Yes Minister's Blog

- 75% of ESA claimants fit for work

Dr. Floyd Millen — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

Today the Department for Work and Pensions reported that three-quarters of people currently claiming incapacity support benefits will be ineligible for the new Employment and Support Allowance when it is brought in next year. 39% of new claimants were deemed fit for work under the revised Work Capability Assessment. The Rt. Hon. Chris Grayling MP hailed the report as further evidence that the previous system of assessment for incapacity benefit was ineffective in getting people back to work. “With over two million people trapped on incapacity benefits, these figures underline how important it is that we make sure everyone who has the potential to work gets the right help to move off benefits and into a job.” However, with 36% of new claimants abandoning their application prior to assessments some concern has been raised over the aptness and flexibility of the WCA, in regards to those with work limiting long-term health conditions or mental health conditions. In an interview with the Metro, Vicki Nash from the mental health charity Mind commented, “Nearly half of benefit claimants have a mental health problem, yet the current benefit test is not sophisticated enough to recognise where someone’s mental health can stop them from working or coping in the workplace.” Mind will be working with Professor Malcolm Harrington to reassess a more comprehensive medical assessment that does not undercut those in need. The Minister endorsed contributions from such experts in health: “I am determined that we get the medical assessment right, which is why Professor Malcolm Harrington is undertaking an independent review in consultation with a number of charities representing disabled people and those with mental health issues. "This is not about pushing the sick and disabled into jobs but giving those that can work the help to do so and those that can't more, not less, support." Read more: Here Press information here

- Housing Benefit Administration Costs DWP £47 million per month

Dr. Floyd Millen — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

The Department for Work and Pensions published its expenditure report covering May 2010 to September 2010. The coalition-government has released the spending figures of each department to promote greater transparency and openness between Westminster and the public. Critics have suggested that the government have published the data to justify the cull of quangos, such as the Audit Commission, that had hitherto scrutinised and checked government expenditure. The main concern is that it is hard to glean the true nature of DWP and central government’s spending over the assessed five month period because the data has little context. An example of this is the running costs of administering Housing Benefit claims which stands at £47million per month. The release of the government expenditure report comes just two days after the publication of the Flexible New Deal Delivery Directorate report. On Wednesday, Employment Minister Chris Grayling reiterated the coalition-government’s concerns regarding FND: “Flexible New Deal was costing massive amounts of money, and delivering very little.”

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Dr. Floyd Millen — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

A new vision for skills

The

Dr. Floyd Millen — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

- PWC pulls out of SW

Dr. Floyd Millen — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

PWC have just announced that they are pulling out of the Work Programme in the South West Read more.... PWC will be withdrawing from the Work Programme competition in the SW regions, where they were exploring to bid as a sole prime. PWC have concluded that despite the huge amount of work they are not ready to take on this role at the present time. PWC will continue working as a strategic partner to Skills Training UK in London and the South East. We see this as the right way to grow our presence in a sector we are committed to serving by blending our skills with those of a leading prime contractor of welfare to work services.

- Rebranding of WCA a possibility

Dr. Floyd Millen — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

In evidence to the Select Committee; Chris Grayling explained that ALL Harrington's recommendations will be in place by the end of May

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Dr. Floyd Millen — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

Hello world!

Dr. Floyd Millen — Fri, 18 Sep 2009 11:33:41 +0000

Public spending and debt has risen in prominence on the political agenda, and is likely to feature as a key battleground issue at the next general election. The Conservatives have recently voiced that Government spending and public debt levels are too high and that action and cuts are needed now. In Gordon Brown’s speech today at the TUC conference in Liverpool, he faced up to the issue of cuts after weeks of prodding and prompting from the opposition. Gordon Brown’s speech today has given indication as to where the Labour Party will make savings and the Government’s approach to tackling public debt. “Growth is the right antidote to debt,” said the Prime Minister. The Labour Party will address issue of tackling public debt by cutting costs for unnecessary programmes and saving £500m from Whitehall’s early exit schemes for staff. The Prime Minister did pledge that there would not be cuts in front-line services. However, what still remained unclear was the specifics on cuts and the programmes that Labour have earmarked or would deem as inefficient. How does the Labour approach differ from the Conservatives? George Osborne laid out the Conservative plan to get Britain back on track in a speech to the Spectator’s “Paths Back to Prosperity” conference. The Shadow Chancellor explained that his proposals would repair the foundations of the British economy. Explaining that serious reform would be required, Osborne outlined the three key components of Conservative strategy: • Monetary activism – keeping the interest rates charged on our huge private and public debt burden down for as long as possible while continuing to ensure that lower rates are passed on by the banks • Fiscal responsibility – because irresponsible fiscal policy puts low interest rates at risk • A comprehensive programme of supply side reform – to equip the economy for the opportunities that any global recovery will bring He also pointed to other key proposals in the Tory economic programme, including: • Lower corporation tax rates and a simpler tax system • Radical school reform, welfare reform and better skills • More private investment in infrastructure and other long term productive assets such as high speed rail and smart energy networks • The transition to a low carbon economy • Regulatory reform to create a financial system that serves the long term interests of the economy, not its own short term interests Source: www.Conservatives.com Increasingly it seems the next election will be fought with the issue of cuts in public spending being at the forefront. This is a far cry from the last election when accusations of “Tory cuts” may have been enough to sway public sector enthusiasts away from the Conservatives. Opinion polls now show that the public accept the need for cuts in public spending; the million dollar question is whose cuts they opt for…. “Labour cuts” or “Tory cuts”.

About

Dr. Floyd Millen — Fri, 18 Sep 2009 11:33:41 +0000

As a public affairs think tank we provide critical discussion and analysis on the issues that matter. The Founder of Yes Minister is the Social Scientist Dr. Floyd Millen. Dr. Floyd Millen Floyd was a FAM Officer and a Contracts Manager for 2 Training and Enterprise Councils (TEC) and he has over 15 years of experience in Welfare to Work. Floyd was the former Head of Policy and Communications at the Centre for Economic and Social Inclusion (CESI). PUBLIC APPOINTMENTS

Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC)
Hansard Society
Former advisor to Metropolitan Police Authority
Former Council Member of SENSE

www.floydmillen.co.uk

Jason McGee-Abe PROJECT SUPPORT OFFICER Jason has a degree in Politics from Newcastle University. Jason was a parliamentary research intern for an MP in Westminster, a campaign intern for a PPC in the 2010 General Election and a researcher and events executive for a niche consultancy firm, where he specialised in public sector property and the Government Estate. Experience of public policy research, analysis and market intelligence. Kuki Taylor RESEARCH AND COMMUNICATIONS OFFICER Kuki has a degree in Politics, Classics, and Arabic from the University of Exeter. An enthusiastic public affairs executive, Kuki has 3 years experience in communications and fundraising for Cancer Research UK, publishing at Dods Parliamentary Communications and, most recently, working as researcher and caseworker for an MP. She is well-travelled and has knowledge of living and working in developing societies such as Yemen, Indonesia, and northern Ethiopia. George Grayson RESEARCH AND THE BIG SOCIETY PROJECT George has a degree in Philosophy and an MSC in Development Studies from SOAS. George previously worked in the research team of Action Planning and is a trustee of Bristol Volunteers for Development Abroad. William Dawson EVENTS & COMMUNICATIONS OFFICER Details to follow.... Cheryl Cullen PARTNERSHIP MANAGER Cheryl is the former Director of Employment training and Skills for RNID. In 2005 Cheryl won the Handbag.com Barclays Business Award for Innovation and then the overall prize for Business Planning. In 2006 she was named one of the top female innovators in the country by the Global Woman’s Inventors and Innovators Network (GWIN). Cheryl has a degree Psychosocial Studies from the University of East London.

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Dr. Floyd Millen — Fri, 18 Sep 2009 11:35:57 +0000

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The Lib dems and their “Mansion Tax”

Dr. Floyd Millen — Tue, 22 Sep 2009 09:53:31 +0000

The Liberal Democrats kicked off the party conference season with some controversial policies, earning them a decent amount of press coverage. The policy that’s received the most attention is what is being called the “mansion tax”. The tax would hit 250,000 properties worth more than £1million under plans outlined by Treasury spokesman Vince Cable. Under the controversial proposals, Owners of houses worth more than £1million would pay an additional tax of up to half a percent on the value above £1m. This 0.5 annual levy on the most expensive homes would raise around £1.1billion pounds. The problem with this idea is that it goes against our understanding of taxes, which is that they are based upon a flow of income i.e economic activity rather than on the value of your assets increasing in value. This prevailing belief dictates that taxes should be based on income which is the flow of funds into households and firms or on the flow of consumer purchases. The inherent problem with a property tax is that whilst it may appear to be redistributive, in the medium to long term the effect is that it will hit the elderly and those without income who see the value of their homes increase in value. The value of your home is not related to your income. Even with the proposal to increase the starting rate of income tax to £10,000 – there-by moving thousands out of taxation - the question still arises as to whether it is fair to impose another level of taxation irrespective of the person’s income or ability to pay. And after all, whose valuation will be accepted?

Maybe Gordon Brown is not the problem at the heart of (New) Labour

Dr. Floyd Millen — Mon, 05 Oct 2009 15:39:38 +0000

There is no doubt that since 1997, New Labour has changed the language of politics and has indelibly changed the relationship between the citizen and the state. Under New Labour, there has been significant achievements, such as the National Minimum Wage; action on child poverty; investment in healthcare and education has yielded reduced NHS waiting lists; new educational facilities and record numbers of students going to university; help for pensioners; the creation of Sure Start; Tax Credits; and the 1.5 million people helped into work by the New Deal. Building on the work of John Major, we have achieved a peaceful solution to the Northern Ireland conflict. Britain has less crime and according to the British Crime Survey both violent crime and crime overall has reduced by 40% since 1997. Society has also become more tolerant and less discriminatory, aided by the Race Relations Amendment Act 2000, Civil partnership and the Equalities Bill. Despite all this, under Gordon Brown’s premiership, the Labour government has been plagued with problems on multiple fronts such as the row over the Lisbon Treaty; counter-terrorism legislation and 42 days pre-charge detention; removal of the 10% tax band; poor performances at the despatch box; the Damian MacBride incident; the stalled part-privatisation of Royal Mail; difficulties in Afghanistan; murmurings in the cabinet; the resignation of James Purnell and Hazel Blears; and the positioning by other Ministers have served to fuel continual leadership speculation. Bigger than all of these is the economic crisis which has overshadowed Gordon Brown’s premiership and has blighted his record as a successful Chancellor. Today, New Labour is dogged by a prevailing atmosphere of pessimism, crisis, a lack of a coherent strategy and confusion about where it is going. Yet it would be wrong to pretend that Labour’s woes started when Gordon Brown took over. Labour’s problems go back much further and deeper, than that. New Labour came to victory in 1997 on a wave of high expectations and optimism and it has largely delivered. ‘Choice’ became the defining mantra in New Labour’s approach to public services. Yet after choice, what can the electorate expect? The focus on choice has built up expectations without addressing underlying issues of structures, powers and responsibility. Where choice has been ‘achieved’, in health and education, people have been left with the feeling that real problems are still there because choice in itself does not offer a compelling vision for the future. The electorate wants more than choice because it can see that choice has not lanced the boil of poverty; deprivation; homelessness; unemployment; community cohesion; and they are very dissatisfied with many aspects of British life. It looks like New Labour is set to leave office with the electorate hugely disappointed. It is however not only this which has left many feeling disappointed. After the ‘sleaze’ of John Major’s government, many hoped that New Labour would herald in an era of a more honest, open and accountable politics. Instead, New Labour has been marred by a plethora of incidents such as the Hinduja and the Bernie Ecclestone affair, the lead up to and the war in Iraq – which at its very mildest has caused the electorate to harbour doubts and suspicion about the Government’s honesty and at its most extreme it may have destroyed people’s trust in the Government forever. Labour’s reputation has been further damaged by the ‘cash for peerages’ scandal. Our ethical foreign policy has been on dubious ground, particularly in light of the furore over the release of the Libyan Abdelbaset Ali al-Megrahi.’ Finally, the possibility that British security services have been complicit in the torture of terrorism suspects overseas raises questions about the promise of a new era of honest politics. Whilst these are all very serious, all governments make mistakes which can have devastating effects. But what is the real problem with New Labour? The real problem with Labour is that there is an absence of leadership; and I am not referring to the leadership of Gordon Brown but to the abject failure of Labour MPs to lead. Despite the perception we are living in an era where backbench rebellions are at a post-war high. When Labour MP’s had the opportunity to put a challenger forward for the leadership of the party they withered on the vine and failed spectacularly to offer the electorate or the party with a choice of candidates to succeed Tony Blair. Gordon Brown succeeded without being challenged; this was not Gordon’s fault! It is little wonder that Labour MP Jon Cruddas recently expressed his dismay at how Labour seems to have meekly accepted the prospect of certain defeat, and to be doing next to nothing to prevent a Conservative government from walking into Downing Street. It is clear, Labour leaders are no longer leading! Labour seems to have become paralysed by political inertia. In line with the theory of unripe time, nothing is done. My mentor, Charles Clarke showed great leadership and strength on the numerous occasions when he has stood out. However the resounding question is why didn’t he stand and why wasn’t there a proper contest? It is worth noting that whilst Gordon Brown’s premiership seems to be characterised by a lack of leadership and purpose; remember; it takes more than one man to run a country and to deliver a message. In the spirit of collective responsibility, where Gordon is weak, his party and his cabinet should make him strong. The electorate’s trust in good government is becoming fatally undermined. In its hour of greatest need Labour needs to do something. As anyone in business knows; perseverance and sheer grit is what’s needed when the going gets tough. The interesting thing is this; if all the members of the Government and all the Parliamentary Labour Party redoubled their efforts and worked for every vote, clarified their position on the economy, on health, on education and spoke in clear crystal tones – whilst they could still lose the general election – they would definitely give David Cameron a run for his money. Maybe Gordon is a problem, but he definitely is not the whole problem. Note to Editors: Floyd Millen is the Director of the public affairs think tank yesMinister

Floyd sits on the Council of the Hansard Society,
Floyd sits on the SRB Board of the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC).
Mentored by the former Home Secretary RT Hon Charles Clarke MP
Floyd is a former adviser to the Metropolitan Police Authority.
Former council member of the Deaf Blind charity SENSE 2002-2006
Obtained Masters Degree in Modern British Politics under the tutelage of the Conservative Peer Professor the Lord Norton of Louth.

