligibility

To be eligible, individuals must be aged 25 or over, have been unemployed for six months or more, and claiming Jobseeker’s Allowance (JSA), Income Support, or National Insurance credits. Those aged 18-24 and on the New Deal for Young People may attend after their initial 13 week interview at the Jobcentre Plus district manager’s discretion. Certain individuals can gain early access to a Programme Centre at the discretion of their personal adviser:108

• Ex-offenders • Refugees, those with Exceptional Leave to Remain, Discretionary Leave, or

Humanitarian Protection • Homeless people • People affected by drug and alcohol addiction • People who have been in residential care • Ex members of HM forces • Benefit recipients with language, literacy or numeracy needs • Lone parents • People with disabilities and carers on JSA

Attendance is not compulsory unless an individual has been referred under a Jobseeker’s Direction.109 3. Details

Programme Centres are delivered by external organisations contracted to Jobcentre Plus. Programme Centres provide individual modules covering aspects of jobsearch such as telephone techniques, CV preparation and setting job goals. Claimants agree a set of modules with their personal advisers and these are to be tailored to the individual's needs. Modules must also reflect the needs of employers and the local labour market. Additionally, there are now modules that have been designed specifically for New Deal for Lone Parents and New Deal 50 plus participants. Each Programme Centre has a resource area where eligible participants can apply for jobs and have access to telephones, word processors and stationery. The key objective is to help move jobless people into work by:

• helping participants acquire/update their job search skills in order for them to find and keep a job;

• helping people gain the ‘soft’ skills for example, time keeping in order for them to find and keep a job;

• providing resources and support to help them apply for vacancies. 108 Brace, C., “Programme Centres”, Chapter 12, Welfare to Work Handbook, Second Edition, 2004, p145 109 When an individual is claiming JSA, their Jobcentre Plus Personal Adviser may make suggestions about

things to do to increase chances of finding work. If the individual fails to take these steps, they may be given a jobseeker’s direction. This is a formal instruction to take certain action to help the individual find work, for example, attending a particular course, registering with an employment agency, or responding to a particular advertisement.

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Each participant receives help to produce a personal Action Plan. The Action Plan must set out the steps that the person has agreed to take to help them back into work and will include any referrals that have been made at the end of their stay at the Programme Centre. It details:

• which modules are to be attended (and records of completion); • job goals and the steps to be taken to achieve them; • when reviews are to take place and their results; • the total length of time expected to be spent in the Programme Centre; and • the results of ‘exit’ interviews, indicating why continued attendance is not

appropriate. 4. Further reading

1. Jobcentre Plus, “Programme Centre Provision”, Jobcentre Plus Provider Guidance, Chapter 8, June 2005

2. Brace, C., “Programme Centres”, Chapter 12, Welfare to Work Handbook,

Second Edition, 2004, pp141-149 3. Martin Hamblin Research, A final report on the evaluation of Programme Centres,

Employment Service, October 1998

4. Michael White, Steve Lissenburgh and Alex Bryson, The Impact of Public Job Placing Programmes, Policy Studies Institute, 1997

5. "Modular jobsearch programmes being piloted", Working Brief,

August/September 1997

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G. Travel to Interview Scheme

The Travel to Interview Scheme (TIS) assists unemployed people to attend job interviews. It was initially targeted at those individuals who had an interview beyond normal daily travelling distance. However, in June 2002 the scheme was extended to cover the cost of travelling to local interviews, at the discretion of personal advisers. Travel costs and any unavoidable overnight expenses, up to a maximum of two nights, are paid for. It replaced the Job Search Scheme, the Employment Transfer Scheme and the Free Forward Fares Scheme in 1986. 1. Introduction

The introduction of the schemes on a national basis was announced on 13 June 1986 by the Manpower Services Commission: 110

A new scheme - the Travel to Interview Scheme - starts on Monday 16 June following a successful ‘pilot’ in the Northern Region111 during the past year where it was found to be a simpler scheme to operate and a more cost effective way of helping people in their search for work. It is anticipated that some 18,000 people will take advantage of the nationwide scheme. Designed to help unemployed people with the costs of attending job interviews outside their home areas, the £500,000 Scheme replaces the Job Search Scheme and the main differences in the rules are: •

•

•

the local labour market rule will no longer apply as the new scheme is not tied to filling skill shortage vacancies; assistance is limited to people who have been unemployed for at least four weeks before the date of the job offer; no subsistence rates are paid.

2. Eligibility

The eligibility criteria were changed in April 2001 so that the scheme is now available from the first day of unemployment for Jobseeker’s Allowance claimants.112 Previously (from 1 April 1996) the scheme was only available to people who had been unemployed for 13 weeks or more and claiming benefit. In 1998, help was extended to include immediate help for victims of large-scale redundancies.113 In addition, individuals claiming one of the following are also eligible for the TIS:

• Incapacity and Disability Benefits • Maternity Benefits

110 MSC Press Release, More cash available for jobhunters, 13 June 1986 111 The Northern Region is a Standard Statistical Region equivalent to the North East Government Office

Region plus Cumbria. 112 Johnson et al, Evaluation of Travel to Interview Scheme (TIS) Pilots, Employment Service Research and

Development Report ESR93, October 2001 113 DfEE, Departmental Report – the Government’s Expenditure Plans 1999-00 to 2001-02, March 1999, Cm

4202, p 134

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• Carer’s Allowance • Widow/Widowers Benefits • National Insurance credits • Income Support

New Deal and Work Based Learning participants are also eligible. Initially, Jobcentre Plus paid travel expenses for those who are invited to interview by employers beyond normal daily travelling distance as defined by the local Jobcentre. Since June 2002, Jobcentre Plus Personal Advisers have also had the discretion to make payments for travel to local interviews where the cost is greater than £4.114 Claims for travel expenses must be made in advance. An interview is eligible if it is for a job lasting 16 hours or more per week and expected to last three months or more. Travel to tests to demonstrate proficiency for the job rather than a standard interview are also eligible. Assistance can now be given for second and subsequent interviews. There used to be an upper salary limit of £25,000 on the job applied for, but this was removed in 1996.115 Under a scheme launched in May 1998, those on various New Deal programmes are entitled to half price rail fares. This scheme, which complements TIS, was originally only open to those on NDYP and ND25+. Nick Brown, the then Minister for Work, announced in November 2002 that the scheme would be extended to those on ND50+, NDLP and NDDP.116 New Deal photocards allow half price rail travel in England and Wales and tubes and buses in London.117 The card can be used to look for work while on the New Deal and for the first three months of travelling to a new job. The card is issued through Jobcentre Plus offices. 3. Evaluation

A 2001 report by the DWP found that:118

ES [Employment Service] staff and jobseekers view TIS positively. Jobseekers find the scheme a useful aid in jobsearch, and ES staff appreciate the opportunity the scheme gives them to offer practical assistance to claimants.

The report also noted that:119

Applications continued to be dominated by males (less than 15% of applications were from females), and few applications (some 10%) were from minority ethnic groups.

114 HC Deb 11 July 2002 c1145W 115 HC Deb 20 February 1996 c 121W 116 DWP Press Release, More Jobseekers to get half price rail fares, 6 November 2002. 117 A separate but similar scheme operates in Scotland. 118 Johnson et al, Evaluation of Travel to Interview Scheme (TIS) Pilots, Employment Service Research and Development Report ESR 93 October 2001 119 ibid.

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Furthermore:120

[…] TIS is typically used by those seeking jobs demanding higher levels of skill and attracting higher levels of pay … Many (nearly half) of those in the client survey applied to TIS for an interview relating to a managerial or supervisory type job.

4. Further reading

1. Brace, C., “Travel to Interview Scheme”, Chapter 14, Welfare to Work Handbook, Second Edition, 2004, pp159-171

2. Johnson et al, Evaluation of Travel to Interview Scheme (TIS) Pilots, Employment

Service Research and Development Report ESR 93 October 2001

3. Bryson, C., Travel to Interview Scheme, Public Attitudes Survey for the Employment Service, July 1995

120 ibid.

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H. Work Trials

1. Details

Work Trials is a voluntary programme which lasts for a period of up to 15 days during which both parties (employer and employee) can determine how suitable they are to each other's needs. Any benefits the participant is receiving continue to be paid during the trial period. In addition, meal (up to £3 a day) and travel expenses (up to £10 a day) are covered. The programme was first announced as part of the Job Interview Guarantee Scheme, on 9 March 1989. It was launched as a separate scheme in April 1993. 2. Eligibility

The programme is aimed at people who are over 18, have been unemployed for six months or more, and claiming Jobseeker’s Allowance, Income Support, or National Insurance credits. However, if an individual is aged 18-24 then they can be offered a Work Trial only if they are participating in a New Deal programme at the Jobcentre Plus District Manager’s discretion. A number of other individuals are also eligible for Work Trials regardless of how long they have been unemployed:

• Lone parents on the New Deal for Lone Parents • People with disabilities who are unemployed • People with literacy or numeracy difficulties • Victims of large-scale redundancies • People leaving Work Based Learning for Adults • Returners to the labour market who have been out of the labour market for two

years or more due to domestic reasons • Ex-offenders and ex-members of HM Forces

3. Further reading

1. Brace, C., “Work Trials”, Chapter 13, Welfare to Work Handbook, Second Edition, 2004, pp151-157

2. Jobcentre Plus Work Trials webpage:

http://www.jobcentreplus.gov.uk/cms.asp?Page=/Home/Customers/ProgrammesAndServices/Work_Trial

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I. Job Grant

The Job Grant is a tax free payment for people entering full-time employment (16 hours a week or more). It was first introduced in April 2001 to replace the Jobfinder’s Grant and Jobmatch.121 A new version of the Job Grant (which introduced a new rate for households with children) was introduced in October 2004 which superseded the former Job Grant and replaced the Back to Work Bonus and Lone Parent Run-on.122 Since October 2004 the Job Grant has provided £250 to all lone parents and couples with children and £100 to single people and couples without children to help with the transition into work. To qualify for the new Job Grant people will have to be starting work of at least 16 hours a week (24 hours a week for partners) with the employment expected to last a minimum of five weeks. They will also need to have been in receipt of one of the following qualifying benefit continuously for 26 weeks before starting employment:

• Income Support • Jobseeker’s Allowance (over 25s only or lone parents of any age) • Incapacity Benefit • Severe Disablement Allowance.

