Welcome to the January edition of in touch

This month we report on the nationwide extension of the Pathways to Work programme, which will help those people claiming Incapacity Benefit improve their opportunities of finding work. There's also an update on the next steps of the Welfare Reform plans.

Also in this issue is news on how Jobcentre Plus is getting involved in the 2012 Olympic Games, including an update on the first set of graduates from the Personal Best programme. And after the holiday period, read how we're encouraging people to find financial security through our Back to black campaign.

Latest news

Update on Local Employment Partnerships (LEPs)

Jobcentre Plus has exceeded its first Local Employment Partnership (LEP) milestone with over 300 employers now committed to working with us.

More than 140 companies have already started implementing their plans, including Centreparcs, HBOS, First Bus, HSBC and John Lewis. We are in discussion with around 500 more employers.

The LEP deal encourages employers to recognise the untapped potential of people too often overlooked in the labour market. They benefit from access to support including pre-recruitment training and work trials to increase the pool of local recruits, while individuals get more opportunities to prepare for and return to work.

Learn more about Local Employment Partnerships online

Tenth anniversary of New Deal

Prime Minister Gordon Brown and Secretary of State for Work and Pensions Peter Hain celebrated ten years of New Deal earlier this month by visiting Marylebone Jobcentre Plus. Speaking at the event, the Prime Minister explained that the programme - which offers a mix of skills training, work experience and tailored advice to people that have been out of work for six months or more - has helped more than 1.8 million people find jobs. This includes 300,000 lone parents, which as a result has helped lift 600,000 children out of poverty.

Find out more about New Deal and the plan for the future by reading Transforming Britain's Labour Market online.

Stakeholder news

A round-up of business information for stakeholders

Pathways to Work to be extended nationwide

People with health issues and disabilities who are claiming Incapacity Benefit will have the chance to improve their opportunities of finding work as Jobcentre Plus rolls out the Pathways to Work programme nationwide.

Jobcentre Plus has been delivering Pathways support in 18 Districts. This was extended to a further 15 Jobcentre Plus Districts through contracts with private and voluntary sector providers from 3 December 2007.

The programme will complete national rollout from 28 April 2008. The contract award for delivery of this last phase was announced on 20 December 2007. It will also be delivered mainly by the private and voluntary sectors.

Find out more about Pathways to Work, or check the contract award winners.

Welfare Reform update

On 13 December Peter Hain, Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, published Ready for work: full employment in our generation. This paper sets out the next phase of welfare reform and followed a public consultation on proposals set out in In Work, Better Off (published in July 2007):

• Lone parents who can work will be required to actively seek work, helped by a flexible system of pre-work preparation and in-work support. This will begin for lone parents whose youngest child is 12 or over by October 2008, ten or over by 2009 and seven or over by 2010.
• Incapacity Benefit for new claimants will go, replaced by the Employment and Support Allowance from October 2008. The new allowance will emphasise what a person with a physical or mental health condition can do rather than what they cannot.
• The New Deal will be modernised so that it better meets the employment and skills needs of those who have been on benefit for a long time or who have struggled to find a stable pattern of work.
• Jobcentre Plus will remain at the heart of the system, working in partnership with specialist providers from the public, private and third party sectors who will have an enhanced role.

New Services for Lone Parents

At the 2007 TUC Conference the Prime Minister announced additional support to help lone parents into work.

New measures will be introduced nationally from April 2008:

• A guaranteed job interview for every lone parent who is looking for and ready for work;
• The launch of the successful In Work Credit scheme nationwide;
• The introduction of voluntary Group Seminars for lone parents of older children, often delivered in employers' premises. These will be facilitated by Jobcentre Plus staff.

We have launched these from January 2008 in two trailblazer areas to help inform the final design - the Jobcentre Plus districts of North & North East London and Birmingham & Solihull.

You can find out more by emailing Gordon Calvert

Accessing Jobcentre Plus Services

As part of our commitment to improve customer services we are currently looking at the way we manage people who come to Jobcentres without appointments.

The aim is to ensure that Jobcentres focus on providing services that help people return to work. We are currently running tests that will strengthen and enhance this role, and refresh the way in which we provide tailored face-to-face support to customers who need our help but have difficulty using the internet or telephone.

This will mean that customers without appointments who are able to access the telephone may be asked to call a contact centre, where they can make a claim or get advice on benefit entitlement and job search services.

Customers who can use the internet may be redirected to the Jobcentre Plus website, where they can access over 600,000 jobs nationwide and find out more about benefits and Jobcentre Plus services. In this way our staff in the Jobcentre can focus their time and support on those who need our help most.

We will report our findings in a later edition of in touch.

Jobcentre Plus and the London 2012 Olympic Games and Paralympic Games

Jobcentre Plus has signed a Service Level Agreement with the Olympic Delivery Authority (ODA) to become a major jobsbroker for the 2012 Games. The agreement sets out the recruitment process for filling Olympic Delivery Authority vacancies through a central Delivery Team, which includes people from local Jobcentre Plus districts and the ODA. As usual, vacancies will be available via touch screen jobpoints in our Jobcentres, through our telephone job-matching service on 0845 60 60 234 and through our website at www.jobcentreplus.gov.uk.

Jobcentre Plus has now helped to place 252 people into work on the Olympic site - this includes 138 people employed in security work and 114 in other roles such as tunnelling.