To find out more information, visit www.yesminister.org.uk or www.floydmillen.co.uk

How does the conservative proposal on Welfare reform compare to Labours’

Dr. Floyd Millen — Mon, 12 Oct 2009 10:40:37 +0000

The conservative’s proposal on Welfare reform The conservatives have proposed 1. To simplify Labour’s different programmes into one single back-to-work programme for everyone on out of work benefits. This is new; whilst there have been calls for a Single Working Age Benefit (SWAB) no government has actually brought this in - although it has been said that the new Employment Support Allowance (ESA) goes some way towards this. 2. The Conservatives have proposed that the Work Programme will include back into work support for the 2.6 million people claiming Incapacity Benefits who are currently excluded by Labour. This is not new. All new Incapacity Benefit (IB) claimants will be placed on the new Employment Support Allowance which is geared towards identifying what these potential claimants ‘can do’ as opposed to what they cannot do. The Pathways to Work initiative was designed specifically to help IB claimants back into work. This announcement by the conservatives is therefore not new. 3. The Conservatives will abolish the Treasury’s rule that prevents the Government paying providers using the benefits saved once someone has a job. The conservatives have explained that this will allow them to offer support to the 2.6 million people on Incapacity Benefit. This is known as the AME/DEL problem and the government is already piloting this. 4. The conservative announcement included that they would offer greater support to young unemployed by referring them on to the Work Programme after 6 months of unemployment compared to a year under the Flexible New Deal. This is a significant development. Providers engaged in Welfare to work have been saying that those who are long-term unemployed – not just young people- need to be referred much sooner than 12 months. 5. The conservatives will pay providers by results with a focus on truly sustainable outcomes and bigger rewards for getting the hardest to help into a job. Flexible New Deal already accounts for this; however David Freud added that sustainable jobs should be 12 to 18 months. The government accepted this and is now working towards that with sustainability being increased from 13 weeks to 26 weeks and it will increase further. 6. The conservative plan essentially removes the exclusivity of JobCentre Plus provision and support between 6 months and a year. This is a faster and potentially more brutal approach to reviewing all - IB - claimants. 7. The conservatives say that one in five IB claimant is not entitled to the benefit; this means that 500,000 would be forced onto a lower benefit. To meet the target of clearing the backlog 3000 IB claimants would have to be processed every day. In contrast, the government has only committed to 10,000 assessments per week. Other than that it is not terribly different to Labour’s approach. 8. David Cameron’s commitment to use the private and voluntary sectors is already in place. There is one area providers will have difficulty. Under the Conservative announcement welfare to work providers will receive only 20% of cash when they place a claimant into work, the remainder will be paid after the former claimant has been off benefits for a year. This will have serious cash flow implications for providers who are already being squeezed by the Flexible New Deal. The conservative leader missed the opportunity to build on the report by Iain Duncan-Smith -Centre for Social Justice. I am not suggesting that the Centre has got it right in all areas but it is a bold and courageous foray into an emotive and complicated area of policy. As a result of the economic crisis, the government’s commitment to seeing full employment has been unceremoniously buried. The plans presented by Iain and his Centre for Social Justice will surprisingly do very little if anything to reduce the overall benefit count and rather than saving money it will cost more £3.6bn. One would be forgiven for concluding that in these straightened times what is the point of such a proposal. However, if you pause for thought you will see that there is method in this madness. • Firstly his proposals for a Universal Work Credit and Universal Life Credit would immediately simplify the entire benefit and employment system reducing the tiresome stream of 51 separate working age benefits into two simple streams. To give it credit, his conservative announcement did allude to a single benefit. • Secondly, under Iain’s scheme no one would be disadvantaged. There would also not be a reduction in out of work benefits for any current recipient. This presumably means that many of the existing rules within each benefit will be rolled into the new benefit. • Thirdly, this would ensure that the complexity of the benefits system, would disappear making it simpler, easier, less stressful, and cheaper to start and stop claims. • Fourthly it would also remove the fear of the long delays experienced when jobs do not work out and a person has to start a new claim In all it’s a bold offering from the conservative party, however it is clear that a lot of the proposals are currently happening or about to be implemented.

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Dr. Floyd Millen — Thu, 22 Apr 2010 20:34:20 +0000

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Dr. Floyd Millen — Thu, 22 Apr 2010 20:36:44 +0000

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Election 2010: it’s time for the machiavellian approach

Dr. Floyd Millen — Fri, 30 Apr 2010 21:42:19 +0000

Election 2010: It’s time for the Machiavellian approach! Machiavelli would say that it’s not about ‘what should be, but about what is’. It is therefore imperative that whoever wishes to seize the keys to Number 10 conclusively out smarts their opponents on the big and the small issues of the day. The first – and possibly the most important – task is to expose the fatal flaw at the heart of their opponent’s strategy. Conservatives flaw

Role of the state: At a time of economic crisis, pulling back the state and encouraging greater individualism will cost jobs,
Small State: A smaller state implies that only those with the will, the means and the time will set up their own schools, run their own post offices leaving the excluded!
Inexperience: since the economic bomb shell hit, David Cameron has – on more than one occasion – made the wrong call on how to deal with the economic crisis,
Business: the conservatives are pro business but appear to have little time or affection for light industry, manufacturing or engineering,
Marketing: the Conservatives are marketing and advertising gurus: but what you see may not be what you get,
Change: David Cameron has changed the Tories. But the flaw is that he has only changed those who wish to be changed. The old guard are waiting in the wings. However, David Cameron’s saving grace is that his new in take of MPs are the most diverse of any political party,
Dissolution: there are more hopeful conservative supporters,
they have not made the case

Labour’s flaws

Economic crisis: Labour has allowed the nation to sleep walk into this crisis. Prudence left without so much as a by-your-leave and the Black Hole that we were warned about in 2004 -2006 before the crisis hit is the real elephant in the room,
Authoritarian: labour’s tenure in office has been most authoritarian – some would argue quite dictatorial – this is not what many of the electorate expected or even conceived possible,
In fighting: Labour party has now lost its equilibrium and is uneasy in it’s own skin: the recent fighting between the Unions and the Right of the party reflects this. more worryingly; there is no third way or new path in sight,
Taken for granted: Labour has taken for granted the support of the white working class and BME communities who incidentally, have experienced the same types of deprivation but they are now sadly pitted against each other,
Dissolution: there are many more disillusioned labour supporters than in any of the three other party’s,
6. The case is made: Labour has the strongest and most coherently competent message, however the electorate no longer trusts the party. Even if Gordon turned water into wine he would still be despised.

Liberal democrat’s flaws

Immigration: their policies are ill thought through - amnesty, Earned Citizenship
Defense: they will not renew Trident but have no alternative,
Nuclear power: They are against Nuclear power but Pro-Nuclear weapons.
Representation: They talk about representative democracy but their ranks are swelled with white middle classcandidates.

Flawless

War: Consistently anti War - IRAQ
Economy: Consistently got it right – Vince Cable

In order to win this election the party’s need to be Machiavellian and present policies founded on what the electorate wants not on what they believe the electorate should want. Some – but not me - would call this approach appealing to the lowest common denominator. So, the Conservatives should CLEARLY announce;

7^th May 2010 they will impose a cap on non-EU immigration
Population Cap to ensure that we do not exceed 70 million,
Maintain Britain’s sovereignty in Europe whilst being a critical partner,
That they will keep the pound,
That they value the traditional family of mother, father and children and will support it.
Welfare dependency will no longer be an option,
For 18 – 21 year olds National service will be an integral part of our citizenship,
That they will be tough on sentencing,

The Labour Party should CLEARLY announce;

That it will ditch Rt Hon Gordon Brown MP with immediate effect
That it will halt the introduction of ID cards,
That it will hold a referendum on Europe,
That it will listen

The Lib Dems should CLEARLY announce;

That the other two parties are bonkers
The old way of doing things is out dated,
Are policies suck but we sound good,

The risk however, is that the process of exposing the flaws and the inconsistency of ones opponent and of pandering to the lowest common denominator makes it then difficult to form a truly trusting and workable political alliance in a hung parliament. The answer to this is to take a leaf out of the book of Hilary Clinton and Barak Obama during their very adversarial race to the White House and the now harmonious alliance between herself and the new American President.

Iain Duncan Smith on Welfare reform

Dr. Floyd Millen — Thu, 13 May 2010 08:17:52 +0000

Iain Duncan Smith Secretary of State for Work and Pensions Millions of benefit claimants will be forced back to work in the biggest shake-up of the welfare state for 60 years, The Centre for Social Justice 2009 report into the benefits system is indeed a breath of fresh air in what is a long and protracted debate around welfare reform. Firstly I am not suggesting that IDS and the Centre have got it right in all areas but it is a bold and courageous foray into an emotive and complicated area of policy. Secondly, As a result of the economic crisis, the government’s commitment to seeing full employment has been unceremoniously buried. The plans presented by Iain and his Centre for Social Justice will surprisingly do very little if anything to reduce the overall benefit count and rather than saving money it will cost £3.6bn more. You would be forgiven for concluding that in these straightened times IDS has a nerve or to put it another way he is “audacious”. However, if you pause for thought you will see that there is method in his madness.

The proposals for a Universal Work Credit and Universal Life Credit would immediately simplify the entire benefit system reducing the complicated stream of 51 separate benefits into two simple streams. Whilst the Conservative party did allude to a single benefit it fell short of having a clear plan: The Centre for Social Justice has drafted one. Maybe as Secretary of State IDS will implement it!!

Secondly, under the Centre for Social Justice’s scheme there would be no reduction in out-of-work benefits for any current recipient. The existing rules within each benefit would be rolled into the new benefit and there would be a taper system of payment as the earnings of the claimant increased making it simpler, easier, less stressful, and cheaper to start and stop claims.

Thirdly, this proposal would remove the fear of the long delays experienced when jobs do not work out and a person has to start a new claim. Crucially there would be incentives for people to work

Apparently, implementing this proposal will not make people on benefits worse off because it will not change the amount of money awarded but will instead focus on moving all the benefits under the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP's) and applying a taper mechanism to ensure that people who find work will not lose benefits: however any benefit reductions will be taken out of PAYE thus removing the need to reclaim benefits if the work stops or ends. Why is this all so important? Well here’s why: it signals a change of consciousness with the state accepting that its bureaucracy is at times inhibitive and obstructive. The government will no longer put up barriers to those who need to reclaim. The authors claim that the proposal would cost money in the short term (£3.7bn a year) but would be self-financing in the longer term. The proposal claim that only two groups will be worse off: families earning over £30,000 a year, and a few people working just over the number of hours required to claim Working Tax Credit. The report also proposes an earnings disregard which will effectively remove means-testing of benefits, as benefits can be awarded without looking at earnings, then taken away again by HMRC as and when the earnings reach appropriate levels.