If an individual is under 25 and eligible for Jobseeker's Allowance, the New Deal for Young People aims to help them back into work through training and work experience. An individual is also eligible to receive a Job Grant if their partner starts working at least 24 hours a week which takes the household off benefits.

121 Jobfinder’s Grant was described in Section N of Research Paper 00/81 Employment and Training

Schemes for the unemployed. 122 Up to October 2004, the Lone Parents Run-On enabled lone parents moving into full-time work to receive

2 weeks extended Income Support if they have been unemployed and in receipt of Income Support or income-based Job Seekers Allowance for at least 6 months. A condition of this was that the lone parent expected to remain in employment for at least 5 weeks. If they did not, benefits were not paid for the first two weeks after employment finished.

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J. Employment Retention and Advancement Scheme

The Government recently piloted a programme aimed at promoting employment retention in order to reduce the number of individuals who frequently alternate between claiming benefit and participating in short spells of low-paying work. The scheme, piloted in six areas took its final intake of participants in February 2005. However, it will continue to operate working with existing participants until 2008. The Employment Retention and Advancement (ERA) scheme began in five Jobcentre Plus districts in October 2003 (in London, North East England, the East Midlands, Scotland and Wales) and in a sixth district in North West England in January 2004. Individuals living within the pilot areas are eligible for this voluntary scheme if they are:

• Eligible for the New Deal 25 Plus • A lone parent claiming Income Support who volunteers for the New Deal for Lone

Parents • A lone parent on Working Tax Credits (WTC) who works less than 30 hours a

week ERA is being evaluated by random assignment. This means that eligible individuals will be asked by their Jobcentre Plus personal adviser whether they want to take part in the programme. If they decline they will continue to access Jobcentre Plus services as usual. If they accept they will be randomly assigned – this means they have an equal chance of being in the ‘test’ group that receives extra support, or of being referred onto the Jobcentre Plus provision they would usually access (i.e. the ‘control group’). A central objective of ERA is to prevent breaks from occurring in an individual’s work record which can impact heavily on their future employment prospects. Therefore incentives to assist with work retention form an important part of the interventions being tested by ERA. Those in the ‘test’ group receive the following ERA services:

• A one to one dedicated adviser (Advancement Support Adviser) who works with individuals, both pre and post-employment up to a maximum of 33 months

• For participants in work of 16 hours or over: Tuition fees of up to £1,000 for

approved training; A training bonus paid at a rate of £8 per hour of classroom training; An Emergency Discretionary Fund to overcome barriers that would otherwise result in them leaving a job.

• In addition, for participants who work 30 hours or more: A retention bonus – a

payment of £400 if they work 13 weeks out of a 17 week period (customers can qualify for a maximum of six payments totalling £2,400).

The intake period (where customers could volunteer for random assignment) lasted until the end of October 2004 for the New Deal groups and until February 2005 for the WTC group.

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The evaluation of the ERA project will consist of a series of research reports, the first of which, titled The Employment Retention and Advancement Scheme: The Early Months of Implementation, was published in August 2005.123

123 DWP, The Employment Retention and Advancement Scheme: The Early Months of Implementation,

August 2005

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K. StepUP

StepUP is a pilot programme which aims to help disadvantaged jobseekers by providing them with a guaranteed job for up to a year. It was first announced on 28 November 2001 and introduced in six pilot areas in May 2002. The pilot areas were chosen for their high unemployment rates and close proximity to areas with high numbers of vacancies. Since the end of 2002 the pilot has been operating in 20 areas of the United Kingdom. StepUP aims to help long-term unemployed people back to work by putting them into jobs. For those eligible, StepUP provides a job that is both guaranteed and mandatory. StepUP aims to increase participants work experience and provide them with a reference to assist with job applications after StepUP. 1. Eligibility

StepUP is specifically aimed at individuals who have been through either the New Deal for Young People or New Deal 25 Plus at least once and are still claiming Jobseeker’s Allowance (JSA) six months after making a new claim to JSA following attendance on a New Deal Option or Intensive Activity Period (IAP). There are no early entry criteria for StepUP. StepUP is mandatory for all eligible individuals aged 18-48. Individuals aged 50 or above that have participated in the New Deal 25+ programme will be offered StepUP, however participation is not mandatory. In addition to the above eligibility, individuals in receipt of Income Support who have been claiming Income Support for 24 months of the previous 30 months are also eligible to volunteer to enter StepUP. Entry onto StepUP for non-JSA recipients is not guaranteed and is at the discretion of Jobcentre Plus. 2. Details

Details were set out by Alistair Darling, the then Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, when he announced the scheme in a debate on 28 November 2001.124

We will guarantee those people who qualify a full-time job, lasting up to a year, and paid at the national minimum wage. They will have the same employment rights, and they will be entitled to the same in-work benefits, as anyone else. In return, it is not unreasonable to require people to take up that opportunity. We aim to give people a choice of job, but they will not be able to turn down all offers and remain on benefit. We will start that approach in six places from April next year, in areas in Sheffield, Cardiff, Oldham, Sunderland, Lambeth and east Ayrshire. We will follow those with a second group over the summer, covering areas in Leeds, south Manchester, Sandwell, Bristol and Greenwich. In the autumn, we will start further pilots in Hackney, Great Yarmouth, Knowsley, Rotherham and Coventry, with

124 HC Deb 28 November 2001 c974-5

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provision starting by the end of the year in Burnley, Wrexham, Dundee and Bradford. I will be writing to hon. Members who represent the constituencies involved to ask them to become involved in the new project.

We will pay for those jobs, working in partnership with employers, local authorities and organisations with experience in offering intermediate labour market opportunities. It is an investment of more than £40 million over two years to equip 5,000 people who are currently long-term unemployed with the skills, the support and the experience of work they need as a stepping stone to jobs in the local labour market.

A StepUP job lasts for 50 weeks and pays at least the National Minimum Wage. Participants receive employment rights stated by law such as holiday pay and maternity pay. All StepUP employees have an independent support worker who is available to assist with the transition to work. After 26 weeks of employment participants are encouraged and helped by their support worker to undertake active job search in order to secure a job in the open labour market at the end of the 50 weeks. A 2004 written answer commented on the potential for the StepUP programme to be rolled out nationally:125

Jane Kennedy: StepUP builds on the New Deal for Young People and New Deal 25 plus by providing transitional jobs for people who have not secured sustained employment through New Deal. There are currently 20 StepUP pilots operating in selected wards across Great Britain. An interim report (Evaluation of StepUP:Interim Report 186/2004) was published on 16 March and is available in the Library. It is too soon to say whether StepUP will be rolled out nationally. However, a final report on the programme, which will establish its effectiveness in helping people into sustained work, work, will include recommendations on roll out.

3. Cost

Information on the cost of StepUP is contained in a 2004 written answer.126 StepUP has received £29.6 million in funding since the programme’s inception to 2004/05. It is anticipated that StepUP will receive a total of £1 million in funding in 2005/06. 4. Evaluation

Upon its introduction the programme was discussed in an article in Working Brief.127 According to this article, many people who face multiple barriers to work, such as little work experience or a criminal record, were not finding work through the New Deal. The article went on:128

125 HC Deb 6 May 2004 c1786W 126 HC Deb 1 April 2004 c1622W 127 “Guaranteeing jobs” Working Brief January 2002 128 ibid.

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StepUP represents a serious attempt to stop the revolving door of New Deal for the most disadvantaged. It is estimated that up to 33% of people on the New Deal 18-24 are there for the second time. A growing number are re-entering for the third time.

Helping the unemployed by creating temporary jobs has been described as the “Intermediate Labour Market” (ILM) approach. This approach was discussed in a 2002 Work and Pensions Select Committee report:129

The Committee believes that the StepUP approach is a good way to help clients who face significant barriers – regardless of their claimant category. We recommend the StepUP approach should be extended beyond the original pilot areas in order to accommodate a wider group of clients.

The Committee’s report continued:130

67. We also heard evidence from UK based providers of Intermediate Labour Market (ILM) programmes. These are a tried and tested way of improving employability that gives economically disadvantaged people the time, support and wages to get off benefits and into work. ILMs can help to create real waged jobs in areas that have few opportunities, especially where structural change has meant a severe loss of employment from many primary industries. They also help to regenerate communities and provide additional public services, particularly in environmental improvement.

