Privatisation of Jobcentre PLus should be next step in government’s welfare reforms
Association of Learning Providers
Press release – 1 April 2011
Subject: Response to DWP welfare-to-work announcement
The Association of Learning Providers (ALP), which represents nearly three-quarters of providers who have been awarded contracts today to deliver the government’s new Work Programme, has welcomed the trust which ministers have placed in private and voluntary sector providers to deliver such a vital component of their welfare reforms.
The Association believes that the adoption of a ‘black box’ design for the programme will prove to be enormously beneficial in terms of enabling providers to be flexible in the type of support they can offer unemployed people on a case-by-case basis.
ALP has previously expressed concerns about the viability of the ‘payment by results’ terms within the Work Programme provider contracts. However it recognises that the programme should be given a chance to succeed and it has taken on board the recent assurances that the employment minister gave to the Commons select committee in the event that contractors drop out of the programme.
Under the Work Programme, providers will be referred clients from the government’s employment service, Jobcentre Plus, after one year of being out of work, but ALP is asking whether unemployed people should have to wait to get specialist support.
Graham Hoyle OBE, ALP’s chief executive, said: “We applaud the radical approach that the government has taken on reforms to welfare-to-work framework and the confidence which it has placed in the provider network to deliver sustainable results when unemployment is on the increase. In keeping with the overall reform of public services, the next logical step is to privatise Jobcentre Plus and to allow it to compete with other providers in assisting people who have been out of work for a short or longer period.”
ENDS
Contact Aidan Relf on 07710 305182
Notes to editors:
1. About the Association of Learning Providers
The Association of Learning Providers (ALP) represents the interests of a range of organisations delivering state-funded vocational learning and employment placement. The majority of our 550+ member organisations are independent providers holding contracts with or through the Department of Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS), Department of Education (DFE) and Department of Work and Pensions (DWP), for the provision of a wide-range of work-based and work-related learning. Amongst our members we also have a number of consultants, regional networks, and FE colleges in membership, alongside well over 50 charities, giving ALP a well rounded and comprehensive perspective and insight on matters relating to its remit.
With regard to DWP provision, around 80 of our members have declared they currently hold welfare-to-work contracts, but including subcontractors we estimate the numbers involved in this sector to be considerably in excess of this. No less than 8 of the current Top 10 DWP providers are members of ALP, accounting between them for nearly £560m of welfare-to-work expenditure out of a combined spend of over £930m for the Top 40 providers. Combined with the extensive number of DWP subcontractors in membership we therefore expect ALP members to be heavily represented in delivery of the planned Work Programme.
ALP’s website with all recent written submissions can be accessed at: www.learningproviders.org.uk.