What does this mean for Jobcentre

What does this mean for FND and PEP

More coming soon…

Thought Piece - 2 & 3 Political inertia

Dr. Floyd Millen — Tue, 18 May 2010 09:35:30 +0000

Inertia of innovators Whilst there are those who undoubtedly benefit from action, there are those who equally benefit from in-action. According to Machiavelli those who are at most risk are the innovators he wrote, ‘… innovators are at most risk because they stand in a precarious place challenging those who have historically benefitted from the status quo’. Innovators are also at risk from those who are uncertain whether or not they will benefit from the new regime and finally, they are at risk from those who wish them to go further and faster but they will be equally scathing if it fails. The status quo is therefore allowed to persist as no one wishes to be innovative. A recent political example of this was Gordon Brown’s Government Of All The Talents (GOATS). This innovation was very risky and in the end it failed to achieve the desired effects. Notwithstanding this, it was a masterstroke of political manoeuvring. Our new Premier David Cameron has also adopted this approach and has taken this principle to a new level. The fear of Precedents The fear of precedence is the fear that if you act fairly and justly today; in the future, you will be called on to act as fairly and as justly as you had previously done. The fear of precedent is therefore the fear of the known unknown. In politics we know that it is difficult to effectively extrapolate from one situation to another.

Thought piece -1 Political inertia & the principle of Unripe Time

Dr. Floyd Millen — Thu, 20 May 2010 11:58:38 +0000

In variably we ask, why doesn’t the government do something about this that or the other, or why are our politicians silent on those issues which require a very obvious response? This condition which so frequently afflicts our public and elected officials is 'Political Inertia' and it has three interrelated but distinct identities or principles;

The first is the principle of the Unripe Time,
Second, is the principle of the Innovator
And finally, the principle of Precedent,

Unripe time At the heart of Political inertia lays fear. Fear of failure which causes paralysis resulting in a reluctance to make decisions for fear of being held to account for those decisions. The principle of the Unripe Time nettles in the belief that there is a right time to act and that this time will be arrived at ‘in time’. Action taken before this time is bound to be ineffective or at worst counter productive. The inherent difficulty with this form of political inertia is that it is highly unpredictable. Action cannot and will not be taken until the time is ripe: however, no one can predict when the time will be ripe, or who defines the moment of ripeness, or worse still we tend to realise that the time was ripe when it’s too late. A classic example of the principle of Unripe Time which now seems to have been Ripe was Gordon Brown’s aborted 2007 election, there was also David Milliband’s aborted attempt/s to seize the leadership - maybe the time is now ripe. The arguments used to support the principle of the Unripe Time are;

lets assess and analyse the situation,
It is uncertain who will benefit, therefore the time is not right to take any action until we know,
We want a lasting resolution/decision but it is unclear what a resolution/decision will look like,
We need to have discussions about the parameters of the discussions,
Conditions have not been met therefore we cannot begin the process,

And

We are uncertain about who or where jurisdiction lies,

I am not suggesting that these are invalid or irresponsible positions to take: - far from it - what I am however highlighting is that the cumulative affect of these positions results in inertia of a sort which has serious and profound consequences. The irony of the principle of the Unripe Time is that when a decision is finally made and the situation is resolved - in full or in part - the question arises as to what prevented us arriving at this point two days, a week, a month or a year ago? The inevitable answer is nothing what so ever! Why? Because all parties always knew what needed to be done. Watch how the BA Cabin Crew dispute unfolds !!! Examples of where the principle of the Unripe Time has led to devastating affects include,

The reluctance in 2008 of the international community to call for a cease fire in the Gaza war,
Our failure in Rwanda,
Failure to adequately manage the international banking system,

In domestic politics it is the argument that the last Labour administration employed to explain its decision not to – significantly - reduce the budget deficit until 2011. However the Conservative, Lib Dem coalition see this differently arguing that the time is indeed ripe. HISTORY WILL JUDGE Coming next… …….Thought piece 2 - Political inertia and the Innovators

Jobcentre plus

Dr. Floyd Millen — Fri, 21 May 2010 18:34:12 +0000

Personalisation in Welfare to Work

Dr. Floyd Millen — Fri, 21 May 2010 18:38:50 +0000

Quite apart from the obvious challenges facing the welfare to work sector of;

reduced budgets,
accelerated funding models,
full cost recovery,
innovative delivery models,
sanctions,
localisation,
the future role of Jobcentre Plus, etc....

....the other two contentious issues are defining and delivering personalisation and Financial viability. Personalisation. The track record of personalised welfare services has not been good. The outcome of test programmes, such as the Working Neighbourhoods pilot and Pathways to Work has been disappointing and staggeringly expensive. With personalisation comes Choice; together, personalisation and choice are a means of enabling users to shape the design, development and delivery of their services. Choice can also inform purchasers about the needs and preferences of end users and it can be used to harness and drive up standards ensuring that providers are required to satisfy user needs in competition with other providers. Services which have traditionally been delivered by the state are now commissioned and delivered by organisations like yourselves who are best placed to provide it. Commissioning requires effective separation between the purchaser, the provider and the end beneficiaries. The question of how the purchaser ensures that personalisation and choice is built into their complex procurement and delivery model and how personalisation is benchmarked, managed and assessed is as important as the question of what the impact of commissioning has on the availability of choice and personalisation. Financial Viability. It is widely argued that far from encouraging a personalised approach for the jobseeker the current PEP programme - and to some extent FND -is not financially viable and is forcing providers between a rock and a hard place of wanting to help their clients into work but being unable to realistically take the financial risk of the funding model....

Dr. Floyd Millen — Fri, 21 May 2010 23:40:26 +0000

Merger & Acquisition Opportunities

The Chancellors announcement - DWP cuts of £538m

Dr. Floyd Millen — Mon, 24 May 2010 10:44:14 +0000

The announcement has been made. We are still waiting to hear how this affects particular programmes and current tendering. Protection for Schools: Schools, 16-19 participation and Sure Start funding has been protected from reductions in 2010-11. NOTE 2010-11 Further education, Apprenticeships • £50m of Government investment will go into Further Education colleges, which will be leveraged up to create a £150m fund to provide capital investment to those colleges most in need. • •£150m to fund 50,000 new apprenticeship places, focused on small and medium enterprises. • £170m to safeguard delivery of 4,000 unfunded social rented homes to start on site this year, protecting 3,500 jobs and prioritising provision for the most vulnerable. • £50 million for action to tackle backdated business rates bills, including a freeze on payments for 2010-11. Department Departmental cuts in 2010-11

Department for Education 670
Department for Transport 683
Communities and Local Government 780
CLG Local Government 405
Business Innovation and Skills 836
Home Office 367
Ministry of Justice 325
Law Officers’ Departments 18
Foreign and Commonwealth Office 55
Department for Energy and Climate Change 85
Department for Environment Food and Rural Affairs 162
Department for Culture Media and Sport 88
Department for Work and Pensions 535
Chancellor’s Departments 451
Cabinet Office 79
Devolved Administrations 704 TOTAL 6243

Local Government: • Local Government cuts of £1,165m through reductions to individual grants to Local Authorities. • Restrictions will be lifted on how local government spends its money by de-ring-fencing grants totaling over £1.7bn in 2010-11. Councils will have maximum flexibility to deliver efficiencies. Child Trust Funds: Tapered out The Government will introduce secondary legislation to reduce Government payments to Child Trust Funds from 1 August 2010. From 1 August 2010 payments at birth will be reduced from £250 to £50 for better off families, and £500 to £100 for lower income families; and payments at age 7 stopped. The Government intends to introduce primary legislation to stop all payments from 1 January 2011. Its time to begin speaking and lobbying the Efficiency and Reform Group (E&RG) and to your local authority to en Source: http://www.hm-treasury.gov.uk/d/press_04_10.pdf

DEL/AME - The Civil Partnership

Dr. Floyd Millen — Wed, 26 May 2010 14:41:19 +0000

The civil partnership between DEL and AME is imminent - whether or not the Invest To Save Pathfinders (ISB) are rolled out in 2011. Providers will get paid using the cash from future benefit savings: i.e The Treasury will refund (or finally cough up!). this partnership demolishes the historical dividing wall between Annually Managed Expenditure and Departmental Expenditure Limits. What does this means in reality? Well, re-read the second sentence......!! The government is (rightly) committed to the Invest To Save model - ‘a stitch in time [ultimately] saves nine’ - but we should be aware that the idea of increasing spending now in the hope that it will reduce spend later is highly speculative and risky. One of the big challenges to the ISB pilots is that payments will only come from direct ESA saving, not savings made from Housing Benefit and Council Tax Benefit Question Do you think this civil-partnership will work – no not the Clegg/Cameron partnership silly - the DEL/AME one?

hm-treasury

Dr. Floyd Millen — Wed, 26 May 2010 14:50:30 +0000

Risks in Welfare to Work

Dr. Floyd Millen — Thu, 27 May 2010 09:13:13 +0000

Under the previous administration the preferred model for funding welfare to work provision was one where the risk was transferred to Prime contractors and then to the wider provider base. This model is theoretically workable however; the unit costs associated with the current tranche of flag-ship programmes like FND 1 and 2 and PEP render the model almost financially unworkable. Prime contractors will utilise their service fees to kick start the process and alleviate some of the cash flow difficulties that they and their sub-contractors will encounter. Whilst there are risks throughout the whole supply chain, smaller providers and sub-contractors find themselves in a precarious position wanting to participate but feeling and believing that they cannot afford the risk of participation or indeed of non-participation. As the old adage says; ‘they are caught between a rock and a hard place’ But are the risks really so high? Are providers failing to see the light at the end of the tunnel?

Specialist/menu providers - to be or not to be?

Dr. Floyd Millen — Thu, 27 May 2010 09:21:50 +0000

Who are they and are they being effectively used? We need a suite of specialist menu provision which provides expertise in areas that we otherwise would not have. The presumption is that these providers are already funded or that their services can be ‘spot-purchased’ thereby providing added value to the client journey … is this really happening and are we seeing real innovation?

poverty_-_ALAMY_22296t

Dr. Floyd Millen — Thu, 27 May 2010 11:46:04 +0000

State of the nation report: poverty, worklessness and welfare dependency in the UK

Dr. Floyd Millen — Thu, 27 May 2010 11:57:08 +0000

The report "State of the Nation" was unveiled this morning. It is a damning assessment of life in the UK. The Government will use it to inform policy decisions as it tackles poverty and worklessness

The Key points

almost one in ten people live in persistent poverty,
There are 800,000 more working age adults in poverty than in 1998/99
1.4 million people in the UK have been on an out-of-work benefit for nine or more of the last 10 years
670,000 households in the UK are eligible for benefits and tax credits of over £15,600 per year
health inequalities are higher now than they were in the 1970s
there remains a large gap in educational achievement between children from rich and poor backgrounds, with a 39 percentage point gap in gaining 5+ A*-C GCSEs between those living in the most and in the least deprived areas
5.3 million people suffer from multiple disadvantages in the UK
people living in the poorest neighbourhoods will, on average, die seven years earlier than people living in the richest neighbourhoods

Against international comparisons the report concludes that income inequality in the UK is at its highest level since comparable statistics began in 1961. In the UK, the proportion of children growing up in workless households, and the proportion of young people not in work, education or training, is higher than in almost any other European country. Many have rightly concluded that we are in for a hard time as we pull ourselves out of the economic crisis, however this report suggests that for many they were already having a hard time ........ ...the credit crunch? what credit crunch ...? they have never had credit, they have always been poor, disadvantaged and left behind... Have they have been failed by successive governments ....... or have they been failed by providers...(?).

Successful Acquisition: Ixion Holdings acquires Computer Gym

Dr. Floyd Millen — Thu, 27 May 2010 13:17:26 +0000

Ixion Holdings Ltd - a Not-For-Profit organisation - acquired Computer Gym (UK) Ltd on 30^th April 2010. Ixion specialised as a contract managing agent in brokerage, skills, employer engagement and new media. Its acquisition of Computer Gym means that Ixion has now added both operational delivery and an extensive track record of provider services to its portfolio. Surrey-based Computer Gym (UK) Ltd has been rebranded as Ixion CG Ltd and delivers a portfolio of market-leading Employability, Reducing Reoffending and Workforce Development training initiatives. Darren Coppin, Vice President of Ixion CG, stated, “This acquisition is a considered strategic response to a market sector that needs to benefit from demand-led, fast-acting, larger-scale contractors and subcontractors that have a track record of delivering results for funders and the beneficiaries themselves.” John Govett, Ixion Holding’s CEO, stated, “the group now has the scale, capacity and credibility to transform business outcomes and peoples’ lives across entire learning journeys and the UK. The complementary skills, services and track records will count in the ever competitive world going forward and the scale, governance and support we both now have from our parent, the £140m turnover Anglia Ruskin University, is a real asset in the changing public sector environment that we work in.” Tony Wallace, Managing Director of Ixion CG confirmed that, “the company aims to support large Prime Contractors and local third-sector organisations in unlocking the potential of unemployed, ex-offender and working individuals through training, to help drive forward the UK economy as a whole.” Contract Group Head of Communications Amanda Planting on Amanda.planting@computergym.co.uk for any further information, or click on this link: http://www.ixionholdings.com/tabid/84/Default.aspx . Well done!

