According to the Scottish Council Voluntary Organisation (SCVO), the Community Jobs Scotland (CSJ) programme has “comprehensively outperformed” the Work Programme.
The Community Jobs Scotland programme is run by the voluntary sector and funded by the Scottish Government to help young people to work at least 25 hours a week for six months. Out of the 1,861 people involved 40% have been placed into long term employment, however recent figures released by DWP have revealed that only 25% of people involved in the Work Programme are no longer claiming benefits after three months.
Martin Sime, Chief Executive of the SCVO, stated that the Community Jobs Scotland programme couldn’t be fully compared to the Work Programme, due to the differences in numbers. However he did argue that comparable figures showed that CSJ was a more successful programme.
Chris Grayling though has insisted that “The first figures from the Work Programme show that it is making good progress in meeting its objectives at a fraction of the cost of previous schemes”.