68. The Committee was impressed by the creative way in which many of these projects or job placement services create practical "joined up" solutions to local problems by bringing together local partners and diverse funding streams with jobless individuals and communities that need work. In stark contrast to many bureaucratic efforts to create policy coherence and "joined-up" delivery, these organisations have found practical mechanisms to integrate many different government goals, often by finding ways to circumvent highly prescriptive funding rules, targets and beneficiary groups.

69. These solutions are effective because they provide pathways to work through bottom-up, community-based activity and nurture social entrepreneurs who are finding home-grown ways of restoring vitality to communities. Whilst many of these organisations concentrated on community based jobs, all aimed to place their successful employees into jobs in the open labour market by enhancing their ultimate prospects of obtaining a job.

70. We do not believe that these forms of innovative transitional employment can be fostered through specific Government programmes. Instead they can only flourish by allowing local organisations imaginatively to design solutions matched to problems that are understood by local managers and community leaders. Jobcentre Plus needs to offer flexible funding and, whilst measuring outcome as a key indicator of success and the basis for continued funding, it must avoid setting rules that prescribe the processes that these providers have to follow.

129 Work and Pensions Select Committee, The Government’s Employment Strategy, 31 July 2002, HC 815

2001-02, para 64 130 Ibid paras 67-71

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71. We recommend that the Department for Work and Pensions actively explores routes to create flexibility and encourage these innovative Intermediate Labour Market solutions to unemployment and economic inactivity amongst the hardest to place, like lone parents, longer term unemployed, people with health problems or disability.

An interim evaluation of StepUP was published by the DWP in March 2004.131 The report found that:132

Evidence shows that StepUP has successfully targeted those JSA customers who are the most distant from the labour market. There are good indications that those in StepUP jobs have a significantly more positive attitude to work in comparison to the control group. Only 16% have dropped out of a StepUP job and left the programme. The survey shows that StepUP is securing 7.5% job outcomes as a percentage of all starters. Comparative job outcomes in control areas are 26.1%. This may, in part, be attributable to the different programme effects of New Deal for Young People and the JSA regime for over 25s. 65% of jobs in the control areas were in temporary, seasonal, casual or part-time. One test of the effectiveness of StepUP will be a comparison of the type and duration of jobs secured in pilot and control areas.

However, the report went on to conclude:133

At this stage of the evaluation we remain to be convinced that everyone needs an immediate offer of a StepUP job. Some people could be progressed by intensive requirements for jobsearch, backed by the prospect of being required to take a StepUP job. Others seem to require pre-employment support if they are to retain their StepUP job. A distinguishing feature of StepUP is that it gives a ‘job guarantee’. StepUP has provided both labour market discipline and positive motivation to a group that singularly lack both.

In terms of alternative regimes to New Deal, StepUP should be thought of as part of a menu of options for people who otherwise would return to New Deal.

[…]

There is a case for considering targeting StepUP on the over-25s. At this stage, StepUP appears to have a greater impact on over-25s. This will be fully tested in the full evaluation.

131 Bivand et al., Evaluation of StepUP: Interim Report, March 2004 132 ibid. 133 ibid.

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In general, within StepUP 18-24s should have an increased emphasis on jobsearch and some continued support when they move into an unsubsidised job. For over-25s, however, the existing StepUP model appears to be making a positive difference.

5. Further reading

1. Bivand et al., Evaluation of StepUP: Interim Report, March 2004 2. Britton et al., “StepUP”, Chapter 27, Welfare to Work Handbook, Second Edition,

2004, pp347-362

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L. Progress2Work

Progress2Work aims to help those whose misuse of drugs hinders their ability to find a job. The programme was first announced in the 2001 Budget and received an initial investment of £40 million over three years:134

The Government is committed to ensuring employment opportunity for all, including those in greatest need of help. As part of its strategy, it will invest additional resources to help the 30,000 claimants whose drug problems may be getting in the way of their finding a job, and provide more help for ex-users to move into work.

It is currently planned to run at a steady state at £20 million per year until 2006.135 It is a national programme that has been gradually rolled out in three phases in 2001/02, 2002/03, and 2003/04. The programme has been operating in all 90 Jobcentre Plus districts since April 2004. 1. Detail

Details of the programme were given in the following written answer:136

Tony Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what measures he is taking to help those recovering from drug treatment to find work. Mr. Nicholas Brown: We are committed to helping unemployed people who have decided to kick their drug habit move into work. Our policies and programmes are helping people with drug problems to overcome them and lead healthy and productive lives, a key aim of the Government's anti- drugs strategy. Drug mis-users already have early access to programmes like the new deal and Work Based Learning for Adults. We have also introduced progress2work, a £40 million initiative to give unemployed people who are recovering from their drug problem the extra help they need to get into work. Progress2work will provide additional specialist help so recovering drug users can make the best use of our welfare to work initiatives. It will also equip Jobcentre Plus staff with the skills and knowledge they need to identify and help drug mis-users, and will bring more local and national co-ordination to provision in this field.

Each individual referred to Progress2Work is allocated an employment support worker who will provide:137

• an assessment of their employment and drug related history and other factors which will impact on their prospects of finding and keeping work;

134 HM Treasury, Budget 2001, March 2001, HC 279 2000/01, p68 135 Stewart, M., “Progress2work and Link-UP”, Chapter 26, Welfare to Work Handbook, Second Edition,

2004, p337 136 HC Deb 20 May 2002 c32W 137 The following overview is extracted from the Jobcentre Plus progress2work website.

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• an individually tailored action plan which will move them towards work; • any preparatory help they might need before starting an employment measure,

such as confidence building and assertiveness, and life skills; • help to access specialist agencies to ensure that other issues which might act as

a barrier to employment are addressed appropriately. These might include debt, housing, health and residual criminal justice issues.

The participants individual action plan includes not only the steps to move into work but also the additional activity that is required to supplement this activity. This varies according to their specific needs and circumstances, but might include help to: :

• access jobsearch training and resources; • develop their ‘soft skills’; • identify suitable work; • disclose their drug history; • access work tasters or work experience; • cope with any employer drug testing requirements; • disclose criminal convictions; • cope with the transition to employment and a wage; • manage transitional benefit issues

The employment worker will continue to support the customer to ensure that they adhere to and complete their individual action plan, assuming an advocacy role when necessary. They identify potential trigger points for relapse or drop-out and provide additional help and encouragement at these stages. The various transition points, such as entering employment provision, moving from one stage of provision to another, starting work experience, completing provision are obvious trigger points, but so too will be a range of personal factors which the assessment will have flagged up. Support continues for up to 13 weeks after participants have got a job to minimise the perceived risk to the employer and help prevent relapse. Jobcentre Plus has also introduced a related pilot programme Progress2Work LinkUP which provides employment related service support for people facing significant labour market disadvantage due to an offending background, homelessness or alcohol misuse. It operates in a similar way to the Progress2Work model and was gradually rolled out across 22 Jobcentre Plus districts between 2002 and 2004. The pilots are currently scheduled to run until March 2006. 2. Statistics and evaluation

Initial Progress2Work outcomes are detailed in the following Written Answer:138

Mr. Browne: In April 2001, £40 million was allocated to enable Jobcentre Plus to develop Progress2Work provision. To date approximately 22.5 per cent. of this budget has been spent.

138 HC Deb 127January 2004 c349W

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7,797 people had started Progress2Work by the end of November 2003. Of these 1,402 people had been helped into work; 968 were still receiving in work support from their provider and a further 434 were in sustained employment. This represents 5.6 per cent. of the total participants. Progress2Work is an evolving programme, phased in over 3 stages, with over 50 per cent. of participants joining in the last 6 months. The final phase contracts are still being put in place. The cost of a job and sustained job outcome will continue to drop as more participants move into employment. Currently costs per job outcome come out at £7,229 and at £23,136 per sustainable job. Progress2Work has been effective at helping this very disadvantaged group back into employment. The proportion of current participants who are in supported job outcomes is approximately 20 per cent. Additionally there is also a consistent increase in the numbers moving from Progress2Work into employment. Costs and outcomes for Progress2Work have not yet stabilised as the programme is still developing.

Cost per participant is provided in the following written answer:139

Mr. Browne: Our Progress2Work programme has been successful in helping more than 1,200 recovering drug misusers into work. And we will have extended this support across the country by April. Although no formal cost benefit analysis has been carried out, available information indicates that it costs around £750 per year to help each person through progress2work. This certainly represents good value for money compared to the £37,500 it would cost to keep the same person in prison.

Progress2Work was also the subject of a Westminster Hall adjournment debate in January 2004.140 3. Further reading

1. Cebulla et al., Drug and alcohol use as barriers to employment: final report, April 2004

2. Stewart, M., “Progress2work and Link-UP”, Chapter 26, Welfare to Work

Handbook, Second Edition, 2004, p337-346

139 HC Deb 12 January 2004 c555W 140 HC Deb 7 January 2004 cc112-133WH

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M. Ethnic Minorities Outreach Initiative

The Ethnic Minorities Outreach (EMO) initiative aims to narrow the gap between the overall employment rate and the employment rate of ethnic minorities.141 It was first announced in the 2001 Employment Green Paper:142

Recognising the diverse needs of different ethnic minority communities, we will invest £15 million in new outreach for ethnic minorities over the next three years, through voluntary and community bodies.