Dr. Floyd Millen — Thu, 27 May 2010 23:27:09 +0000

Welfare reform: the quiet man gets loud

hofc-300x188

Dr. Floyd Millen — Fri, 28 May 2010 16:06:50 +0000

Richard Johnson, Managing Director of Serco Welfare to Work on Cameron, Clegg and the future of Welfare

Dr. Floyd Millen — Fri, 28 May 2010 16:10:21 +0000

Richard Johnson, managing director of Serco Welfare to Work, on how the new coalition government may affect the welfare-to-work sector “Lord Freud has now spent over three years thinking, talking and planning for the next generation of welfare-to-work services. We saw much of his work clearly set out in the Conservative Manifesto, and then transposed into the Coalition Agreement. I think there are potentially some enormously exciting opportunities created by his proposals. There is the potential for the extension of intensive assistance to far more people currently trapped in social exclusion as a result of their unemployment. By recognising the enormous costs of maintaining people long-term on benefits, and by creating a mechanism for using savings in those costs to fund service delivery, we are untapping considerable resources to extend the scale, the scope and the depth of our provision. This is perhaps an opportunity to take out some of the unnecessary complexity in the ‘systems’ that surround unemployed people. Perhaps this is a chance properly to focus assistance on responding flexibly to the individual needs of people accessing welfare services. We could sidestep the agendas that so get in the way of people securing sustainable, independent futures. We could ensure that all the expertise in our frontline delivery is properly aligned, with real value derived from the money that is spent, with duplication removed and meaningful outcomes maximised. We could even start to see welfare to work finally join up, in funding and delivery, with associated services such as criminal justice, housing and health. Call me a dreamer, but we might even get some coordination between employment and skills. There is a chance to create something here that brings public, private and third sectors into positive partnerships. Making that ‘p’ word work is, I think, dependent on how these services are contracted and subcontracted. It also requires a sea change in the transparency in this ‘industry’, with real performance data shared openly. Currently, Serco are the only prime contractor to publish weekly performance reports. How else can we drive up the quality and the performance of our services (and these two things are inextricably linked)? How else can we hold this provision accountable for the lives of the individuals we want to reach? We are moving, I believe, towards two distinct tiers of contracting – possibly more. We may have a smaller number of prime contractors. Their contracts will be outcome-based, with payments linked to long-term sustainability. Below this first tier will be networks of subcontracted provision, which may in turn also subcontract. The challenge, of course, will be to ensure that:

These tiers are adding value and not simply creating additional overhead;
Expertise is drawn in to address the full range of complex needs falling out of social exclusion;
Subcontracts drive performance through partnership, with mutual benefits realised for both prime and sub;
Funding arrangements are ‘fit for purpose’ probably with a variety of payment models depending on who is delivering what at which tier;
The interface with Jobcentre Plus, and other public bodies, is facilitative and focused on jobseeker need.

It would be really nice to think that this new contracting framework could also mitigate ‘creaming’ and ‘parking’. As far as I am concerned, this is probably its most exciting implication. Under our current welfare to work contracts, providers are able – possibly are even incentivised to – focus on the people closest to work and purposefully ignore those a considerable distance away. The model we designed at Serco attempts specifically to minimise the potential for this cynical prioritisation of service delivery and to free up resources for people most in need, but it is hard to escape the necessity to manage within finite budgets. Using the savings from reduced benefits payments, the so-called AME/DEL switch, may well go a long way to completely change this perspective. Once you start to recognise that this individual spending a lifetime outside of employment is costing so very, very much in that lifetime of benefits (never mind the social and fiscal costs of them and their family to all other social/welfare services), then you can also start to demonstrate the real social return of investing in expensive, quality, outcome-focused solutions to very complex personal problems. The devil of all this is, of course, going to be in the detail. We face a very tricky transition now between existing provision and the new Work Programme contracts. We all recognise the weaknesses in our current systems, but we must be very careful not to lose all the experience and commitment that also currently exists. Organisations have invested heavily in recent tenders. It would not be a sensible time to ignore the cost of that. A new infrastructure was put in place for the first phase of FND and is still developing. Colleagues in Jobcentre Plus have managed with exceptional professionalism the pressures of the last 18 months, and now face the challenges of significant change along with us. It is going to be important to keep sight of the opportunities that are being offered here to shift fundamentally the impact of welfare to work. Change is rarely easy. It is eased, however, when people work together, when there is openness and honesty, and when there is such a clear and strong shared objective.”

Personalisation and the New Coalition by Dr Simon Duffy

Dr. Floyd Millen — Tue, 01 Jun 2010 09:04:03 +0000

Personalisation and the Coalition Personalisation should be central to the new coalition’s agenda; it is a civil society strategy which brings efficiencies and improved outcomes, while strengthening citizens, families and communities. But its fate is far from certain, and for good reason. Anybody looking at the previous government’s record on personalisation would be asking themselves why:

Something that should save money has cost over £1 billion extra?

Something that should simplify things has led to more complexity?

Something that was meant to make things easier for the most vulnerable has often made things more difficult?

I would not be surprised if the new government scrapped the whole of the current top-down initiative. Like many good ideas before the central challenge remains: implementation, implementation and implementation. The previous government’s implementation of personalisation was flawed from its inception in 2005. The government sought to control a policy it didn’t fully understand and which it has never fully thought through. Hence they spent money, issued targets, recruited consultants, published guidance and generally tried to ‘take charge’. None of these measures have been effective or coherent. There is a role for central government, not as an agent of implementation, but instead focusing on:

Integrating the diverse personalisation initiatives across Whitehall

Reform of the legislation that underpins public services

Merging the funding streams that issue out of Whitehall

Agreeing a clear role for local government

Connecting individual budgets to the tax-benefit system

Defining the fundamental rights that families and citizens can expect

It will be interesting to see the new government’s reaction to personalisation. The better part of the coalition should like it - it is liberal, but it is rooted in social justice and it strengthens civil society. But, in harsh economic times anyone looking at what has been achieved so far may see something that needs ‘cutting’. Of course this will not be the end of personalisation. Personalisation was not invented by government and it has grown and developed, in real communities, led by disabled people and those at the front-line of public services, with minimal government support. Those of us who are working to shift power and control back to citizens will still find allies and opportunities to build a better world. Hopefully this government will listen more closely, think more deeply and act more strategically. If it does, personalisation could genuinely lead to the reform of the welfare state. Simon Duffy Director of The Centre for Welfare Reform www.centreforwelfarereform.org Simon created Individual Budgets and Self-Directed Support and in 2008 was given the RSA’s Prince Albert Medal for his work on personalisation.

Fraud/errooorrr in the benefits system

Dr. Floyd Millen — Tue, 01 Jun 2010 19:15:43 +0000

Fraud and Error in the Benefit System: October 2008 to September 2009 For 2009/10, it is estimated that 2.1 per cent, or £3.1bn, of total benefit expenditure was overpaid due to fraud and error. The estimated percentage of benefit expenditure overpaid has decreased from 2.2 per cent to 2.1 per cent. In value terms, however, due to the increase in benefit expenditure overpayments have risen from £3.0bn to a staggering £3.1bn, For 2009/10, it is estimated that 0.9 per cent, or £1.3bn, of total benefit expenditure was underpaid due to fraud and error. In value terms, however, underpayments have risen from £1.2bn to £1.3bn, due to the growth in benefit expenditure.

Income Support/Jobseeker’s Allowance benefit overpayment is 5.5% in October 2008 - September 2009 The same level as April 2008 to March 2009. However, the value of overpayments has risen from £640m to £700m, due to the forecast increase in benefit expenditure.

Housing Benefit expenditure overpayment fell from 4.9% in April 2008 to March 2009 to 4.4% in October 2008 to September 2009. The value has decreased from £840m to £820m.

Pension Credit benefit overpayment has decreased from 5.1% in April 2008 to March 2009 to 4.4% in October 2008 to September 2009, and from £390m down to £350m.

Incapacity Benefit expenditure overpayment has decreased from 3.4% in April 2008 to March 2009 to 3.3% in October 2008 to September 2009, and from £220m down to £210m.

YOU DO THE MATHS .... seems to me that there are lots of savings that could be made quite easily Full report... http://research.dwp.gov.uk/asd/asd2/fem/fem_oct08_sep09.pdf

300x500_fitbox-pound_sterling

Dr. Floyd Millen — Tue, 01 Jun 2010 19:29:17 +0000

Welfare reform! other questions need to be asked...

Dr. Floyd Millen — Wed, 02 Jun 2010 23:31:25 +0000

Quite apart from the pressing questions around the timescale and implementation of the new Work Programme, PEP, CTF and FND there are other pressing issues;

How will centrally contracted welfare services be reconciled with decentralisation and localism?
What role will local authorities play,
What is the future of the Working Neighbourhood Fund,
Will there be more opportunities for the voluntary and community sector in supporting unemployed people?
Will employment and skills be integrated ?
How will Total Place be used to integrate funding for the most disadvantaged?

DWP cuts broken down

Dr. Floyd Millen — Wed, 02 Jun 2010 23:43:04 +0000

Overall 2010-11 cut is £535 million.

£320 million from ‘ending ineffective elements of employment programmes’. THIS COULD BE ALL PROGRAMMES ... I jest!

Future Jobs (£290 million),

£30 million from ending the £1,000 employer subsidy for young people.

£215 million is made up of stopping, delaying, or renegotiating medical and IT services; discretionary spending, including marketing and consultancy; and a recruitment freeze.

£150 million is promised to fund 50,000 new apprenticeship places

£4.4m of Fraud, errors The Moral Maze, Child Poverty, Personalisation & the Coalition

Dr. Floyd Millen — Thu, 03 Jun 2010 09:36:10 +0000

£4.4m of Fraud, errors The Moral Maze, Child Poverty, Personalisation & the Coalition

Reducing the deficit: Lib/dem pledge means stealing from the poor to pay the poor

Dr. Floyd Millen — Mon, 07 Jun 2010 11:31:10 +0000

By 2015, The Prime Minister says, the Government will be paying £70bn a year in interest to service the deficit.

The Prime Minister named and shamed DWP for raising benefit spending by £20bn (giving some families up to £93,000 in Housing Benefit a year),

Measures that are being considered by the Coalition include;

Freezing all benefits for 12 months from 2011; this would raise £4.1 billion.

Implementing the Lib/Dem pledge to axe Child Tax Credits for couples on a joint income of more than £26,000: saving more than £1 billion a year.

£26,000 is hardly a princely sum and it is far below the national average salary.

This sounds like ‘Robbing the poor to pay the poor’

One ray of light is that ministers have ruled out means-testing child benefits and winter fuel payments.

Also..

Public sector workers earning more than £18,000 a year already face a pay freeze in 2011 and the emergency budget on June 22^nd is likely to unveil further curbs in wage rises beyond 2011.

Other news..

See David Cameron’s Speech today

In Work Better off? Do not disregard the disregard!

Dr. Floyd Millen — Mon, 07 Jun 2010 11:53:42 +0000

The average person who leaves welfare and gets a job on the minimum wage is less than a pound an hour better off. The Coalition government should increase the earnings “disregard” and guarantee that anyone leaving welfare and entering work will be £100 a week better off. The earnings disregard varies considerably depending on the type of benefit received. It is at its lowest of £5 for a single adult on Jobseekers Allowance. This level was originally set in 1988 and it is even below the National Minimum Wage. People on Jobseekers Allowance (JSA) have a £5 cap on the amount they can keep each week. Above this amount, benefits are deducted at the same rate as earnings. This presents a real disincentive to work. In contrast Employment and Support Allowance has an earnings disregard of up to £93. Whilst it is widely accepted that it is desirable to spend more up front now to improve the incentives to work, a sober assessment of the tight fiscal squeeze means that it may not be possible in the way that we think it is. The Coalition may be forced to prioritise up-font savings in the welfare budget in order to fund better incentives to work. See “Reducing the deficit: Lib/dem pledge means stealing from the poor to pay the poor” See DWP research summary ‘Better-off in Work Credit’

Frank Field MP... This is the Government of all the Talents (GOAT)

Dr. Floyd Millen — Mon, 07 Jun 2010 16:25:19 +0000

As I said before.. this is A Government of All the Talents’ (GOATs) see my previous post

Frank Field MP is to lead an independent review of UK Poverty

At long last Frank Field MP will be listened to..

Is this the solution to PEP and FND?

