3-month 'delay' to DWP back-to-work schemes
Submitted by Anonymous on Sat, 11/04/2009 - 3:16pm
[Posted by a site user]
Hello daniel,
I have just read in 2 newspapers today that the DWP have cancelled their new schemes for 3 months, obviously you are on your Easter break now, BUT, did you know that this press announcement was imminent, so many people have been spreading stories that this was going to happen, and quiet frankly but now I do not think that any one is surprised.
I think it has been suspended because so many new unemployment signers have overwhelmed the dept!
Looking at the newspaper reports, the news isn't news, in the sense that they're reporting the transition strategy from New Deal to FND that was laid out by the DWP a long time ago and laid out in detail the other week. I and other people were fairly concerned by it some months ago because of its effect on providers, not on customers.
It's ugly, but so's virtually every DWP contract implementation I've seen. Jobseekers will be going through six months of Jobcentre-based FND support, the 'Gateway' stage. This will obviously be fairly taxing given the strain on JCP staff numbers, but it's not some weird and inexplicable gap. Where there is a gap is in the Jobcentre Plus Support Contracts, which are still going out to tender and which are meant to provide a lot of the services to support the FND Gateway. Not terribly sure how they'll manage that.
The reporting on this is more than a bit suspicious. The Conservatives are quoted in every article, but I'd be tempted to ask whether they weren't fed the story by disgruntled providers who are wondering how to not go bust during the gap between the two provisions.
Resources:
Guardian report
Mail report
Independent report
Mirror report
Also, how about this for a bizarre twist. While New Deal, Employment Zones and PSLs are being 'run down' across half the country, Jobcentre Plus will essentially be taking over their work. Doesn't this mean that staff being made redundant by these providers have the right to request TUPE into Jobcentre Plus?!
There are already obvious grounds for TUPE to the new FND provider and its subcontractors, but Jobcentre Plus is not exempt from TUPE, and will clearly be filling the gap in the interim. It may even be helpful for them to be able to access a base of trained and experienced delivery staff, given the strain on numbers.
Disclaimer - I am not a lawyer. And frankly, TUPE leaves lawyers scratching their heads sometimes
Re:- Jobcentre Plus Support Contracts,
I am a little bit puzzled to say the least. Please correct me Daniel if I am wrong.
The 1st 13 weeks of the JCP Support Contract, the claimant will sign weekly a the JCP, whilst independently searching for work.
The 2nd set of 13 weeks the claimant will still sign weekly, but the job search will be a more structured and it will be based in-house at the jobcentre plus offices? I find this a bit strange if it is true, because most of the offices are so small, and most of the floor space is already occupied by the JCP staff anyway, so where would they all sit? Or will this 2nd stage be subcontracted out to a Prime or Subcontractor, or to a programme centre?
Then after that do they then attend a 6 month period off-site with a prime contractor?
Jobsearch in the JCP offices? Maybe they mean using the jobsearch terminals, because that's the only possible way it could work. There is quite deliberately no proper training space in the Jobcentre Plus standard office arrangements. Even JCP staff don't generally use training space now, as their internal training is over the intranet.
It's worth noting that the JCPSC contracts (mm, trips off the tongue) include replacements for the Programme Centres. I haven't read the specifications yet, but I'd be willing to bet that providing local jobsearch facilities will be included. They're not going to magically double the size of every office in the country over the next year.