The Government committed £15 million of initial funding over two years from April 2002.143 A further £14m funding has been made available from April 2004 until March 2006.144 1. Details

Further detail was provided in a DWP Press Release:145

Steps to narrow the gap between the overall employment rate and that of ethnic minority people have been announced today by Minister for Work Nick Brown. Jobcentre Plus has agreed contracts with local organisations to proactively engage with jobless people in the five urban areas that are home to three quarters of Britain's ethnic minority people. Launching the initiative today, Minister for Work Nick Brown said:

"There's an unacceptable difference between the overall employment rate and that of people from ethnic minorities which is clear evidence of wasted talent. This new outreach service will explore different ways jobless people can be brought into work or training and forms part of a concerted effort to narrow that 17% gap."

The contractors include small, locally-based grass roots organisations which have an established or potential rapport with specific groups of disadvantaged ethnic minority people in the East Midlands, Greater London, Greater Manchester, West Midlands and West Yorkshire. The projects will work by attracting people to mainstream services such as the New Deal, by improving links between communities and employers or by providing specialist training where necessary. Nick Brown added:

"We know that work is the best route out of poverty and that many of the country's ethnic minority communities are based in its poorest areas. These providers are well-placed to identify the key obstacles preventing their clients

141 In 2001 the employment rate of ethnic minority people was 57.7% compared with an overall rate of

74.5%. In 2005 the ethnic minority rate had risen to 59.3% compared with an overall rate of 74.6%. 142 DfEE, DSS and HM Treasury, Towards full employment in a modern society, March 2001, Cm 5084, p34 143 DWP Press Release, Government reaches out to “wasted talent” in Britain’s ethnic minority

communities, 4 July 2002. 144 DWP Press Release, Tackling ethnic minority unemployment, 23 November 2004 145 ibid.

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from taking up work, and then to build rapport and win their trust in a way which gets results."

The Work and Pensions Select Committee report on the Government’s Employment Strategy also contains a description of the programme:146

Outlined in the April 2001 Green Paper, Jobcentre Plus has agreed contracts with local organisations, as part of a £15m two-year programme announced in July 2002 to engage actively with jobless people in the five urban areas where three quarters of Britain's ethnic minority people live. The contractors included small, locally-based organisations which have an established or potential rapport with specific groups of disadvantaged ethnic minority people. The projects will work by attracting people to mainstream services such as the New Deal, by improving links between communities and employers or by providing specialist training where necessary. There are 52 contracts with organisations in the five urban areas in which the ethnic minority outreach project will operate. Specific areas within the five urban areas are: Birmingham, Black Country North, Black Country South, Bolton, Bradford, Calderdale & Kirklees, Coventry, Edgware, Lambeth, Leaside, Leicestershire, Lewisham, Manchester North, Manchester South, Oldham & Rochdale, Thames Gateway.

The Strategy Unit of the Cabinet Office published a report in 2003 on methods of improving the labour market performance of ethnic minorities.147 The report recommended a range of policy measures. These policy measures fell under three broad headings designed specifically to tackle the three main barriers to employment faced by some ethnic minorities:

• Building Employability – tackling the lower levels of education and skills experienced by some ethnic minorities.

• Connecting people to work – tackling the problems faced by ethnic minority groups that have the lowest levels of employment and live in the most disadvantaged areas.

• Equal opportunities in the workplace – tackling employer discrimination. In response to this report, the 2003 Budget announced further support to improve the position of ethnic minorities in the labour market.148

Building on the conclusions of the report, Budget 2003 therefore introduces further support, including:

• from April 2004, specialist advisers in Jobcentre Plus districts with high ethnic minority populations; and

• from April 2004, a new policy fund of £8 million over the next two years will be available to Jobcentre Plus managers to provide innovative solutions to helping people from ethnic minorities into work.

146 Work and Pensions Committee, the Government’s Employment Strategy, 31 July 2002, HC 815, Session

2001-02, para 72 147 Strategy Unit, Ethnic minorities and the labour market, March 2003 148 HM Treasury, Budget 2003, “Increasing employment opportunity for all”, Chapter 4, March 2003

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The 2004 Budget announced that:149

In recognition of the important role that employers play in enabling people from disadvantaged ethnic minority groups to overcome barriers to their participation in the labour market, the National Employment Panel ‘Fair Cities’ project has been investigating the scope for employer-led initiatives that could complement Government policies in this area. Budget 2004 announces that ‘Fair Cities’ initiatives will be established in three areas later this year, to work with employers and other local stakeholders in order to develop strategies to improve employment outcomes for people from disadvantaged ethnic minority groups.

The report also recommended the creation of the Ethnic Minorities Employment Taskforce, to be made up of both government and non-government representatives, to ensure that the report’s conclusions are implemented, and to enable Government departments to work in more co-ordinated ways to deliver improved labour market achievements for ethnic minorities. In November 2004 this task force published its first annual report.150 In the 2004 Pre-Budget Report, the Chancellor asked the National Employment Panel (NEP), working with the Ethnic Minority Business Forum, to explore further measures to encourage employment, self-employment and growth of small businesses for ethnic and faith minority groups. The NEP submitted recommendations which were published alongside the 2005 Budget. The main recommendations included:151

• outreach support for employability, skills development and job access

should be focused on people who are not in work, not on benefit and may have been traditionally excluded from the labour market;

• an integrated, employer-led employment and skills framework should be established in each of the designated five cities [London, Birmingham, Manchester, Bradford/Leeds, and Leicester] to increase the number and quality of jobs for ethnic minorities and disadvantaged residents;

• Regional Development Agencies should assess the needs of ethnic minority businesses as part of their Regional Economic Strategies;

• new Centres of Vocational Excellence (CoVEs) for Entrepreneurship should be established in the designated cities;

• the Small Business Service should work with banks and financial intermediaries to review the availability and accessibility of finance in the designated major cities;

• the Government should promote the incorporation of race equality into public procurement within current legal and policy frameworks;

• the public sector should become an example of best practice in promoting race equality and diversity, and fulfil its public duty through

149 HM Treasury, Budget 2004, “Increasing employment opportunity for all”, March 2004, HC 301 2003/04,

Chapter 4 150 Ethnic Minorities Employment Task Force, Equality. Opportunity. Success: Year 1 Progress Report,

Autumn 2004 151 HM Treasury, Budget 2005, “Increasing employment opportunity for all”, HC 372 2004/05, March 2005,

Chapter 4

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improved targets, measurement and evaluation, with departments reviewing their use of Race Equality Impact Assessments;

• a commission of business leaders should be charged with advising on increasing employment of ethnic minorities and faith groups in the private sector by 2010, including indicators by which the private sector can measure progress; and

• the Government should ensure, at Cabinet Committee level, that ethnic and faith minorities participate and share equally in this country’s continued economic success.

The first two years of the EMO initiative were evaluated in a recent DWP research report.152 The main conclusions of the report were that:153

EMO had a major impact in increasing ethnic minorities’ awareness of employment and training opportunities, especially among Indian and Pakistani women. The language and outreach skills of EMO workers were crucial in reaching these groups. There was increased use of Jobcentre Plus services, but not all EMO clients were willing to register with Jobcentre Plus, and some were already registered, but not making full use of the services on offer, so that not all this work generated outcome payments. The Ethnic Minorities Flexible Fund may allow this valuable work to continue. EMO helped people move closer to the labour market, but those with multiple problems remained at a considerable disadvantage. EMO also helped people into work, but it tended to be those out of work for the shortest periods who generated employment outcomes. For those facing significant barriers, finding work often took a year or more, and did not generate outcome payments. This requires addressing to provide incentives to work with the hardest to help. There were some issues common to almost all EMO providers. These included capacity issues, implementation problems and issues relating to the administration and management of the pilot. Many of these have now been addressed, but some affected delivery for most of the initial two years.

2. Further reading

1. Barnes et al., Ethnic minorities outreach: an evaluation, 2005 2. Ethnic Minorities Employment Task Force, Equality. Opportunity. Success: Year 1

Progress Report, Autumn 2004 3. Strategy Unit, Ethnic minorities and the labour market, March 2003

152 Barnes et al., Ethnic minorities outreach: an evaluation, 2005 153 ibid.

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N. Rapid Response Service

The Rapid Response Service (RRS) provides information, advice and other assistance to help those unemployed as a result of large scale redundancies. The RRS brought together the Job Transition Service and the Rapid Response Fund in April 2002. The stated goal of the service is to “… assist workers that are affected by ‘significant’ redundancies to make the transition to new jobs (or other appropriate labour market outcomes such as further training or education) as efficiently and effectively as possible”.154 A ‘significant’ redundancy is defined as a ‘large scale’ redundancy that is deemed to have a significant impact on the local area/labour market within which the proposed redundancies are to take place. Jobcentre Plus District Managers are able to declare a redundancy ‘large scale’, thereby enabling affected individuals to take advantage of ‘fast track’ access to Jobcentre Plus services. Once the redundancy is announced the local Jobcentre Plus manager may call on a national pool of additional resources (financial and human) to ensure the increased volume of clients are effectively served.155 A ‘significant’ redundancy situation can be declared in cases where it is felt that early access to standard Jobcentre Plus services would be inadequate to assist redundant workers to move into new jobs. It is important to note that the definition of a ‘significant’ redundancy is not a fixed one, and is not related solely to the number of workers that are likely to lose their jobs. A redundancy that is relatively small numerically, but is taking place within a small community with few alternative employment opportunities may be deemed significant. Conversely, a redundancy affecting large numbers of workers may be deemed large-scale but not significant if it is felt that sufficient job opportunities exist within the local area for redundant workers, with the early assistance of standard Jobcentre Plus services.156 The service is run by a network of Jobcentre Plus Senior Managers in the affected country or region. This network works with the company and local partners157 to ensure the best possible response to the situation. Each local partnership may be different depending on the nature of the redundancy and its location. The help provided by the RRS is tailored to the needs of the individuals, the employer, the local economy and the labour market concerned. The help offered by Jobcentre Plus through the RRS may include:158