Dr. Floyd Millen — Tue, 08 Jun 2010 08:46:52 +0000

Whilst it is true that individuals could do much more to help themselves out of poverty. Very rarely is poverty self inflicted: it is usually the result of circumstances beyond an individual’s control. Poverty, however does not occur or remain in isolation but it is usually exacerbated by socio-economic conditions including a lack of jobs - and where there are jobs - they are low-paid, short-term, part-time, unreliable and insecure. Individuals are likely to spiral into increased dependency and ultimately intergenerational unemployment ensues which further excludes, compounds and reinforces their individual and collective position. The myth is that the poor contribute very little to society: actually; the converse is true: many people living in poverty do make important contributions through caring for the elderly, disabled, looking after the children of friends and family and volunteering. As I discussed in previous postings, our dysfunctional benefit system fails to support these and other people when they wish to transit into work. In addition to the fact that people trying to move into work only keep a few pennies in the pound from what they earn, the costs of getting to and from work simply compounds the problem. This does not even begin to account for those for whom work is just not viable due to health concerns and also because of their other familial responsibilities - which have financial implications to family and which has so far saved the state money..... ...yes I know.... we only hear about the costs and the scroungers .... not about the so called benefit louts who are in fact saving money... . What do I recommend?

If we accept that people living in poverty do wish to contribute to their communities then I propose that in addition to simplifying the benefit system, increasing the earnings disregard, tapering benefit payments as proposed by Centre for Social Justice, and supporting start-up and micro businesses, that through the Community Allowance scheme the unemployed would be allowed to take on small amounts of paid community work without losing benefits.

Participants would be permitted to register for a maximum of 52 weeks. Maximum earnings on top of benefits over the year would be capped at £4,469 or the equivalent of up to 15 hours a week on the minimum wage. Participants would be paid the minimum wage or more depending on the kind of work available and their skill base. Community Allowance.

I wonder …. Could this be the answer to making Personalised Employment (PEP) Work? (and also FND) PEP = 24 months support why not 12 months on Community allowance: everyone benefits and the Treasury saves. Could someone help me to move this idea forward...?

3 weeks into the New Coalition: 3 points to bear in mind

Dr. Floyd Millen — Wed, 09 Jun 2010 10:13:50 +0000

There are three points that I would like to make. Firstly, over the last three weeks the Coalition’s focus has been firstly, to tell the nation what the nation already knew. Secondly, - in order to retain our triple A rating - it has tried to allay the fears of the Markets by showing how tough things will be and by declaring that this Administration will not capitulate in the face of difficult decisions. The Liberal Conservative Coalition needs to tread careful and ensure that it does not do irreparable damage to consumer confidence or talk down our economic position to the extent that it discourages inward investment and stymies attempts to kick-start and regenerate our economy. Secondly, the coalition needs to move out of Campaign mode into Governing mode. There is a lot of bleak news and there is too much posturing and its all coming from the Coalition. We need to see the Coalition's confidence and we need them to positively express and explain their programme for change. Thirdly, Cuts will take us some way towards reducing the £156bn budget deficit and towards reducing the £700bn debt. Cutting spending, efficiency savings and Tax increases will not reduce the deficit by more than 18 percentage points. It is therefore imperative that the Coalition simultaneously focuses its attention on growth and productivity. Only through growth will we directly and sustainably pay down the deficit.

Breaking News:…. DWP makes announcement!

Dr. Floyd Millen — Wed, 09 Jun 2010 12:35:02 +0000

DWP Commercial Director makes announcement!!! Providers are meeting with David Smith and Alan Cave today and (I have been reliably told) a few minutes ago DWP Commercial Director David Smith announced that a letter will be sent to providers tomorrow informing them of the next steps!!! This will be followed by a phone call! Providers were told last week that a letter was on its way and should have arrived by yesterday: It has not arrived but this announcement is more concrete. It's all beginning to happen!!

News on Flexible New Deal!!

Dr. Floyd Millen — Wed, 09 Jun 2010 12:37:52 +0000

Other news!! FND 1 providers have been asked to meet with DWP. There are two possible reasons for this ONE, It could be to discuss their performance against their performance offer with a view to making decisions on FND2, PEP, CTF etc or TWO The word on the street is that the Work Programme will commence in June 2011. As you know, the notice period for the termination of existing contracts is 12 months........!!!!

Whilst we wait for news ...see this amazing link ...World cup

Dr. Floyd Millen — Thu, 10 Jun 2010 10:25:38 +0000

For those who are interested - and i'm not - I came across this fascinating interactive world Cup diary: it's quite amazing..... Have fun! Interactive WC event

image_football006

Dr. Floyd Millen — Thu, 10 Jun 2010 10:30:07 +0000

Welfare to Work News Flash!!

Dr. Floyd Millen — Thu, 10 Jun 2010 10:52:00 +0000

Welfare to Work announcement Key:

The Work Programme will be introduced nationally by Summer 2011.
The vehicle for bringing the Work Programme into being and handling all work-focussed services (and related commissioning) will be a new framework of preferred providers.
This framework, The Work Programme Framework, will be used for the Work Programme and for future Welfare to Work requirements and will be accessible by other public service commissioners wish to commission work-focussed services.
Selection on to the framework will be based on a provider’s ability and capacity to deliver job focussed services over the lifetime of the framework
The framework competition will commence at the end of June 2010, identifying framework providers by November and placing contracts in the first half of 2011.
There will be an event in July for providers interested in the framework
All current competitions are superseded. There will be no fND2, Invest to Save, Personalised Employment Programme or Community Task Force.
fND1 providers are being given immediate twelve months notice of the end of fND1 contracts.
The intention is to achieve maximum continuity of service and to minimise disruption.
All fND1 providers are encouraged to bid in to the framework for a managed move on to the Work Programme.
There is no decision yet on Work Choice but there is a commitment to supporting disabled people.
No decision has yet been made about how Work for your Benefit will fit within the Work Programme.
Current New Deal, Pathways and EZ contracts will be extended in fND2 areas then will roll in to the Work Programme.

Comment on The Work Programme!!

Dr. Floyd Millen — Thu, 10 Jun 2010 12:22:58 +0000

The government has been consistent! However the termination of FND2 has sent Shock waves through the industry!! 5 year contracts are now ONLY AS STRONG AS THE TERMINATION PERIOD IN CONTRACTS!! this will have implications for investment in the sector. PRIMES who have invested widely, deeply will be very annoyed!!!

The Ministerial Statement IN FULL!!

Dr. Floyd Millen — Thu, 10 Jun 2010 12:33:42 +0000

I HAVE NOW RECEIVED THE STATEMENT Here is the full statement by Chris Grayling MP: Work Programme statement Minister of State for Employment Chris Grayling said: “We are committed to getting the unemployed back to work and that’s why we are taking swift action to get the Work Programme up and running”. “The Work Programme will offer exciting opportunities for contractors from both the private and voluntary sectors to deliver the flexible and personalised support people need to get back to work, and I believe existing providers have a big role to play in this”.

Thursday 10^th June 2010

Minister for Employment, (Chris Grayling): The Government has previously announced its plans for radical reforms of the welfare to work system and the implementation of the Work Programme. The Work Programme will be a single integrated package of support providing personalised help for everyone who finds themselves out of work regardless of the benefit they claim. This will give providers longer to work with individuals and greater freedom to decide the appropriate support for them. We will also offer stronger incentives for providers to work with the harder to help, paying providers out of the additional benefits they realise as a result of placing people into work. We are determined to move quickly and are aiming to have the Work Programme in place nationally by the summer of 2011. Until the Work Programme is implemented, we will ensure support is in place. Where necessary, we will seek to extend current arrangements to ensure that there is no gap in provision and people can continue to receive help and support to get back into work. Once the Work Programme is implemented it will supersede much of the complicated raft of national programmes currently on offer and these will be phased out. The support currently provided by programmes such as the Flexible New Deal will be folded into the Work Programme as soon as possible. We are committed to supporting severely disabled people and are currently reviewing the best way of doing this. The Government has today written to relevant providers and will be beginning one to one discussions with them to discuss what this means for them. We believe that the Work Programme will offer significant new opportunities for contractors from the private and voluntary sectors to deliver truly flexible and personalised support, building appropriate partnerships to do so. We recognise the crucial role that the voluntary sector in particular has to play in tackling worklessness, and our plans reflect this. We will be publishing further details as the design and implementation of the Work Programme progresses.

cHRIS

Dr. Floyd Millen — Thu, 10 Jun 2010 12:35:39 +0000

cHRIS

Dr. Floyd Millen — Thu, 10 Jun 2010 12:37:16 +0000

Is the glass half full or half empty......Call for Calm

Dr. Floyd Millen — Thu, 10 Jun 2010 15:30:29 +0000

During a visit to the mental asylum, I asked the director how do you determine whether or not a patient should be institutionalized. "Well," said the director, "we fill up a bathtub, then we offer a teaspoon, a teacup and a bucket to the patient and ask him or her to empty the bathtub." "Oh, I understand," I said. "A normal person would use the bucket because it's bigger than the spoon or the teacup." "No." said the director, "A normal person would pull the plug. The moral ... There is a temptation to panic, become flustered and angry but it is important that we see the opportunity that is before us. A letter is winging its way to you as I write:

read it very carefully,
count to 10
digest its contents.... All is not lost.......

REMEMBER, 'First Impressions' can be misleading and confusing.

....Unprecedented!!: over 14,000 visits to our blog

Dr. Floyd Millen — Fri, 11 Jun 2010 09:22:46 +0000

This is quite amazing, we have had over 14,000 visitors to this blog.... and numerous other correspondences!! If you would like to receive our ground breaking newsletter please email floyd@yesminister.org.uk Please feel free to visit our home site www.yesminister.org.uk for more details about our work! look out for more info on WELFARE TO WORK..... EMPLOYMENT AND SKILLS et.al

All Written Ministerial Statements for 10 June 2010

Dr. Floyd Millen — Fri, 11 Jun 2010 09:35:42 +0000

All Written Ministerial Statements for 10 June 2010

Parliamentary business

Volume 511: Welfare Reform

From the source: Hansard Official statement

I will be posting thoughts around the implication for the jobs of people working in the sector and much more.

Stella line up announced for ALP Summer Conference

Dr. Floyd Millen — Fri, 11 Jun 2010 14:04:12 +0000

The conference is a who's who in Employment and skills. The stella line up includes;

John Hayes MP Minister for Further Education, Skills & Lifelong Learning, Department for Business, Innovation & Skills	Simon Waugh Chief Executive National Apprenticeship Service
Geoff Russell Chief Executive Skills Funding Agency	Peter Lauener Chief Executive Young People's Learning Agency
Chris Humphries CBE Chief Executive UK Commission for Employment and Skills	Christine Gilbert CBE Head of Ofsted (HMCI)
Martin Dunford OBE Chairman, Association of Learning Providers	Graham Hoyle OBE Chief Executive Association of Learning Providers
Martin Doel OBE Chief Executive Association of Colleges	Judith Rutherford Director London Skills and Employment Board
Matthew Nicholas Director, Employers & Stakeholders, Jobcentre Plus DAY I DAY 2	View the agenda

The+Queen_2431_19488548_0_0_2136_300

Dr. Floyd Millen — Mon, 14 Jun 2010 06:53:41 +0000

The+Queen_2431_19488548_0_0_2136_300

Dr. Floyd Millen — Mon, 14 Jun 2010 06:54:52 +0000

The+Queen_2431_19488548_0_0_2136_300

Dr. Floyd Millen — Mon, 14 Jun 2010 06:56:00 +0000

Child Benefit - lets increase it!!

Dr. Floyd Millen — Mon, 14 Jun 2010 11:53:04 +0000

Mr Frank Field MP is considering taxing this benefit: is he correct? Rates

Child Benefit - £ per week
Rates	Jan 2009	April 2010
Eldest/Only Child	£20.00	£20.30
Other Children	£13.20	£13.40

Other rates and allowances Tax Credit/Child Benefit In the end it may be better to Tax it than axe it..... Means Testing is also seen as a poor option because it would stigmatise the benefit resulting in those that ought to claim not claiming. In addition the administrative costs of setting up and managing this process would be astronomical. Increasing Child Benefit Far from reigning in the cost and expanse of this benefit The Make Child Benefit Count Campaign is calling for an increase in the benefit. My view is that Child benefit should be increased to a flat rate of £22 a week for all children, which could be off-set by taxing this higher rate and removing eligibility to child tax credit (CTC) for better-off families. This would improve the incomes of poorer families and reduce child poverty. According to IPPR this will lift 350,000 children out of poverty. (see IPPR http://www.ippr.org.uk/pressreleases/?id=3997 Simply cutting the benefit is not the answer.

Quote/s of the day/week

Dr. Floyd Millen — Mon, 14 Jun 2010 12:00:43 +0000

If somebody tells you that everything is possible, ask him to dribble a football. (Author unknown)

A politician is an animal which can sit on a fence whilst simultaneously keeping both ears to the ground. (Henry Louis Mencken)

Newsletter 14th June 2010: Queens Honours, Increasing Child Benefit

Dr. Floyd Millen — Mon, 14 Jun 2010 12:37:08 +0000

Newsletter: Queens Birthday Honours, Increase Child Benefit, ALP Conference Having difficulty viewing? visit www.yesminister.org.uk then click on PRESS

Signing The Contract

Dr. Floyd Millen — Mon, 14 Jun 2010 15:59:34 +0000

Two Businessmen Sitting At A Table With Pens In Hand. One Signing The Contract. Big Light Filled Windows Behind Them.

