Ixion is a not-for-profit organisation supported by its parent, the £140m Anglia Ruskin University.

The organisation’s overall goal is to support individuals, employers and businesses through social change. We are passionate about providing services that make a difference to individuals and their local community; using social research-based solutions to help gear-up a “Big Society”.

The trade association of private and third sector employment services providers has appointed regeneration expert Kirsty McHugh as its CEO.  Ms McHugh will commence in the role on 1 November 2010.

In announcing the appointment, ERSA Chairman, Rob Murdoch, said

“We are delighted that Kirsty McHugh has agreed to join ERSA.  Kirsty’s background and understanding of the issues around economic development, employability and skills, housing, health inequalities will be invaluable in her new role”

The Financial Times reports that the Royal Statistical Society has questioned the government’s decision, announced in the June budget, to switch to the Consumer Price Index (CPI) in calculating benefits and state pension upratings.  

The government has estimated that the switch will generate savings of £5.8bn a year by 2014-15, as CPI tends to rise lower than other measures of inflation.  In a letter to the UK Statistics Authority, the Royal Statistics Society cautioned that the CPI “is not necessarily the best index for all purposes”.

Between April and June 2010, Citizens Advice Bureaux across England and Wales dealt with 6% more benefits problems than they did in the same period last year. 

Figures released today show that from April to June this year, the overall rise in welfare benefits enquiries was mainly due to large increases in requests for advice on sickness and disability related benefits:

Seetec is now a provider of Welfare to Work software & associated services.

As a leading supplier of welfare to work and software services to the DWP, SFA and NHS amongst others, we have significant experience of Hosting Services and bespoke solutions which have been available to providers for a number of years.

With the Work Programme coming to fruition, we are offering a range of services including:

Reed in Partnership have launched a dedicated website for the Work Programme, to be found at http://www.reedworkprogramme.co.uk

On the site you will find out all about our approach to the Work Programme, what we are looking for in potential partners and subcontractors, and what Reed in Partnership can offer you in return. 

Labour leadership candidate Ed Balls is set to warn the coalition government that plans for drastic cuts may cause a double dip recession.  Mr. Balls will give a keynote speech in the City of London today in which he will describe the government’s austerity programme as “economically unsafe”. He is expected to accuse Chancellor George Osborne of “ripping out the foundations of the house just as the hurricane is about to hit.” 

Mr Balls will say:-

The Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) has threatened to censure the coalition government after a report by the Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) claimed that the Budget would hit poor families hardest.  To avoid action being taken the government must now prove that it carried out a statutory assessment on how cuts would affect disadvantage groups including women, ethnic minorities, disabled people and the elderly.

As we all know, the establishment of a coalition government spells big changes for the welfare to work sector, employment services provision and the benefits system.  Here at Indus Delta, we have compiled a helpful at-a-glance glossary, which details the key issues, publications and vocabulary of this new era.  This page will be updated frequently and is an essential resource!  Find out more here.

This week, Dr Richard Williams, CEO of Rathbone, contributes to Indus Delta's Debate and Deliberate series.  In this article, Dr Williams argues that investment in experience needs to be at the centre of policies aimed at tackling youth unemployment. He maintains that the structural changes in the labour market have led to persistent youth unemployment and government approaches to tackling this, which focus on investment in, too often, "worthless" qualifications, have been wrong-footed and failed to improve the employment prospects of many of the young people who undertake them.

Proposals have been outlined in a Home Office consultation paper to refuse benefits to drug and alcohol dependents who do not undertake treatment. According to a BBC report, the paper asks for views on a "financial benefit sanction" for claimants who do not address their drug or alcohol dependency.  The plans would form part of the government's drug strategy for England, Wales and Scotland.

DWP's Structural Reform Plan is now available on its website. The plan outlines the key actions and milestones for delivering the Department’s priorities, which are to:

• help and support people who are out of work to move into work;encourage responsibility and fairness by simplifying the welfare system so that work always pays;
• recognise work as the primary sustainable route out of poverty and reduce the number of children in workless households;
• tackle pensioner poverty by providing decent State Pensions and encourage employers to provide high quality pensions for all employees;

G4S Care & Justice Services today welcomes Sean Williams to the business, taking up the role of Managing Director of its Welfare to Work division.  Bringing with him a decade of experience in helping disadvantaged jobseekers into secure and sustainable employment, Sean’s appointment is a critical element in G4S’s strategy to become the largest provider of welfare-to-work services in the UK under the Coalition Government's new Work Programme.