154 Jobcentre Plus website: http://www.jobcentreplus.gov.uk/cms.asp?Page=/Home/Employers/HelpwithRedundancies 155 During the 2002-2003 financial year £15 million was allocated to RRS. 156 S Johnson, Jobcentre Plus Rapid Response Discussion Paper, 15 April 2003: http://www.peerreview-employment.org/pdf/uk03/indexpUK03.pdf 157 Partners may include local Learning and Skill Councils, and Regional Development Agencies. 158 Jobcentre Plus website: http://www.jobcentreplus.gov.uk/cms.asp?Page=/Home/Employers/OurServices/AdditionalServices/Help

WithRedundancies

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• Offering best practice consultancy to the company declaring

redundancies; using our experience with companies which are down sizing and our understanding of the labour market

• Information, advice and guidance offered on all aspects of jobsearch; help with CVs, access to vacancies, further training for those who need new skills, benefit advice and information on the help available from other organisations;

• Skills and Training Analysis to help identify transferable skills and to identify any training requirements linked to the local labour market;

• Early access to a range of Jobcentre Plus programmes such as Work-based Learning for Adults, Training for Work in Scotland led by the Local Enterprise Companies and Work Based Learning for Adults in Wales led by Education and Learning Wales;

• Where appropriate, offering Re-training; • Referrals to other programmes such as small business advice and sole

trader initiatives; • Where appropriate using Action Funding to pay for one-off support to

address individual barriers to re-employment. Once a redundancy has been declared ‘significant’ by the local Jobcentre Plus manager, the RRS will help all individuals who are ‘under-threat’ or ‘under-notice’ of redundancy from the employer:159

• Under Threat of Redundancy - Individuals can access Information, Advice and Guidance and Skills and Training Analysis prior to receiving their Notice of Redundancy.

• Under Notice of Redundancy - as well as the above, tailored programmes will be provided to enable this group to move into new work quickly.

Individuals are eligible for the additional help provided by the RRS up to 12 weeks after they have been made redundant. The degree of help offered by the RRS is dependent on each individual and their level of transferable skills.

159 ibid.

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O. Working Neighbourhood Pilots

In April 2004, the Government introduced a pilot scheme to tackle neighbourhoods with very high rates of unemployment and economic inactivity. Many of these areas have a large number of vacancies or are within travelling distance of areas with large numbers of vacancies or jobs. The pilots provide intensive help to jobseekers. Additional resources (notably a flexible, discretionary fund) are available to allow Jobcentre Plus, working in conjunction with local partners, flexibility to deliver tailored services that best meet the needs of the neighbourhood. The help on offer includes both help to find work – by offering work-focused contacts at the earliest opportunity – and help to sustain work through in-work support and incentives. This programme was formally announced in the Pre-Budget Report 2002.160 It was described in a speech by the Chancellor of the Exchequer on 1 November 2002. He said:161

But we must go further and so tackling the barriers to full employment and encouraging the unemployed back to work in our most deprived areas will form a major feature of the pre-budget report.

Because we must break the destructive culture that “no-one around here works” which damages both the areas themselves and people’s chances of jobs, we will provide far more help than in the past in these areas, using the sanctions and opportunities available in the new deal and where necessary taking job advisers onto estates, and extending access to the help available through the new deal and equip the unemployed with the skills they need to get into work, including providing training in literacy, numeracy and other basic skills. But in return we will expect the unemployed to take up the jobs that are available.

In pilot areas, we will look to test a more intensive approach to tackling the worst concentrations of unemployment, street by street, estate by estate. As we insist on unemployed adults and young people getting back to work, we will identify the barriers to their employability, offering them training, advice and sometimes cash help, and linking them to jobs in the vicinity.

1. Details

The pilots operate in twelve of the most deprived neighbourhoods of the country. The pilots are currently scheduled to run until March 2006. Details were set out in the Pre-Budget Report 2002:162

4.58 In each pilot area, residents claiming Jobseeker's Allowance will benefit from accelerated access onto the New Deal programmes after just three months of unemployment, compared with the current eligibility of six months for young people and 18 months for those aged 25 and over. Because economic inactivity

160 HM Treasury, Pre-Budget Report 2002, November 2002, Cm 5664, p76 161 Extract from speech given by the Chancellor of the Exchequer at the Urban Summit in Birmingham, 1

November 2002. 162 HM Treasury, Pre-Budget Report 2002, November 2002, Cm 5664, p76

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is often more prevalent than unemployment in these neighbourhoods, more frequent work-focused interviews will also be introduced for all partners and lone parents, with new Incapacity Benefit claimants also given more help to ensure that employment opportunities and barriers to work are regularly discussed.

4.59 Each neighbourhood will also receive a flexible discretionary fund. This will allow personal advisers to tackle the substantial and varied barriers that prevent residents in these neighbourhoods from returning to work. The fund will provide personal advisers, working in cooperation with Local Strategic Partnerships, with flexibility to deliver services in ways that best meet the needs of the local community.

In addition there are retention payments, in the form of lump sum rewards, for participants who move into and remain in work after previously receiving specified benefits. The first is paid after the participant has been in work for 13 weeks and the second after 26 weeks. The barriers to work differ from site to site but common barriers affecting these communities include:

• Low educational achievement/lack of basic skills • Lack of confidence/low self-esteem • Accustomed to benefit dependency • Health problems • Crime and drugs/alcohol/substance abuse • Lack of suitable affordable childcare provision • Problems with transport or lack of willingness to travel • Employers attitudes • Perceived lack of job opportunities

Local plans to overcome these barriers were developed on a site-by-site basis and build on the help and support that was already available in the pilot sites. The 12 pilots run within selected parts of the following local authority wards and small parts of neighbouring wards:

• Glasgow - Parkhead, Hutchesontown (2 pilots) • Birmingham - Aston • Newcastle - Monkchester • Hastings - Castle • Swansea - Penderry • Great Yarmouth - Central & Northgate • Knowsley - Northwood • Wirral - Birkenhead • Tower Hamlets - East India & Lansbury • Sheffield - Manor • Middlesbrough – Thorntree

The postcode boundaries for the 12 sites each contain around 6,000 residents, of whom approximately 2,000 people are in receipt of working age benefits. A full list of the pilot

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postcodes are detailed in The Social Security (Working Neighbourhoods) Regulations 2004.163 2. Further reading

1. Jobcentre Plus Working Neighborhoods website 2. Mansour et al., “Pilots”, Chapter 29, Welfare to Work Handbook, Second Edition,

2004, p381-385

163 See: http://www.opsi.gov.uk/si/si2004/20040959.htm

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P. Ambition

The Ambition Programme is a pilot training programme aiming to meet skills shortages in specific sectors and occupations and to help unemployed and disadvantaged people into sustainable jobs that pay well and have career potential. The programme provides training that has been designed by employers to ensure jobseekers meet precise entry requirements of identified vacancies. As such, the programme is based on a demand-led approach. The programme is delivered by Jobcentre Plus and associated training providers. 1. Details

Overall, the programme aims to achieve the following generic objectives:164

• Achieve higher placement and retention rates of disadvantaged participants in jobs that are not usually accessible to unemployed people.

• Meet employer human resource and skill shortage requirements in specific sectors and occupations.

• Engage industry expertise directly in the design and customer feedback of all provision, so that candidates meet ‘job readiness tests’ and contribute to employer productivity.

• Increase the number and diversity of participating employers to maximise the quality and variety of jobs on offer by Jobcentre Plus.

• Build the organisational capacity and staff expertise of Jobcentre Plus and local intermediaries to plan, manage, market and deliver a demand-led strategy.

• Develop bespoke management, contracting and information systems fit for the purpose of a high performance initiative.

Initially, there were five sectors in which Ambition was piloted: Energy; Construction; Information Technology; Retail; and Health. All started in 2002 apart from Ambition:Health which received its first intake of trainees in autumn 2004. Ambition:Energy is delivered as a nationwide pilot, while the other four were delivered as local pilots. Only two Ambition programmes are currently taking referrals for further courses; Health165 and Energy.166 The Ambition models for each strand were designed differently to meet the needs of the different targeted industries and selected trades or occupations, however all featured the following components:167

164 GHK Consulting, Ambition: identifying best practice for demand-led approaches, 2005, p11 165 See:

http://www.jobcentreplus.gov.uk/cms.asp?Page=/Home/Customers/ProgrammesAndServices/AmbitionProgramme/1710

166 See: http://www.jobcentreplus.gov.uk/cms.asp?Page=/Home/Customers/ProgrammesAndServices/AmbitionProgramme/1707

167 ibid. p12

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• demand-led approach and employer engagement; • referral, assessment and selection of candidates; • training (including pre-employment courses, such as health and safety, life/soft

skills, commercial skills and occupation/trade-specific technical training); • work experience or placements (in some cases, post-placement support).