The Future of Welfare to Work: Opportunities or Threats?

Dr. Floyd Millen — Mon, 14 Jun 2010 16:00:05 +0000

As we previously reported there is a noticeable willingness from providers to discuss Acquisitions and Mergers. See our newsletters and Press.

Last weeks news hit the sector pretty hard.

Providers are concerned about;

financial viability and capacity,
capability of delivery,
geographic reach,
organisational size and structure,

Many are now actively are exploring,

Potential for growth and expansion,
Opportunities for sustainability,
New ways to replicate and scale-up their innovative programmes

If you are a small or medium organisation how do you?

Increase and replicate your excellent work?
Demonstrate that your innovation is scalable?
Compete with other providers and new entrants in the sector?
Ensure sustainability in a fiscally tight environment and with outcomes focused payments?

For larger providers, how do you?

Effectively and efficiently expand your delivery?
Gain local access, credibility, knowledge and acceptance?
Demonstrate the public benefit of your expansion,
Demonstrate that your footprint in new regions can and will transform lives and delivery?

Providers are now actively discussing and seeking opportunities to merge or be acquired. Yes Minister has been involved in brokering discussions and is happy to make initial introductions. MERGER and; ACQUISITION FORMS and EXPRESSIONS OF INTEREST

The Work Programme creates job security in Welfare2Work

Dr. Floyd Millen — Tue, 15 Jun 2010 11:44:17 +0000

The Birth of The Work Programme has lifted the cloud. Due to PEP, staff employed to deliver New Deal contracts faced uncertainty about their jobs. Even with TUPE undertaking, many staff believed that - come October - they would either be out of work or be negotiating terms! However, as a result of the Birth of The Work Programme these employees are now in a position of having secure work to June 2010 -when The Work Programme goes live - and beyond. These workers will also be TUPED across to The Work Programme which is a 4 year programme (even though it will only run for 3 and a half years), so theoretically they will be in work until the end of the Coalition government. Providers delivering New Deal have also breathed a sigh of relief..... The birth of The Work Programme and the cancellation of other programmes has played to their strength and given them 12 month of security. The challenge for these providers is that they need to significantly increase their performance or else they could find themselves without contracts from June 2010.

boris-johnson

Dr. Floyd Millen — Wed, 16 Jun 2010 16:46:00 +0000

The Mayor of London's Proposals for Skills in a devolved London

Dr. Floyd Millen — Wed, 16 Jun 2010 16:50:12 +0000

On skills, the Mayor is proposing that along with the London Skills and Employment Board (LSEB) - which he chairs - he should get the power to approve the allocation of the adult skills budget in London. The Mayor is arguing strongly that DWP and JCP expenditure on skills and employment in London should have regard to the LSEB strategy. See The Mayors Proposal for Devolution

cHRIS

Dr. Floyd Millen — Wed, 16 Jun 2010 17:06:16 +0000

Latest Unemployment Figures!!

Dr. Floyd Millen — Wed, 16 Jun 2010 17:11:52 +0000

New figures published by the Office for National Statistics today show that while the number of people claiming Jobseeker’s Allowance has gone down this month, there are nearly five million people claiming one of the main out of work benefits. Minister for Employment Chris Grayling said:

“......... we need to create real incentives for businesses to grow and create job opportunities. "The figures also demonstrate why our planned Work Programme is so important. With nearly five million people on out of work benefits and record numbers of people who are economically inactive, we have to make sure that as the economy grows and jobs are created in the next few years that we learn from the mistakes of the past, and ensure that we provide real help and support for people on benefits so they can take advantage of employment opportunities and make the move into work.” THE FIGURES February 2010 to April 2010 The numbers of people in work rose slightly this quarter.

28.86 million in work

employment rate 72.1% down 0.1% on the quarter and down 1.2% on the year

JSA claimants fell.

5 million people claiming out of work benefits

The claimant unemployment rate is 4.6% down 0.1 percentage points on the month

ESA: the numbers claiming ESA has remained stable since November 2009. The figure stands at 2.62 million

numbers receiving Lone Parent benefit has fallen in April to 675,000

Read the figures for yourself......The Figures

Is the privatisation of Jobcentre Plus inevitable?

Dr. Floyd Millen — Fri, 18 Jun 2010 09:39:41 +0000

JCP is under pressure to cut costs.... this will inevitably mean jobs... the 6,000 people taken on by JCP last year to assist with the increased FND flows are obviously high on the hit list.

Under the Work Programme JCP no longer has the guarantee of clients (under 25) for 12 months. Whilst a 'fair' number of JCP staff could be TUPED across to the Work Programme 'The Word on the Street' is that across the board we are likely to see significant job losses across the department. We understand that a number of areas have now been identified.

The other question that is been asked is whether The Work Programme signals the beginning of the privatisation of JCP. More thoughts and news on this coming soon....

Colleges Set Free and Skills high on the agenda

Dr. Floyd Millen — Fri, 18 Jun 2010 09:52:00 +0000

The government is providing nearly £3.5bn this year to the Skills Funding Agency to support training places, and a further £1bn to support other areas of further education spending.

Government funding to the Skills Funding Agency in 2010/11 will aim to:

Support progression for students through different types of education and strengthen the supply of technician level skills to the economy, particularly through level 3 apprenticeships
Prioritise vocational qualifications that are understood and valued by employers
Work with business and skills organisations to promote greater employer engagement and better use of existing skills in the workplace
Reduce the number of 18 to 24-year-olds not in employment, education or training
Secure high quality training opportunities for unemployed people to get the skills needed for work-readiness, sustainable employment and progression in learning and work
Provide independent careers guidance to enable people to make better choices about their future
Develop a programme of Lifelong Learning Accounts to create informed and empowered learners with a thirst for learning and new knowledge
Encourage more people to participate in adult and community learning
Implement joint investment proposals in high-value areas of the economy, working with employers to boost skills

Nearly £550m will be spent in 2010/11 supporting apprenticeships and another £757m on other forms of work-based learning.

This all sounds pretty positive! doesn't it?

Newsletter 25 June 2010

Dr. Floyd Millen — Fri, 18 Jun 2010 14:33:29 +0000

News letter Colleges set free, Jobcentre Plus under pressure does this mean privatisation, the Mayor of London

Image003116

Dr. Floyd Millen — Mon, 21 Jun 2010 13:11:25 +0000

Construction

Dr. Floyd Millen — Mon, 21 Jun 2010 14:03:08 +0000

Lone_Ranger03

Dr. Floyd Millen — Mon, 21 Jun 2010 14:22:41 +0000

Quotes of the day

Dr. Floyd Millen — Mon, 21 Jun 2010 14:35:03 +0000

Motivation! Don't forget to STOP!
Gluttony is not a secret vice. Orson Welles
A good listener is often thinking about something else. Kin Hubbard

New Ministerial working group on Homelessness

Dr. Floyd Millen — Mon, 21 Jun 2010 14:37:43 +0000

Last week (16th June) we saw the first meeting of homelessness ministers from eight Government departments. This was set up by the Prime Minister to step up action to help the homeless.

Housing Minister Grant Shapps has announced plans to overhaul the system for measuring homelessness and agreed changes will come into effect from 2011

Current rough sleeping count of 464 (2009) includes information from the 76 LAs who conducted a formal street count between January 2008 and May 2009. The majority of LAs (278) DID NOT carry out a count as there was not a known or suspected rough sleeping problem in their area. Homelessness charities know that in London alone at least 3,000 rough sleepers access services in London each year Leslie Morphy, Chief Executive of Crisis, said: "Crisis has always said that the system for counting rough sleepers had flaws and did not give a full account of either rough sleeping or wider homelessness so we welcome the announcement that the system will be reformed. The Ministers in the new Homelessness Working Group are:

Grant Shapps MP (Con) - Department for Communities and Local Government (housing and homelessness) (Chair)
Andrew Robathan MP (Con) - Ministry of Defence (welfare of veterans)
John Hayes MP (Con) - Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (adult skills)
Paul Burstow MP (LD) - Department of Health (health and care services)
Lord David Freud (Con) - Department for Work and Pensions (housing benefit)
Crispin Blunt MP (Con) - Ministry of Justice (criminal justice)
James Brokenshire (Con) - Home Office (crime prevention)
Tim Loughton MP (Con) - Department for Education (children and youth services)

It's reassuring to see that both John Hayes .... who has famously set colleges free!!!! and Lord Freud architect of - a sizable part of - the on-going welfare reform agenda were sat around the table.

Housing cuts mean more homelessness: and it’ll cost jobs

Dr. Floyd Millen — Mon, 21 Jun 2010 14:39:33 +0000

Analysis by Shelter shows that for every pound cut from public investment in housing, the wider economy will take a hit of at least £3.50.

As the Treasury prepares to announce deep spending cuts across government, Shelter is warning that £610 million of funding for new homes this year is at risk.

This, coupled with the £150 million of cuts to housing announced by the Chancellor in May, will mean 12,625 less homes built, 19,000 job losses and a cost of £2.7 billion to the economy.

Campbell Robb, (remember Campbell? formerly of NCVO, then the Cabinet Office .... the chaps done well for himself) .... I digress.... Chief Executive of Shelter, said: 'On top of the 1.8 million households on waiting lists and the million children in overcrowding who desperately need new homes, this research also shows how crucial house building is to our economy, providing vital jobs and economic growth. One of the many risks is that a reduction in house building will ensure that the price of existing stock continues to rise.. resulting in the return of the old cycle...... NO! I did not say Boom and Bust (you really are too pushy)....; but I will concede Boom.

£70 Million announced for colleges: John Hayes comes to the rescue on his trusty steed

Dr. Floyd Millen — Mon, 21 Jun 2010 14:40:33 +0000

Do you remember the debacle regarding colleges and their capital budgets £170 million.... Sadly Mark Haysom fell on his sword. This is how the BBC reported it. ....anyway, the Skills and Life Life Long Learning Minister John Hayes has just rode into town!!

Further Education Colleges will today be given the opportunity to bid for a share of £50 million for building projects.

Around 150 colleges who have yet to benefit from the capital programme will each receive approximately £225,000 under a £30 million Renewal Grant - bringing real benefits to the learning and training of young people.

A further £20 million will be made available to colleges through an Enhanced Renewal Grant. Colleges will have the opportunity to add to their Renewal Grant, by bidding to build their total allocation to £1 million. Colleges will be expected to attract additional private finance, providing final projects of significant value.

Read the full press release

Budget 2010 Ambiguity over the DEL/AME Civil Partnership

Dr. Floyd Millen — Wed, 23 Jun 2010 07:38:34 +0000

Further clarification is still awaited on the DEL/AME switich. Once the Government’s commitments on protecting health and overseas aid are taken into account, other departments could see average real cuts to their budgets of around 25 per cent over the four years. This compares with the average real cuts of around 20 per cent for unprotected departments implied by the March Budget. The final split between AME and DEL will be decided at the Spending Review, and any further AME savings will reduce the size of cuts to departmental budgets.

Initial news from DWP meetings with providers

Dr. Floyd Millen — Wed, 23 Jun 2010 07:41:02 +0000

One-to-one meetings are being held between DWP and providers. The general tenant of the conversations is around the future plans and the new framework. There are four basic elements of the assessment

Financial capacity and robustness
physical management and an organisations capacity to deliver
Experience and expertise of the provider/s (The 'S' is very important)
The Value for Money Test

Decisions will be made by November 2010 on which organisations will be in the Framework.

The Department hopes that some elements of the Work programme will commence before March 2011 so look at for early front-runners.

Health warning; those organisations that do not get onto the framework will not be partners for the next four years.

We will be watching and listening to see if the principles of DWP's Commissioning Strategy still hold sway. In particular the commitment of contracting out contracting out, of doing business with a stable core of providers (80%). let us know if you have any bits of news: Confidentiality assured. We will keep you informed of any news... no matter how small...!

BUDGET 2010 summary points!!