The Personal Best programme has been designed to encourage workless and socially excluded individuals to gain new skills, which could enable them to act as a volunteer for the 2012 Games and bring them closer to the labour market. The programme had its first graduation ceremony for participants at Wembley Stadium in November.

Consultation launched on Disability Employment services

DWP launched a consultation on 3 December to seek views on proposals to help more disabled people get into work and progress in work, by improving our employment support for them.

Central proposals in the consultation include:

• developing and enhancing the role of Disability Employment Advisers in Jobcentre Plus so that each individual gets support that is tailored to their needs to help them achieve their employment goals; and
• moving away from separate programmes of support such as the Job Introduction Scheme, Work Preparation and WORKSTEP towards a single integrated programme which provides a more personalised employment service for disabled people.

These proposals complement other major reforms aimed at supporting those who need the most help, including the modernisation of Remploy, the roll-out of Pathways to Work and the introduction of Flexible New Deal.

You can find out more about the consultation online, including how you can contribute. The consultation closes on 10 March 2008.

Quicker claims, improved customer service

Our service to those customers claiming benefits continues to improve, with further reductions in the time taken to process claims, and performance ahead of target.

Compared to this point last year, we've seen real improvements in average processing times for Income Support, Jobseeker's Allowance and Incapacity Benefit claims - with reductions by 2.5, 3.8 and 2.9 days respectively.

You can find out more about all our targets and current performance levels at the Jobcentre Plus website.

Customer news

A round up of information of interest to those advising customers

Jobcentre Plus to test anti-benefit fraud system

As part of DWP's drive to combat benefit fraud and improve Customer Service, Jobcentre Plus will be testing Voice Risk Analysis (VRA) software.

The aim of the test is to establish whether calls identified as high risk, do in fact present a greater risk than those calls identified as low risk. The test will start in late January and involve Lincoln Contact Centre and four Jobcentres in the Nottinghamshire area. The results will be carefully analysed before any decisions are taken concerning its future use.

Concerns have been expressed about effectiveness of lie detector technology. VRA is not a lie detecting system - it is a tool to help identify potential risk. In Jobcentre Plus, VRA will not be used to make decisions about benefit claims but may be used to identify whether a caller's claim presented a higher risk of inaccuracy.

Some customers will be asked to attend a corroboration interview in order to validate the initial risk reading.

There have also been concerns about and how VRA software copes with accents, natural nervousness and age. The first part of the call establishes the 'natural' level of stress of the individual caller by asking a series of neutral questions. This sets the standard against which further responses are measured.

New rent calculations for private tenants in 2008

Local Housing Allowance (LHA) is a new way of calculating Housing Benefit for private sector tenants. It will apply to anyone making a new claim for housing benefit on or after 7 April 2008, or to current private sector tenants who change address on or after that date.

LHA is based on household size and location, and not on individual rents. It will take into account how much money tenants have coming in and the savings they have. Tenants are able to keep any excess benefit up to a maximum of £15 per week that is over and above the cost of their rent. If their rent is higher than their LHA entitlement they must make up the difference from other sources of income or look for alternative affordable property.

Payment will normally be made direct to the tenant (through direct debit), who is then responsible for paying their landlord. However, at the discretion of the local authority where they decide that a tenant is either likely to have difficulty in managing their financial affairs or is unlikely to pay their rent, payment may be made direct to the landlord.

More information is available online or by emailing lhaadviceline@dwp.gsi.gov.uk

"Back to black" - promoting financial security through work

People typically tend to be under most financial pressure after Christmas. For those aged 25 - 49 finances are a key concern as they often have dependents to support. However, this age group are more likely than the average person to overspend on credit cards. Younger JSA claimants (18-24) say that money is a prime motivator for getting a job as well as a key measure of success by which they judge themselves.

On 9 January we launched a new campaign called 'Back to black' which aims to encourage people to see work as long term solution to financial problems and help them make informed choices on their options for finding employment. The campaign is supported by TV presenter and author Philippa Forester.

The primary messages are:

• Getting a job is the most effective way to solve your money worries
• When you've got a job, you can treat yourself and your family more often
• Jobcentre Plus can help you become more financially secure through work
• Jobcentre Plus can help you get ready for the workplace

Case studies will be used to help to persuade customers that getting a job really does mean more cash in your pocket and more freedom to treat yourself and your family. They will be sign posted to the Jobcentre Plus website or our telephone job-matching service (on 0845 60 60 234) to conduct a job search.

Reader's Notices

Our future. It's in our hands.

Two out of three jobs in the future will require higher level skills and qualifications, and it's therefore essential that we up-skill to help ensure that our workforce and economy can stay competitive. The Learning and Skills Council (LSC) 'Our future. It's in our hands' campaign seeks to stimulate employers and employees to take hold of their futures by investing in their skills now.

A successful, skilled economy is dependent on employers, providers and stakeholders working together to meet the challenge - and the LSC need your input, support and co-operation.

To find out more, visit the Campaign Resources Site or call the Skills Stakeholder helpline on 0207 413 3400.

About in touch in touch aims to provide you with short summaries of the latest news, progress of our modernisation programme, forthcoming changes to benefit rules, updates on performance, as well as news on important policy issues which affect our shared customers. in touch complements Touchbase, the quarterly publication from DWP, by providing a monthly focus on Jobcentre Plus related issues.

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