Eligibility criteria for referral differs between sectors and pilot areas, but are generally similar to New Deal eligibility,168 with earlier referral possible for some priority groups; from these groups Ambition participants would be chosen through a selection process. By the end of January 2005, more than 7,000 individuals had participated in training under the five Ambition programmes. Ambition:Energy has been the most successful; it has exceeded the job outcome target of 60% training starters into jobs and retention target of 70% job starters retained at 26 weeks set for the programme. 2. Further reading

1. Jobcentre Plus Ambition Website

2. GHK Consulting, Ambition: identifying best practice for demand-led approaches, 2005

3. Somerville, W., “Ambition”, Chapter 28, Welfare to Work Handbook, Second

Edition, 2004, p363-378

168 For more information on the New Deals see Volume I, Part II of this Research Paper (RP 05/61).

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II Training and Employment Schemes since World War II

1945 - 1971 It was not until the 1970s that training and employment schemes of the kind we know today were first introduced. In the two decades which followed the Second World War unemployment never exceeded 3 per cent and was generally below 2 per cent. Manpower policies were developed in the 1960s to deal with regional imbalances and with skill shortages in particular sectors. For example, the Regional Employment Premium, a labour subsidy paid to manufacturers for each worker they employed in Development Areas, was introduced in 1967. The Industrial Training Boards (which have since been replaced by Sector Skills Councils169) with powers to levy employers and make grants to those who provided training of an approved standard, were established under the Industrial Training Act 1964. Public help with job search activity can be dated back at least to 1910 when the first public labour exchanges were set up as a means of bringing together employers and unemployed people with a view to cutting out waste in the processes of recruiting workers and of looking for a job. From the outset, labour exchanges had close links with the administration of unemployment insurance and, by the 1960s, a large network of local offices of the Ministry of Labour dealt with both employment and benefit work. On the employment side, the service had a reputation for dealing with poorly motivated people and with vacancies in predominantly unskilled occupations. The late 1960s saw a growing interest in manpower policies and there was concern about shortage of labour as a constraint on economic growth. In 1971, the Conservative Government published a policy document, People and Jobs, which recommended the separation of employment work from the administration of benefit to break the "dole queue image" of the employment service. Attractive new Job Centres in prime high street locations would help people find work while Unemployment Benefit Offices (UBOs) would deal with benefit claims. This policy has gradually been reversed since the mid 1980s and the establishment of Jobcentre Plus in 2001 re-integrated administration of benefits with advice on looking for work. 1972 Training Opportunities Scheme (TOPS) - ran from 1972 to 1985 when it was replaced by the Job Training Scheme. The aims of TOPS were to provide training on request from unemployed adults, subject to an economic need for the skills to be taught, to enable adults to change occupations quickly and to promote the concept of adult retraining. Applicants had to be unemployed or willing to give up employment, be at least 19 years of age, and to have spent at least two years away from full-time education. They also had to have a clear intention of taking up employment in the training occupation. A weekly allowance was paid.

169 For more information see Volume I, Part I, Section A of this Research Paper (RP 05/61).

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Community Industry (CI) - started in 1972, on the initiative of the National Association of Youth Clubs. CI provided disadvantaged young people with temporary employment of community benefit in workshops, site projects and through placements with social care organisations. Participants received a weekly wage which increased with age. They were normally on the scheme for 12 months. The role of CI changed with the expansion of the Youth Training Scheme and the transfer of responsibility for training to the Training and Enterprise Councils. It became a training provider under YT and merged with the Rathbone Society in 1995 to provide training for people with special needs. 1973 Job Centres - the first Job Centre of the type proposed in People and Jobs opened in Reading in May 1973. In the following three years a network of Job Centres separate from the UBOs was established. However, in 1987, the Government announced that the job-finding services of the Job Centres were to be re-integrated with the benefit administration and "policing" functions of UBOs. Professional and Executive Recruitment - in 1973 the Department of Employment's Professional and Executive Register was restyled as Professional Executive Recruitment, delivered by separate management and charging fees to employers. It provided specialised recruitment services for professional, technical, scientific, supervisory and managerial vacancies. In September 1988, PER was privatised and sold to Pergamon Professional and Financial Services plc for £6 million. 1975 Temporary Employment Subsidy (TES) - ran from August 1975 to March 1979 when it closed to new applications. The objective was to encourage companies to defer threatened redundancies, affecting ten or more workers. The scheme offered a £20 a week subsidy for a maximum of 12 months for each full-time job maintained. Job Creation Programme (JCP) - ran from October 1975 to December 1977 when it closed to new applicants. JCP provided full-time, paid work for up to twelve months on projects of benefit to the local community. Priority was given to those aged 16-24 and to those aged over 50. Participants received the normal local wage rate for the job up to a defined maximum. Recruitment Subsidy for School Leavers (RSSL) - ran from October 1975 to September 1976. The scheme applied to school leavers in the Summer of 1975 and December 1975. The aim was to encourage private sector employers and the nationalised industries to give preference to unemployed school leavers when recruiting staff. Employers were paid a subsidy of £5 per head per school leaver recruited, for a maximum of 26 weeks. 1976 Work Experience Programme (WEP) - ran from September 1976 to April 1978 when it was incorporated in to the Youth Opportunities Programme. Employers were asked to give unemployed 16-18 year olds a practical introduction to working life for a minimum of 6 months. The young people were paid a weekly allowance.

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Youth Employment Subsidy (YES) - ran from October 1976 to March 1978. A subsidy of £10 per week for up to 26 weeks was paid to any private sector or nationalised industry employer who recruited a young person (under 20 on 1 October 1976) who had been registered as continuously unemployed for 6 months or more. 1977 Job Release Scheme (JRS) - the full-time Job Release Scheme started in January 1977 and closed to new entrants in January 1988. The part-time scheme started in October 1983 and closed in May 1986. The purpose of the scheme was to encourage older people to retire early by paying them an allowance, provided they thereby released a job which was filled by an unemployed person. Small Firms Employment Subsidy (SFES) - ran from July 1977 to March 1980 when it closed for new applicants. Small manufacturing firms in the private sector (originally only in Special Development Areas) were offered a subsidy of £20 per week for up to 26 weeks for each extra full-time job they created. There was a part-time scheme as well. 1978 Youth Opportunities Programme (YOP) - ran from April 1978 to September 1983 when it was replaced by the Youth Training Scheme. It provided a programme of up to 12 months work experience and training for unemployed school leavers aged 16-18. A weekly allowance was paid. Special Temporary Employment Programme (STEP) - ran from April 1978 to March 1981, when it was replaced by the Community Enterprise Programme. It provided the long-term unemployed with temporary work of community benefit. It was aimed at over 25s unemployed for at least 12 months and those aged 19 to 24 unemployed for at least 6 months. Short-Time Working Compensation Scheme for Textile, Clothing and Footwear Firms - ran from May 1978 to March 1979 when it closed to new applicants and was subsumed in the Temporary Short Time Working Compensation Scheme. The scheme aimed to encourage employers in these industries to adopt short-time working instead of making people redundant. For a maximum of 12 months, employers were re-imbursed 75% of normal wages paid to those working short-time instead of redundancy. Adult Employment Subsidy (AES) - ran from August 1978 to June 1979 in a few pilot areas. Employers in private industry and the nationalised industries received £20 per week subsidy for up to 26 weeks for every person they took on aged 19-64 (59 for women) who had been registered unemployed for 12 months or more. 1979 Temporary Short Time Working Compensation Scheme (TSTWCS) - ran from April 1979 to March 1984. The scheme was designed to encourage employers to adopt short-time working as an alternative to redundancy. Under the scheme, employers received 50% of normal wages paid to staff working short-time for up to nine months.

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1981 Community Enterprise Programme (CEP) - ran from April 1981 to September 1982 when it was incorporated in to the Community Programme. It provided temporary employment of benefit to the Community for the long-term unemployed with a view to improving their prospects of obtaining permanent employment. It was aimed at over 25s unemployed for at least 12 months and those aged 18 to 24 unemployed for at least six months. 1982 Young Workers Scheme - ran from January 1982 to April 1986, when it was replaced by the New Workers Scheme. The aim of the scheme was to improve the competitive position of young people in the labour market in order to "price" them into jobs. Employers were paid a subsidy of £15 a week for each young person aged 18 in their first year of employment, and earning under £50 a week. Voluntary Projects Programme (VPP) - ran from August 1982 to September 1988 when it was replaced by Employment Training. The projects offered unemployed people an opportunity to undertake constructive activities on a informal, part-time basis. Participants remained on benefit. The Manpower Services Commission funded some of the running costs and waged posts of the sponsors who were usually voluntary organisations. Community Programme (CP) - ran from October 1982 to September 1988 when it was replaced by Employment Training. Provided certain unemployed people over 18 with up to a year's temporary full - or part-time work on projects of benefit to the Community. Participants aged 18-24 had to have been out of work for 6 of the previous 9 months. Those aged 25 or over had to have been unemployed for 12 of the previous 15 months. From October 1984, most participants had to have been in receipt of unemployment benefit. Participants were paid a wage. 1983 Job Splitting Scheme - ran from January 1983 to April 1987 when it was replaced by Jobshare. Employers were paid a grant (originally £750) if they split a job which had previously been full-time and filled it with two unemployed workers or two employees facing redundancy. Enterprise Allowance Scheme (EAS) - ran, nationally, from August 1983 to 1990-91 when it was gradually replaced by the Business Start Up Scheme run on a more flexible basis by the Training and Enterprise Councils (TECs). Originally the scheme provided an allowance of £40 a week for up to a year for people who had been unemployed for at least 8 weeks and who wanted to start their own businesses. Claimants had to be aged 18-65 and have access to £1000 capital. Youth Training Scheme (YTS) - ran from September 1983 to May 1990 when it was replaced by Youth Training. YTS was a programme of training and planned work experience for 16 and 17 year old school leavers. It started as a one year programme but was substantially revised and became a two year programme in April 1986. Trainees were paid an allowance of £29.50 a week in their first year and £35 a week in their second year.