Dr. Floyd Millen — Wed, 23 Jun 2010 09:30:24 +0000

Welfare reform measures in this Budget reduce overall expenditure on social security, and save £11 billion in 2014-15 Tax Credit and child benefit Reduced tax credit eligibility for families with household income above £40,000 from April 2011. The Government will increase the rate at which tax credits are withdrawn once household incomes rise. Freeze Child Benefit to fund increases in the Child Tax Credit which is better targeted on low-income families. Government admits that this Budget will have no measurable impact on child poverty in the next two years. Frank Field will lead an independent review on poverty and will make recommendations on potential action to tackle the underlying causes of poverty From April 2011, the Consumer Prices Index (CPI) will be used for the indexation of all benefits, tax credits and public service pensions. The rates of Child Benefit for the first and subsequent children will be frozen for three years from April 2011 HOUSING BENEFIT Local Housing Allowance Rates will be capped at £250 per week for a one bedroom property, £290 per week for a two bedroom property, £340 per week for a three bedroom property and £400 per week for four bedrooms or more. DISABILITY BENEFIT Objective medical assessment will be introduced for Disability Living Allowance. LONE PARENTS Lone parents whose youngest child is aged 5 or above will be eligible for Jobseekers Allowance rather than Income Support and existing customers will be transferred from Income Support to Jobseekers Allowance from April 2012 CHILD TRUST FUND & SAVING GATEWAY The government will reduce and then stop Government contributions to Child Trust Funds. The Government also announced that the Saving Gateway is not affordable and it will not be introduced in July 2010. Two-year pay freeze for public sector workforces, except for workers earning less than £21,000 a year who will receive an increase of at least £250 per year in these years. This will save £3.3 billion a year by 2014-15 The Enterprise Finance Guarantee (EFG) supports lending to viable small businesses that lack sufficient collateral or the financial track record to access a normal commercial loan. To ensure that more businesses have access to credit as the economy recovers, the EFG facility for this year is being increased by £200 million to support additional lending of up to £700 million for small businesses until 31 March 2011. In addition, a processing target of 20 business days will be introduced for all major lenders participating in the EFG. This will provide certainty for businesses about how long their applications will take to process. The Government will create the Growth Capital Fund. This is to address the Rowlands Review findings that, for some fast-growing SMEs, capital for growth is not being provided by the market and this problem is exacerbated by the recession. To support small businesses with high growth potential, a new Enterprise Capital Fund is being launched. This new Fund will form part of the existing £237 million programme of Enterprise Capital Funds and will provide an extra £37.5 million in equity finance. It will be funded through a £25 million Government contribution and £12.5 million in private co-investment. The standard rate of Value Added Tax (VAT) will increase from 17.5 per cent to 20 per cent from 4 January 2011. The increase will raise £13.5 billion a year The Office of Budgetary Responsibility projects that: public sector net borrowing will decline from its peak of 11.0 per cent of GDP in 2009-10 to 1.1 per cent of GDP in 2015-16;the ‘structural’ current deficit will be eliminated by 2014-15, two years earlier than planned in the March Budget, with a projected surplus of 0.3 per cent of GDP in that year, rising to 0.8 per cent of GDP in 2015-16; Government spending and Government Receipts Small businesses Government plans to promote small business procurement by publishing central Government tenders online and free of charge. This facility will be made available by the end of 2010 National Insurance The number of employees for whom employers pay no NICs will rise by 650,000 becasue the government has increased the threshold for employer National Insurance Contribution by £21 a week above indexation.

merlin

Dr. Floyd Millen — Wed, 23 Jun 2010 13:31:48 +0000

Future of the Merlin Standard

Dr. Floyd Millen — Wed, 23 Jun 2010 13:36:36 +0000

MERLIN After much sweat, tears collaboration and joint working between DWP, providers, Office of the Third Sector the Commission for the Compact and others we now have The Merlin Standard. Recent events in the sector have led to questions about whether Merlin will survive. One of the central principles of Merlin is its remit to provide Stewardship of the welfare to work market place through co-regulation. The standard seeks to objectively and independently examine the relationship between the Prime Contractor and the Supply Chain. Based on the above points there is no reason why Merlin should be in jeopardy. In fact the standard is seen by other departments as an exemplar. However, the other role of Merlin is "....to review the role of commissioning, including the procurement process and how supply chain behaviour is affected by the behaviour of the commissioner". I would hazard a guess that Merlin is not dead but if it is to survive it needs to pull a few rabbits out of the proverbial hat and Influence the Influencers!

From Primes to SUPER-PRIMES? the flow of information and ERSA

Dr. Floyd Millen — Wed, 23 Jun 2010 15:32:08 +0000

The Supply Chain or should I say Providers are increasingly thirsty for news from DWP. Most feel that due to their size (smaller turnover or staff) they are being left out in the cold with no information. I am sure that DWP have a plan but it would be really helpful if they undertook a program/process of Stakeholder Engagement - Yes Minister specialises in this and we are happy to help.... sorry about the blatant pitch...but we can help. In the last two days I have spoken to Providers who are preparing to lay off staff, others are extremely tense and angry that there has been no communication with them. Others have called me and have been inquiring whether i have any news on the proposition that we are moving away from Prime Contractors to Super-Primes. I really do not know, but what I can say is that confidence is eroding and even potential SUPER PRIMES will have reservations about the veracity of contracts going forward. For example, lets consider the cost of tendering; in fact lets look at the costs of information security and Data Protection, lets calculate the implementation period, lets look at implementing PRaP, lets look at the cost of partnership building and stakeholder engagement, lets assesses the break even point on contracts, lets look at the cost of investing in new facilities, systems and processes, lets look at unit costs on outcomes based contracts, lets look at the increased sanctions and conditionality that will be applied, lets look at the role of providers moving towards a policing role vis-a-vis clients, lets look at the reduction of jobs in the market place, lets look at and discuss what 12 month sustained job outcomes look like (financially). Its at times like this when ERSA - or some other body, collective or association needs to have a strong voice not only for it's members but for the sector as a whole.

DSCN2585

Dr. Floyd Millen — Thu, 24 Jun 2010 14:41:59 +0000

Lone Parents – The next big challenge for Welfare to Work byLiz Sewell – of Take three days

Dr. Floyd Millen — Thu, 24 Jun 2010 14:47:35 +0000

Lone parents whose youngest child is aged five or over will be moved onto Jobseekers Allowance rather than Income Support from 2011-12 as part of the Coalition Government’s Welfare to Work reforms. This could amount to a cohort of around 350,000 more customers on JSA since 2008 and become an increasingly significant customer group for W2W Providers to support. Our experience shows that lone parents need focused support to get back to work, this includes;

Group activities to build confidence and motivation, and act as a catalyst.
Specialist Advisers who are empathetic to their concerns.
Support to build the network that will get them back to work, which can mean access to childcare, basic skills, ESOL etc
A guide to help them through the process of getting back to work
And a hand to hold as they move into work.

W2W organizations are going to need to build their capacity to support this group of clients and as importantly develop relationships with employers that deliver the types of flexible working this group requires. Liz Sewell will be speaking at the Welfare to Work Convention on Friday 2nd July, outlining ways Welfare to Work organizations can help lone parents get back to work more quickly.

FINAL Information Flyer 3

Dr. Floyd Millen — Sun, 27 Jun 2010 14:17:09 +0000

FINAL Information Flyer 3

Dr. Floyd Millen — Sun, 27 Jun 2010 14:20:29 +0000

FINAL Information Flyer 3

Dr. Floyd Millen — Sun, 27 Jun 2010 14:24:28 +0000

Newsletter 28 June 2010: On yer Bike, the benefits trap, work capability assessment

Dr. Floyd Millen — Mon, 28 Jun 2010 22:00:08 +0000

On yer bike, the benefits trap, work capability assessment

What we do

Dr. Floyd Millen — Tue, 29 Jun 2010 05:11:04 +0000

OUR SOLUTIONS...

yesMinister brochure

a) STRATEGIC DELIVERY

Stakeholder Engagement & Consultation
Research
Monitoring and evaluation

- Interim project management, - Partnership brokering, - capacity building, - Bid and tender preparation We are also regulated by the Solicitors Regulation Authority to deliver Data Protection Training.

b) POLICY: THINK TANK

As a think tank, yesMinister develops policy in the light of 'what works' on the ground, ensuring that recommendations are realistic and capable of implementation by policy makers and practitioners. We have significant experience of consulting with key stakeholders to develop policy and delivery proposals at national, regional, and local levels and in organising local and national events to identify and disseminate effective practice, key policy issues, and information.

c) Communicating and influencing: PUBLIC AFFAIRS

In our public affairs role, we ensure that when it comes to getting your message across, understanding policy implications or identifying commercial opportunities we aim to positively affect your business by influencing key stakeholders, or through delivering innovative solutions that answer your most common questions of;

Who should I see?
What should I say?
How do I influence?

From managing local and stakeholder communications, to providing political intelligence at the local, regional and national level, we will provide you with a first class bespoke service that will allow you to connect with key figures as well as realise some of your commercial and business aims. SOME OF OUR CLIENTS;

SERCO

BASE

Working Links

CDG

Bircham Dyson Bell

Meganexus

Micah Challenge

Barclays Commercial Bank

Metropole College

The Livingston Partnership

Rich Visions

No Bike charges

Faith Regen

78% of Employment Zone clients felt that Client Choice was positive.

Dr. Floyd Millen — Tue, 29 Jun 2010 07:16:07 +0000

A report is published by the Department for Work and Pensions provides evidence on the operation and impact of client choice within multi provider Employment Zones. Employment Zones were introduced as an intensive and long term employment programme. In 2004, multi provider Employment Zones (EZ) was established in six EZ areas and involved up to three contractors delivering provision. Initially mandatory clients were allocated to one of the providers on a pre-arranged contractual distribution of market share. Since April 2007, the choice of provider was extended to mandatory clients claiming Jobseekers Allowance. The key findings of the study are:

Support for choice amongst the Employment Zone clients with 78% feeling it was positive.

Clients accessed information from a range of sources before making a choice. However, a quarter (27%) said they did not access any information.

Choice improved clients’ attendance and increased levels of engagement.

However, choice was also felt to have brought confusion for some clients.

Several factors influenced clients’ choice of providers: ........... location of the provider; ............. previous experience of a provider; ............ recommendations from family and friends; ............. information and advice about the services provided. Read the full press release ............................................................... I think there are lessons that the New Work Programme could draw from this!

Does the Enterprise Minister know anything about small businesses...?

Dr. Floyd Millen — Tue, 29 Jun 2010 07:17:35 +0000

Business and Enterprise Minister Mark Prisk kicked off an initiative to spend a week working with small businesses to gain better insight into the experiences of companies on the ground. Mr Prisk is spending the day with Bethnal Green-based DIY Kyoto, which makes wireless electricity meters to help consumers save energy, Mr Prisk said: “This initiative is very important to me. It is a great opportunity to gain real-life experience and understand the issues small businesses and entrepreneurs face. ONE WOULD HAVE THOUGHT THAT HAVING RELEVANT EXPERIENCE WAS A PREREQUISITE FOR ANY MINISTERIAL APPOINTMENT!! ........................................... I am being unfair... Mark Prisk knows quite a lot about small business. see his website... http://www.markprisk.com/text.aspx?id=60

Blue skies thinking on the Work Programme and the New Framework

Dr. Floyd Millen — Tue, 29 Jun 2010 07:19:03 +0000

We understand that the Value for Money test will be one of the 4 key elements of the new Framework assessment.

just to recap; the assessments will -or is likely to - broadly cover;

Financial capability/capacity
Physical management and capacity to deliver
Experience
Value for Money test

Lets look at the Value for Money Test.

The starting position is that “value for money” tests are by definition problematic because it is difficult to factor in the cost of things going wrong over the life of the project. Any such test or assessment is hypothetical and so its credibility is difficult to test.

My analysis of the Value for money test

The higher the level of risk that can be transfered away from the public body will ultimately result in stronger incentives to innovate, better project evaluation and it will ultimately result in reducing costs.

However these advantages must be balanced against;

Huge contract negotiation costs,
Inflexibilities of a long-term contract
Reduced competitive pressures on performance after the contract has been entered into (in contrast with a situation where the contract is re-tendered periodically.

and ...

the awareness that the offsetting of risk narrows the pool of participants and potentially increases dependency on PRIMES or "SUPER-PRIMES"

The key questions that the department is srtuggling with include;

Is it able to specify outcomes in ways that leave scope for provider/s to innovate, optimise and scale up their delivery. FND1 and FND 2 presented real challenges to providers, unit costs were low, DWP's performace request was higher than what had historically been achieved on the New Deal and Employment Zones (Employment Zones performed the best).

PEP was a very different ball game and providers felt cornered into working within a wholly unrealitic unit costs, for a provision which was twice as long and with an almost unfathomable but definately unworkable accelerator funding model.

Incidentally; I think the axcellerator model is here to stay

To what extent are the desired outcomes likely to be sustainable, given the length of the contract and the economic environment? how will this be reflected in relation to funding and unit costs for 13, 26 or 52 week sustainable outcomes?

On yer bike

Dr. Floyd Millen — Tue, 29 Jun 2010 07:21:30 +0000

On yer Bike!! be prepared to move

Dr. Floyd Millen — Tue, 29 Jun 2010 07:22:43 +0000

The Coalition government has announced steps to cut welfare payments, a cap on housing benefit and tougher health checks for those on Disability Living Allowance etc...

