Work Programme participants need more training to sustain employment
Figures released today by ERSA, the trade association for Work Programme providers, show that 207,831 jobs have been gained by people on the Work Programme since it began in June 2011. However, figures released by the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) show that the majority of those jobs were not sustained and that only 31,000 jobs gained between 1 June 2011 and end of July 2012 were sustained for 3 months or more.
It was always going to be difficult for Work Programme providers to achieve sustained jobs in such a difficult economic context. However, one might expect that they would all be doing the most obvious thing they could to increase their participants’ chance of holding down a job – namely giving them access to skills provision. Especially as Work Programme participants are eligible to be fully-funded in England through the Skills Funding Agency (SFA) Adult Skills Budget to participate in every form of skills provision available to other unemployed adults.
A guide for Work Programme providers that NIACE will publish next month includes several case studies showing the very positive impact that skills provision can have when Work Programme providers choose to make it available. It’s such a pity that skills provision is not more widely available on the Work Programme.
The Work Programme appears to be behind the curve on the provision of skills for unemployed adults. In recent years, Jobcentre Plus (JCP) has significantly scaled up its referrals to SFA-funded learning providers. JCP has all but abandoned its allegiance to ‘Work First’ in recognition that employers increasingly expect job applicants to possess a basic level of English, maths, employability and language skills.
Skills provision is of course not a quick fix, but then Work Programme providers don’t need to rely on quick fixes – they are able to help each participant for up to two years whilst unemployed and even longer through in-work support. In two years, many participants could be helped to address their English, maths, employability and language skills. In this time they could also acquire vocational skills for the sector in which they want to secure employment. Although skills provision is not the only type of support people need from the Work Programme, dealing once and for all with each participant’s skills needs, so that employers value and want to keep them, is surely an essential element.
NIACE’s response to the Work Programme Statistics released today is now online.