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1984 Job Clubs - began in November 1984 and were gradually replaced by Programme Centres from 1998. Job Clubs provided training and individual guidance in jobsearch techniques, including telephone and interview skills and preparation of a CV. 1985 Job Training Scheme (JTS) - ran from July 1985 to September 1988 when it was replaced by Employment Training. The scheme provided training for unemployed people, mainly through off-the-job courses at Skill-centres and further education colleges. The courses lasted from 3 to 12 months and trainees received an allowance of £38 a week if single or £62.70 if they had an adult dependant. Trainees had to be 18 or over and to have been away from full-time education for at least two years. Wider Opportunities Training Programme - ran from July 1985 to September 1988 when it was replaced by Employment Training. The scheme provided typically short-term and part-time training for unemployed people. Training included work preparation, assessment and basic skills training, training in literacy and numeracy, English as a second language and special help for women returners to the labour market. Most trainees continued to receive benefit but a few, on full-time courses, were paid the old Job Training Scheme allowances. 1986 New Workers Scheme - ran from April 1986 to January 1988. The aim of the scheme was to encourage employers to take on more young people at rates of pay which realistically reflected their age and inexperience. Employers were paid £15 a week for up to a year for each eligible young person they took on. Young people aged 18 or 19 had to be paid a wage below £55 a week and those aged 20, a wage below £65. The young people had to be in their first year of employment. Jobstart - ran from July 1986 to February 1991. Under the scheme, people who had been unemployed and claiming benefit for at least 12 months could receive an allowance of £20 a week for up to 6 months if they took a full-time job with gross pay of under £90 a week. A pilot "50-Plus Jobstart" scheme, launched in June 1989, allowed qualifying people aged 50 or over to receive the allowance if they took a part-time job for at least 10 hours a week at an hourly rate of £2.57 or less. Travel To Interview Scheme - see Volume II, Part I, Section G (RP 05/62) Restart Courses - ran from July 1986 to 1998-9 when they were merged with Jobplan Workshops. The courses ran for two weeks and claimants were compulsorily referred by Employment Service advisers. They consisted of courses to boost confidence and help with job search activity. The courses targeted people aged 18 and over who had been unemployed for more than 24 months. Participants received their normal benefit entitlement. Career Development Loans - see Volume II, Part I, Section C (RP 05/62)

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1987 New Job Training Scheme - ran, on a national basis, from April 1987 to September 1988 when it was replaced by Employment Training. The scheme provided full-time training and work experience for an average of 6 months to people who had been unemployed for 6 months or more. Priority went to 18-25 year olds. Trainees received an allowance of £25 a week or the equivalent of their benefit, whichever was the higher. From April 1988 a training premium of £10 a week was paid on top of this. Jobshare - ran from April 1987 to December 1991 when it closed to new applicants. Under the scheme, employers who created part-time jobs for unemployed people could qualify for a grant of £1000 towards administration and training costs. Jobs could be created by splitting an existing full-time post; combining regular overtime hours into a new job; or creating two new part-time jobs. The jobs had to be filled by people claiming unemployment benefit, under notice of redundancy or leaving Government training schemes such as Employment or Youth Training. 1988 Employment Training - ran from September 1988 to 1993, when it was merged with Employment Action to form Training For Work. The programme was aimed primarily at the long term adult unemployed. 18-24 year olds who had been unemployed for 6-12 months were the "guarantee" group and 18-50 year olds who had been unemployed for more than two years were the "aim group". Many other groups (eg anyone unemployed for 6 months or more, aged 18-60; the disabled; people whose first language is not English; certain lone parents; labour market returners) could qualify. The programme provided up to a year (later up to 2 years in some cases) training, designed to qualify people for work. A training allowance equal to benefit entitlement plus a £10 premium was paid. The scheme was run by the TECs who had a certain amount of flexibility in the details. 1989 Action Credit - pilot scheme introduced in 1989. Allowed benefit claimants who leave Employment Training to work part-time for up to 6 months while continuing to receive Income Support. The earnings were saved and paid as a lump sum when a full-time job is found, or after the part-time job came to an end. The pilot does not appear to have been very successful and the scheme was adopted by very few TECs. Job Interview Guarantee - ran from March 1989 until October 1999. This was a programme designed to help people unemployed for 6 months or more into work by obtaining employers' agreement to guarantee interviews in return for enhanced services from the Employment Service. These services included a matching and screening service and Job Preparation Courses. Work Trials originally formed part of the programme before they were identified as a separate scheme, which is still available (see Part II, Section N). 1990 Youth Training - replaced the Youth Training Scheme as the main programme for unemployed 16 and 17 year olds until April 1998 when it was replaced by Work Based Training for Young People. Youth Training was delivered by training providers under

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contract to the local Training and Enterprise Council. Trainees qualified for an allowance of £30 per week at the age of 16 and £35 per week at the age of 17. Work Based Training for Young People has contained most of the main characteristics of Youth Training. 1991 Job Review Workshops - ran from October 1991 to October 1996 when they were replaced by Jobsearch Plus. These workshops were aimed at people from professional, executive and managerial backgrounds who had been unemployed for 13 weeks or more. They lasted about two days and were designed to widen job search by identifying transferable skills and using computer-aided occupational guidance systems. Job Search Seminars - ran from July 1991 to October 1996 when they were replaced by Jobsearch Plus. The seminars, which covered about four days, were aimed at people who had been unemployed for 13 weeks or more. They provided help with drawing up CVs, completing application forms and interview skills, and free access to resources such as stationery, telephones and photocopying. Employment Action - ran from October 1991 to 1993 when it was merged with Employment Training to form "Training for Work". The scheme was aimed at 18-60 year olds who had been continuously unemployed for at least 6 months. They received an average of 6 months work on projects of community benefit and help with finding permanent work. Participants received their social security benefit entitlement plus an allowance of £10 a week. The scheme was mainly run by TECs. Business Start Up (BSUS) - ran, nationally, from about April 1991 to March 1995. It replaced the Enterprise Allowance Scheme as a more flexible form of help for unemployed people who wanted to start their own businesses. It was administered by TECs. The general rule was that people had to be aged between 18 and 59 and unemployed for at least six weeks to qualify. TECs set the level of the allowance which could vary between £20 and £90 a week and last for between 26 and 66 weeks. The scheme was transferred from the Department of Employment to the Single Regeneration Budget in April 1994. From April 1995 there has been no separate financial allocation for BSUS. TECs could join a consortium bidding for SRB money and use some of the funds they won to run schemes like BSUS but there is no longer a national scheme or national parameters. The TEC Operating Agreement for 1995/96 said that TECs "shall recruit no further participants in 1995/96". 1993 Training for Work (TfW) - ran from 1993, when it replaced Employment Training and Employment Action, until it was replaced by Work Based Training for Adults in April 1998, itself replaced as Work Based Learning for Adults in April 1999. TfW was the main training programme for the adult unemployed. It was aimed primarily at people aged 18-63 who had been unemployed and in receipt of benefit for 26 weeks or more. Participants received an allowance equal to their previous benefit entitlement and an additional £10 per week. Some participants (about 9%) had employed status and received a wage from an employer. WBLA is still known as Training for Work in Scotland.

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Community Action (CA) - ran from 1993 to 1996, with recruitment to the programme ceasing on 29 December 1995. This was a programme designed to help people who had been unemployed for at least 12 months back into work by providing part-time work experience on projects of benefit to the local community and assistance with job search. The closure of the programme was announced at the time of the November 1995 Budget. Its closure was linked with the introduction of pilot Project Work schemes, though these were not a direct replacement for CA. Workstart - ran on a pilot basis from July 1993 until it was absorbed into the Project Work pilots which finished in April 1998. It tested the effectiveness of offering employers a job subsidy to take on the long-term unemployed. Employers were paid a subsidy of £60 for six months, falling to £30 for the following six months. The Labour Government increased the subsidy in the Project Work Pilots to £75 per week for those aged over 25 and unemployed for more than two years. This paved the way for the subsidy element in the New Deal for 25 Plus. Work Trials - see Volume II, Part I, Section H (RP 05/62) Learning For Work - operated during the academic year 1993/94. It was announced by Norman Lamont in his Budget on 16 March 1993. To qualify, people had to be aged 18-60 and to have been registered unemployed continuously for 52 weeks or more on 1 September 1993. It was run by TECs and LECs and provided full-time vocational courses at local colleges. Participants received an allowance equal to their previous benefit rate. 30,000 starts were planned but take-up was lower than expected. Jobplan Workshops - ran from 1993 to 1998. Jobplan Workshops offered advice and intensive support to people unemployed for a year or more. These were replaced in 1998 by Programme Centres.170 1994 Workwise/Worklink - ran from 1994 until April 1998. Workwise (Worklink in Scotland) consisted of intensive four week, mandatory courses to help young people aged 18-24 who had been out of work for 12 months or more. The 18-24 year old age group are now covered by the New Deal for Young People. 1-2-1 - ran from April 1994 until June 1998. This programme offered a compulsory series of up to six interviews with an adviser. The interviews were spread over a period during which the unemployed person undertook guided job search activity. Participants were aged 18-24 who had been unemployed for more than 12 months. It was replaced by Jobfinder Plus. [Modern] Apprenticeships - see Volume II, Part I, Section B (RP 05/62) Jobfinder's Grant (replaced by Job Grant) - see Volume II, Part I, Section I (RP 05/62)

