Work Programme is improving but still failing majority

Figures out today show an improvement in the number of people who have found long term employment through the Government’s controversial Work Programme.

The numbers in work for over 6 months as a result of the programme have risen from 3.4% in 2012 to 13.4% today.

However, these numbers still fall short of the minimum standards the government set out for the private provider companies when they were invited to tender.

Those over 25 and claiming Job Seeker’s Allowance (JSA) have fared best, with an under-performance of just 0.2% with 27.3% finding work.

This rises slightly for those claiming JSA between the ages of 18 – 24 with an under-performance of 1.1% with 31.9% now employed long term.

Alarmingly, figures for those claiming Employment and Support Allowance (ESA), which supports sick and disabled jobseekers being found long term work is stalled at just 5.3% – 11.2% lower than the minimum target expected.

Responding to today’s figures, Shadow Work and Pensions Secretary Liam Byrne MP said:

“The Work Programme hasn’t worked for over a million people.  

“Three years into the parliament and nearly nine out of ten people on this flagship programme have been failed. Worse of all, the government missed every single one of its minimum targets and in nearly half the country, the Work Programme is literally worse than doing nothing. No wonder the benefits bill is £21 billion higher than planned and no wonder the Chancellor himself was forced to attack ‘under-performing’ back to work programmes. 

“We can’t go on like this. We desperately need a change of course starting with a compulsory jobs guarantee that would make sure everyone out of work long term would have to take a job after two years.”