I worked for the DWP – Labour’s plan to get benefit claimants into work is doomed
Former benefits decision maker says job training schemes will be viewed as ‘punishment’ if major welfare cuts go ahead
Plans to use Jobcentres to push more benefits claimants into work are doomed to fail, Labour ministers have been warned.
A former Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) benefits decision maker said the centers were not equipped to get large numbers of long-term sick people into work.
They told The i Paper said some claimants would look at intensive job training, as planned by the Government, as “punishment” and would struggle to engage with the process if their benefits were reduced at the same time.
Ministers are preparing to unveil £6bn of cuts to benefits in a drive to reduce the rising welfare bill and encourage more people into work.
Labour will also redeploy 1,000 Jobcentre work coaches to give “intensive” support to sick and disabled claimants, including CV writing and interview techniques.
Susan – who did not wish to give her real name – worked closely with Jobcentre job coaches as a benefits decision maker at the DWP. She left last year after almost two years in the role.
The ex-staff member said work coaches were “massively overworked”. Most typically have hundreds of jobseeker cases to handle at once, with only around 10 minutes for each appointment, she said.
“Re-deploying a lot of people will add to the day-to-day workload on other staff. I don’t see how we free up nearly enough time for a fundamental change in a lot of people’s job prospects.”
Susan is also “sceptical” about how many people will benefit from extra training on CV writing and interview techniques. “It won’t change the job market, which isn’t great.”
The ex-decision maker said the DWP had carried out statistical analysis on Jobcentres that struggled to find any “correlation between work coach actions and job seeker success”.
She added: “Ultimately, some people have the necessary experience and will interview well. Some don’t. The likelihood of a person getting a job is unrelated to the time and level of engagement a job coach puts in.”
Work and Pensions Secretary Liz Kendall is expected to announce around £6bn in welfare savings this month.
The package is set to include cuts to out-of-work incapacity benefits and new restrictions on eligibility for the personal independence payments (PIP) available to disabled people to help with day-to-day living.
The highest level of universal credit – the extra £400 available for the most disabled and seriously ill deemed unfit to work – will reportedly be reduced in a bid to incentivise job hunts.
Susan warned the relationship with between jobseekers and Government staff was already “antagonistic”, and could get worse if major benefits cuts come to pass.
“There is a culture [at the DWP] of not trusting benefits claimants. It leads to an antagonism between claimant and decision maker, between claimant and work coach.
“It could be difficult to engage people in job searches when you have these benefits cuts and this very antagonist relationship,” she added. “With some people, it will make things harder.
“It’s unlikely the Government can bring in employment schemes and not have it feel like punishment, if you’re doing benefits cuts at the same time.”
Labour has promised the “biggest reforms to employment support for a generation”, committing £240m for employment schemes for disabled people and the long-term sick.
Susan said public money may be better spent on trying to fix the wider, underlying reasons why so many people cannot work.
“It’s unrealistic to expect work coaches to turn around underemployment,” said Susan. “It’s misplaced to expect too much from employability schemes. It’s a band-aid fix.
“It might be better to invest in childcare to support parents to work. And to invest in the NHS and mental health service to address the underlying reasons behind long-term sickness.”
The disability equality charity Scope said Labour risks “completely undermining” its drive to boost employability by cutting benefits and “potentially forcing those who cannot work to look for work”.
“Making it harder to get benefits will just push even more disabled people into poverty, not into jobs,” said Scope’s policy manager David Southgate.
The Public and Commercial Services (PCS) union said the idea of redeploying some work coaches was “like moving the deckchairs on the Titanic”.
The union, which represents Jobcentre staff, said representatives reported problems with chronic understaffing every day.
The Government has been approached for comment.