170 For more information see Volume II, Part I, Section F of this Research Paper (RP 05/62).

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Access to Work - Access to Work provides information and advice to people with disabilities and their employers and may provide grants to cover additional costs arising through disability. It can assist with costs such as support workers, specialist equipment or the cost of travelling to work. To find out more contact an Access to Work adviser through Jobcentre Plus. Access to Work still operated and additional information may be found on the Jobcentre Plus website.171 1995 Accelerated Modern Apprenticeships (aMAs) - This scheme was similar to Modern Apprenticeships but aimed at 18 and 19 year old school leavers. It was announced by David Hunt, then Secretary of State for Employment in a statement on the White Paper, Competitiveness: Helping Business to Win, on 24 May 1994. It was to start from September 1995, but, because of very low take-up (only 400 participants in December 1995172) was merged with Modern Apprenticeships from April 1996.173 Job Match - ran on a pilot basis from April 1995 until 1998/99. The scheme paid participants a £60 per week allowance for six months if they took up part-time works. Job Match was available to claimants who were aged 18-24, and had been unemployed for more than two years. Career Development Loans Plus - merged with Career Development Loans, April 1998, see Volume II, Part I, Section C (RP 05/62) 1996 Project Work - ran on a pilot basis from April 1996 until April 1998. The details varied according to the pilot area but generally involved a 13 week period on a range of ES programmes followed by a period of compulsory work experience with private training organisations, and voluntary and charitable bodies. Refusal to attend led to loss of benefit. Participants received an allowance equivalent to benefit plus £10 per week. National Insurance Contribution Holidays - ran from April 1996 to April 1999. Employers were able to claim a full National Insurance rebate on employer contributions for up to a year after taking on someone who had been unemployed for two years or more. It was originally expected that 130,000 people a year would be helped by the scheme but take-up was much lower than expected. Expenditure was rapidly reduced before the scheme was closed down completely from April 1999 except for holidays that were already in place. Job Search Plus - ran from April 1996 on a pilot basis and launched nationally from October 1996 to coincide with the introduction of Jobseeker's Allowance. The scheme was a three day course designed to help people who had been unemployed for at least 13 weeks with job search activity. The DfEE Departmental Report for 1998/9 said that the programme would no longer be available nationally from April 1998 but similar provision

171 Jobcentre Plus Access to Work website. 172 HC Deb 16 April 1996 c391W 173 DfEE Press Release, Further expansion of Modern Apprenticeships, 7 February 1996

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would be available through Jobclubs and Programme Centres, or "exceptionally as a separate course".174 1997 Parent Plus/Lone Parent Caseworker Pilot - due to start in April 1997, but absorbed within the new Government’s New Deal for Lone Parents. This was a pilot scheme designed to provide lone parents with extra help in finding work. All lone parents claiming income support would be invited for interview and given advice on in-work benefits and childcare. There were to have been eight public sector pilots run by the Employment Service and the Benefits Agency and four private sector pilots. The public sector pilots went ahead, in slightly modified form, in July 1997 as part of the New Deal for Lone Parents. Contract for Work - due to start in April 1997, but delayed by the General Election in May 1997, and not pursued by the new Government. The Contract for Work pilots would have tested whether the private sector could get unemployed people back into work more efficiently than the public sector. Workskill - ran on a pilot basis from April 1997. Under the scheme, claimants who had been unemployed for more than six months could study full-time (or part-time in some of the pilots) while retaining eligibility for benefits. The Labour Government expanded the pilots in July 1997 and they became the basis for the full-time Education and Training option under the New Deal for 25 Plus in 1998. New Deal for Lone Parents - see Volume I, Part II, Section F (RP 05/61) National Traineeships (now Apprenticeships) - see Volume II, Part I, Section B (RP 05/62) Programme Centres - see Volume II, Part I, Section F (RP 05/62) 1998 New Deal for Young People - see Volume I, Part II, Section A (RP 05/61) New Deal for 25 Plus - see Volume I, Part II, Section B (RP 05/62) New Deal for Disabled People - see Volume I, Part II, Section E (RP 05/61) Employment Zones - see Volume II, Part I, Section D (RP 05/62) Work Based Training for Adults (now Work Based Learning for Adults) - see Volume II, Part I, Section A (RP 05/62)

174 DfEE, Departmental Report – the Government’s Expenditure Plans 1998-1999, Cm 3910, p 103

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Work Based Training for Young People (now Work Based Learning for Young People) - see Volume II, Part I, Section B (RP 05/62) Jobfinder Plus - Has been running since June 1998. It provides a series of one-to-one interviews with a personal adviser to identify the best means of helping claimants move to sustainable employment. It was intended to offer a transition to New Deal 25 Plus and Work Based Learning for Adults if the claimant remained unemployed six months later.175 1999 New Deal for 50 Plus - see Volume I, Part II, Section D (RP 05/61) New Deal for Partners - see Volume I, Part II, Section C (RP 05/61) 2000 Action Teams for Jobs - see Volume II, Part I, Section E (RP 05/62) 2001 Employment Retention and Advancement Scheme - see Volume II, Part I, Section J (RP 05/62) Rapid Response Service - see Volume II, Part I, Section N (RP 05/62) 2002 StepUP - see Volume II, Part I, Section K (RP 05/62) Progress2Work - see Volume II, Part I, Section L (RP 05/62) Ethnic Minorities Outreach Initiative - see Volume II, Part I, Section M (RP 05/62) Working Neighbourhood Pilots - See Volume II, Part I, Section O (RP 05/62) Ambition pilots - See Volume II, Part I, Section P (RP 05/61) 2003 Pathways to Work pilots - has been running since October 2003. Pathways pilots offer a mixture of jobs advice and rehabilitation support for people with health conditions and disabilities and currently covers 7 areas. In December 2004 the Chancellor announced the expansion of the pilots to a third of the country from October 2005. More information

175 For more information see Section II Part P of the previous edition of this Research Paper: RP 03/13,

Employment and Training schemes for the Unemployed.

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on the Pathways to Work pilots and reforms to incapacity benefits may be found in Library Standard Note SN/SP/2951.176 Refugee Pilot - ran from spring 2003 to early 2004. The pilot scheme took place in Haringey in North London. The DWP provided £300,000 to help 100 refugees; this constituted ensuring that refugees accessed the appropriate benefits and through a language and vocational assessment. The pilot established an employment and training plan for each participant and intensive language provision as required. The pilot was delivered by an external contractor, 5E.

176 Library Standard Notes are available to Members of Parliament and their personal staff on the Library

intranet.

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III Further sources DWP website: http://www.dwp.gov.uk/ DfES website: http://www.dfes.gov.uk/ HM Treasury website: http://www.hm-treasury.gov.uk/ Learning and Skills Council website: http://www.lsc.gov.uk/ Jobcentre Plus website: http://www.jobcentreplus.gov.uk/ New Deal website: http://www.newdeal.gov.uk/ Adult Learning Inspectorate website: http://www.ali.gov.uk/ Centre for Economic and Social Inclusion website: http://www.cesi.org.uk/ DWP Departmental Report 2005: http://www.dwp.gov.uk/publications/dwp/2005/dr05/ Work and Pensions Select Committee website: http://www.parliament.uk/parliamentary_committees/work_and_pensions_committee.cfm HM Treasury, Budget 2005, March 2005, HC 372 2004/05

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IV List of abbreviations ALI Adult Learning Inspectorate AMA Advanced Modern Apprenticeship BET Basic Employability Training CDL Career Development Loan DfEE Department for Education and Employment DfES Department for Education and Skills DSS Department of Social Security DTI Department of Trade and Industry DWP Department for Work and Pensions E2E Entry to Employment ELWa Education and Learning Wales (comprising the National Council for

Education and Training for Wales and the Higher Education Funding Council for Wales. These two bodies are collectively known as ELWa and are responsible for all post-16 education and training in Wales).

EMO Ethnic Minorities Outreach ERA Employment Retention and Advancement ES Employment Service EZ Employment Zones JSA Jobseeker’s Allowance LLSC Local Learning and Skills Council LOT Longer Occupational Training LSC Learning and Skills Council LSF Learner Support Fund MA Modern Apprenticeships ND25+ New Deal for 25 Plus

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ND50+ New Deal for 50 Plus NDDP New Deal for Disabled People NDLP New Deal for Lone Parents NDYP New Deal for Young People NEP National Employment Panel NVQ National Vocational Qualification PSA Public Sector Agreement QCA Qualifications and Curriculum Authority RRS Rapid Response Service SEnt Scottish Enterprise SEP Self Employment Support SJFT Short Job Focused Training SVQ Scottish Vocational Qualification TEC Training and Enterprise Council TfW Training for Work TIS Travel to Interview Scheme WBLA Work Based Learning for Adults WBLYP Work Based Learning for Young People WFI Work Focused Interview WTC Working Tax Credit