Agenda to close Jobcentres…..

Talking to local JCP staff, I’m highly suspicious of this Work Programme that they have announced today. Pretty soon JCP staff will only be taking signatures from claimants and not be allowed to do job searches or anything as the contractors will be doing this. Once they introduce text and internet signing-on (ludicrous concept) then local JCP staff are nigh near obsolete so the Government can then close the offices. A bit counter-productive, given that the redundant staff will then replace the people that these contractors are getting back into work in the dole queue.

Terrible state of affairs.

See also the thread at http://www.rightsnet.org.uk/forums/viewthread/1516/P15/ -
I heard at a conference last Thursday by Westminster Briefing that many job candidates – those most easy-to-place in jobs it seems - will be dealt with by Jobcentre Plus advisers without being referred to the Work Programme at all. On that basis it seems there will still be a large role for JCP advisers.

Most people won’t get onto the Work Programme till they’ve been on JSA for 12 months, though it’s 9 months for under 25s and 3 for people in the work-related activity group, so it will be aimed at the longer-term unemployed. There’ll still be plenty for JCP to do.

Not so sure that there’ll be enough for JCP staff to do. With digital routes (signing, claiming, job searches, etc) a lot of frontline staff will be made redundant as their functions are taken over. No need for face-to-face contact anymore.

The JCP staff are being set up to fail from the start. At the end of the contracts in 2015 they will compare the outcomes (or how many people are put into jobs) of JCP advisors and the Work Programme providers to see who gives best value for money. JCP staff have 3 months with a lot of the ESA customers before they’re referred on whereas WP providers then have 2 years to work on them. These companies are on to a real winner as they’re paid around £400 to take a person on, about £2000 if they last 6 months in a job and about £4000 if they’re in a job for a year. If they leave the job they go back to JCP for 3 months and then the cycle starts again. It will enccourage these companies to fix up clients with short term jobs whilst providing minimal support just to get the money in.

From Hansard Friday 10th June 2011

Departmental Redundancy
“Mr Laurence Robertson: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what estimate he has made of the number of employees of his Department that will be made redundant in each of the next three years; how many such employees he estimates are engaged in front-line duties; and if he will make a statement.”

Maria Miller: “No such estimate is currently available.”

“The Department for Work and Pensions is currently developing plans for achieving the 26% reduction of its core budget—including a 40% reduction of its corporate overheads—by 2014-15, announced in last year’s spending review. Not all of this reduction will necessarily be achieved through headcount reductions”

DWP did to my knowledge hire many many staff from 2008 onwards on temporary contracts. Some if not all were due to end Nov 2010. These were extended.

Presumably the temporary staff would be ‘let go’  to reduce numbers before any redundancies. The Civil Service Pension is heavily dependent on employer contributions and there would be a ‘great’ saving to be made by shifting the work from the public to private sector.

The current CE of JC+ is due to leave and be replaced by a long serving member of the DWP (started in the post room as a boy.) The Disability & Carers Service will become one with the DWP so presumably as they work out property savings and headcounts more will come to light on job losses.