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UK jobcentres are spending less time cleaning up the benefits system and more time helping people find work, under government reforms aimed at raising the employment rate to the highest in the G7.
Alison McGovern, the jobs minister, told the Financial Times that a white paper due later in the autumn would set out “big changes” to a welfare system that was leaving too many people “on the scrapheap”.
“The first must be the cultural change,” he said, calling for a return to the founding principles of the welfare state.
“(William) Beveridge knew that for social security to work, you need a health system that works well and an approach to full employment. We have lost that broader vision of the economy,” he added, referring to the economist who inspired Labour’s post-war reforms.
McGovern was speaking ahead of the launch of an independent report outlining proposals to transform the Jobcentre Plus network, the job search and benefits service, into a universal employment support resource open to everyone, including people out of work with health conditions – not only for benefit claimants.
The report will inform Labour’s ambition to raise the UK employment rate to 80 per cent, the highest it has been in more than 160 years, and surpassed only by a handful of major economies.
The target is central to the government’s economic strategy because official data suggest that the United Kingdom is the only rich country whose employment rate – estimated at 74.5 percent – has not yet recovered its pre- pandemic
Data collection problems mean this figure is debatable, but government figures also show a growing number of people claiming disability benefits on the grounds that ill health or disability prevents them from working.
The Commission’s report on the future of job support says much of the problem is due to the “draconian” requirements imposed on unemployment benefit claimants, who are expected to spend 35 hours a week in looking for work, and face sanctions if they fail. to measure
The commission was led by the Institute of Employment Studies and its members included recruitment and trade union voices, as well as think-tanks and charities.
IES director Tony Wilson said there was “no evidence” to support the “harmful” 35-hour rule, which forced people to constantly justify their actions, tied up advisers and pushed the people to claim health benefits with fewer requirements. .
“People outside the workforce do not trust the job centers,” he said, arguing that scrapping the requirement for those with health conditions and children, and the scale for others, could free thousands of counselors to spend their time helping people find. a better job.
Jobseekers in the United Kingdom are less likely than any other in Europe to use public support services to find work, partly because job centers are not open to the public, but only to benefit applicants.
“It is the most despised public service. It has to change,” McGovern said. She acknowledged that reducing the sanctions regime and investing in new support services would have initial costs for taxpayers.
The commission estimated that its proposals would cost an additional £150 million a year during the parliament, while they would produce far greater benefits if they lead to more people seeking support and finding better work.
McGovern argued that despite a “terrible” fiscal situation, the investment could be justified. “Look at the cost of what we’re doing now. . . . It’s hard for me to believe that we can’t do better,” he said.