In this weeks Sunday Telegraph the Work and Pensions Secretary Iain Duncan Smith announced that he would bring forward proposals to make the workforce more mobile. Firstly, in order to tackcle the effects of the 'Benefits Trap' he plans to address the problems caused by the harsh withdrawal of benefits once someone secures a job. IDS wants to remove this disincentive. Secondly, - and the most headline grabbing is- "In Britain we have workforces that are locked to areas and the result of that is we have over five and a half million people of working age who simply don't do a job,"

"Often they are trapped in estates where there is no work ... We have to look at how we get that portability, so that people can be more flexible, can look for work...."

Iain Duncan Smith's plans will focus on incentives rather than compulsion /div> Thirdly, IDS also announced that he would like to move elderly couples whose children had left home and who no longer needed a two or three bedroom house into smaller residence to make way for couples with young children.

"We have tons of elderly people living in houses which they cannot run and we've got queues of desperate people with families who are living in one and two-bedroom houses and flats," he said

See our report last week Is this an opportunity for providers? I am not sure that this policy will see the full light of day! but just in case it does; this may be an opportunity for providers working in and with the Housing sector to begin looking at how they could provide support and assistance in this area.

THE FRAMEWORK IS OUT

Dr. Floyd Millen — Tue, 29 Jun 2010 12:04:49 +0000

The Framework is OUT!! The Framework Framework

Questions about & around the Framework

Dr. Floyd Millen — Tue, 29 Jun 2010 18:07:11 +0000

Questions are coming through thick and fast... if you wish to raise a question, or a point of note (In Confidence) simply log in or email us directly!!

IXION CG Ltd drives research-based delivery changes ahead of new DWP “Work Programme”

Dr. Floyd Millen — Wed, 30 Jun 2010 09:25:51 +0000

The Not-For-Profit Ixion Holdings Ltd Group, led by Ixion CG Ltd, is implementing cutting-edge academic and field based research across its companies to inform its effective delivery of welfare to work provision. New motivational psychometrics and coaching & questioning techniques are being implemented to prevent inter-generational worklessness ahead of the implementation of the DWP’s new Work Programme. As part of Anglia Ruskin University, Ixion CG has direct access to International Quality research, with Anglia Ruskin University being rated as “the UK's top-rated psychology department in a new university for the quality of their research.”[1] Controlled trials across the United States, Canada, Australia, Hong Kong, the UK and Europe have compared the value and experience of “Individual Placement and Support” (IPS) participants with more traditional “train & place” methods which provided vocational training and job preparation before looking for competitive placement. Whilst Individual Placement and Support has traditionally been implemented with chronic mental health and behavioural issues, the key tenets – and results – can deliver considerable results across most demographics. Whilst this commonality will be essential under the single Work Programme, it is particularly pertinent for the 500,000+ beneficiaries[1] with less chronic mental health issues (such as depression) on Incapacity Benefit. This group will surely be a target of Ian Duncan-Smith, Chris Grayling and David Freud’s drive to “encourage” specific groups back to work through support and a reduced ‘benefits cushion’. “Our revised approach incorporates motivational psychometrics and coaching techniques to re-invigorate beneficiaries and address two of the key barriers to employment: a lack of confidence and a perceived lack of support.” Vice President of Ixion CG Ltd, Darren Coppin said. For the Full Press release and for further details Contact Amanda Planting, Group Head of Communications 07887 832 832; amanda.planting@computergym.co.uk [1] Of the 2,500,000 Incapacity Benefit Claimants in early 2010, 40% (1m) were due to Mental & Behavioural Issues (ONS 2006). The Sainsbury Centre estimate that 1-2% of the UK working population endure chronic/severe mental health issues (ca 450,000), thus over ½ million less severe sufferers on IB. [1] 80% of Anglia Ruskin University’s research was rated as being of "International Quality", with 45% of research activity judged to be either "World Leading" or "Internationally Excellent" in terms of originality, significance and rigour. The Research Assessment Exercise was conducted by the Higher Education Funding Council for England.

Anonymous responses to the Framework!!!

Dr. Floyd Millen — Wed, 30 Jun 2010 22:32:29 +0000

A mix of the responses that we have received; WHAT ABOUT KEY INDUSTRY ISSUES:

"Having now read both the Framework and the Delivery Pipeline I am deeply disappointed that the Survey (Delivery Pipeline report) concentrated on awareness of procurement rounds and excluded some of the key issues facing the industry"

WHAT ABOUT SME & 3rd SECTOR:

"The report seemed skewed and appeared to be mainly a pitch by umbrella organisations for future work from DWP rather than addressing the needs of providers particularly SME and 3^rd sector who are the real frontline delivery engine for the sustainability of the sector"

ESF:

"The Work Programme may be used by the DWP as match for its ESF Co-financing arrangements and where this applies Work Programme providers will be required to meet a range of ESF requirements". .....ESF funding is an absolutre nightmare to manage.. the paperwork is so pedantic and the match funding element well! BRACE YOURSELVES!!

OUR OWN SURVEY:

"I would suggest that we need to develop a survey of all providers but mainly the third tier providers and prepare a report to submit to DWP to at least enable them to get our views ."

OUR OWN ASSOCIATION:

"Given that there is no visible voice it might be worthwhile forming an association of third tier providers as the current umbrella organisations do not appear to represent our views and have been infiltrated by the PRIMES or soon to be SUBPRIMES.

..................................... These are some of the responses that we have received.

NEWS ALERT!!! Group MD of G4S (David Banks) gives the first glimpse into G4S’s thinking on Welfare to Work

Dr. Floyd Millen — Fri, 02 Jul 2010 11:49:29 +0000

"Last week David Banks, Group MD of G4S, gave a speech at Reform's Welfare Conference. Although the speech was only short it has generated considerable interest and excitement amongst industry insiders, the financial world and the media. With just a few weeks to go until Sean Williams officially starts as Managing Director of their Welfare-to-Work Division the speech gives a tantalising first glimpse into G4S's thinking in this area. Yes Minister have the....Full text here

g4s

Dr. Floyd Millen — Mon, 05 Jul 2010 10:55:15 +0000

SCVO: Scottish communities benefit from voluntary sector employment programme

Dr. Floyd Millen — Mon, 05 Jul 2010 11:12:30 +0000

Communities are benefiting from a pioneering employment initiative delivered by the voluntary sector in Scotland according to new research launched (30 June 2010) by the Scottish Council for Voluntary Organisations (SCVO).

‘Future Jobs: Future Communities’ provides a snap shot of the impact of over 1,300 jobs created by the Third Sector Consortium which helps deliver the Future Jobs Fund in Scotland.

The Future Jobs Fund programme was set up by the previous UK Government to create up to 15,000 six month jobs for young people in Scotland. All the jobs must have a community benefit above and beyond the benefit generated by an individual being in employment rather than claiming benefits.

Martin Sime, Chief Executive for the Scottish Council for Voluntary Organisations says, “The research shows that a strongly held belief in supporting and providing opportunities for those in need allows the Consortium to deliver a unique employment experience that benefits both individuals and employers.

“It is a successful model for the future of public service delivery. The Future Jobs Fund may be coming to an end but if the third sector, and society at large, is to step up to the challenge of coming years, it is critical that we consider how we support third sector employers to create career opportunities in the future.”

The Consortium is made up of 214 voluntary sector employers offering 2,187 socially useful jobs. It has already placed over 1,300 people into jobs that deliver a host of community benefits that include: helping to deliver more services to vulnerable people, increasing recycling, improving waste management, supporting climate change, involving more children in sport and supporting financial inclusion projects.

Earlier this month, the Third Sector Consortium received a Supplier Excellence Award from the Department of Work and Pensions in the category of Best Third Sector Supplier.

ENDS

For more information or to get in touch with the case studies detailed below, please contact Julia Morrison or Ann Rowe at SCVO on 0779 060 1995

The full report

atosHealthcareLogo

Dr. Floyd Millen — Mon, 05 Jul 2010 11:45:36 +0000

Paul gregg

Dr. Floyd Millen — Mon, 05 Jul 2010 13:42:45 +0000

Companies reject applications from IB claimants (CIPD)

Dr. Floyd Millen — Mon, 05 Jul 2010 13:58:26 +0000

Companies admit that they reject applications from former IB claimants or people with a history of long-term incapacity or illness. it is interesting that The Times is quoting this now given that the original research was undertaken in 2006. A CIPD survey of more than 1000 employers found that almost 1 in 5 (18%) did not consider job applications from people on IB for reasons of mental ill health. 1 in 10 employers did not consider applications from people on IB for reasons of physical ill health. CIPD found that for all IB claimants, effective exclusion from the recruitment process was relatively high in the private sector and amongst small and medium sized employers.” ...the measures designed to improve work incentives and provide support for claimants who have the potential to work will need to overcome concern on the part of a significant number of employers about the potential employability of people with a track record of poor health, says CIPD’s Chief Economist John Philpott. CIPD report

Welfare to Work Convention SPECIAL REPORT...... sorry for the delay!!!

Dr. Floyd Millen — Mon, 05 Jul 2010 13:59:09 +0000

On all accounts the Welfare to Work Convention 2010 was a success...... t SORRY FOR THE DELAY!! IT WILL BE UPLOADED SOON

The Solution to making the work programme work!!

Dr. Floyd Millen — Mon, 05 Jul 2010 14:00:09 +0000

Whilst it is true that individuals could do much more to help themselves out of poverty. Very rarely is poverty self inflicted: it is usually the result of circumstances beyond an individual’s control. Poverty, however does not occur or remain in isolation but it is usually exacerbated by socio-economic conditions including a lack of jobs - and where there are jobs - they are low-paid, short-term, part-time, unreliable and insecure. Individuals are likely to spiral into increased dependency and ultimately intergenerational unemployment ensues which further excludes, compounds and reinforces their individual and collective position. The myth is that the poor contribute very little to society: actually; the converse is true: many people living in poverty do make important contributions through caring for the elderly, disabled, looking after the children of friends and family and volunteering. As I discussed in previous postings, our dysfunctional benefit system fails to support these and other people when they wish to transit into work. In addition to the fact that people trying to move into work only keep a few pennies in the pound from what they earn, the costs of getting to and from work simply compounds the problem. This does not even begin to account for those for whom work is just not viable due to health concerns and also because of their other familial responsibilities - which have financial implications to family and which has so far saved the state money..... ...yes I know.... we only hear about the costs and the scroungers .... not about the so called benefit louts who are in fact saving money... . What do I recommend?

If we accept that people living in poverty do wish to contribute to their communities then I propose that in addition to simplifying the benefit system, increasing the earnings disregard, tapering benefit payments as proposed by Centre for Social Justice, and supporting start-up and micro businesses, that through the Community Allowance scheme the unemployed would be allowed to take on small amounts of paid community work without losing benefits.

Participants would be permitted to register for a maximum of 52 weeks. Maximum earnings on top of benefits over the year would be capped at £4,469 or the equivalent of up to 15 hours a week on the minimum wage. Participants would be paid the minimum wage or more depending on the kind of work available and their skill base.Community Allowance.

I think this could be the answer to making the Work Programme work! 12 months on Community allowance in addition added to the cost paid to providers is a win win: everyone benefits and the Treasury saves.

What the Professor said!

Dr. Floyd Millen — Mon, 05 Jul 2010 14:00:45 +0000

Prof. Paul Gregg who advised the last Government wants the Coalition Government to postpone the reforms he helped to design. Paul Gregg, a Bristol University academic, says that it would be "scary" to move up to 2.5 million incapacity benefit (IB) claimants on to the new employment and support allowance (ESA) in October. All new claimants have had to apply for ESA, which includes a work capability test, since October 2008. The benefit is essentially a payment of last resort for those who are genuinely incapable of working. LET'S RECAP ON PROF. GREGG'S REVIEW James Purnell commissioned Paul Gregg’s review in July to examine the effectiveness of conditionality within the welfare state to apply rules fairly across the system. Professor Gregg's report, Realising Potential, looked at the requirements placed on the unemployed and called for a new attitude to parents with young children and those on incapacity benefit who could work in the future. It recommended that a long-time vision for personalised conditionality and support is required for three broad groups of benefit claimants: • A Work-Ready group – these are customers who are claiming Jobseekers Allowance and are assessed as being immediately ‘job ready’ and should be able to make a prompt return to work • A Progression to Work group – for people where an immediate return to work is not appropriate – but would be possible in time • A No Conditionality group – where no conditionality whatsoever will be applied – because it is not appropriate as they either have a particular severe health condition or disability, or they are a carer or a lone parent with their youngest child under the age of one. The review recognises conditionality as an effective way of improving employment rates and reducing child poverty. It recommended that nearly everyone on benefits should be required to take steps towards finding employment; with claimants treated as individuals, and empowered to design their own route back to work. Professor Gregg recommends making sanctions quicker, clearer and more effective with a simple and understandable system of fixed penalties for most occasions with a targeted, escalating series of sanctions for repeat offenders who refuse to play by the rules. THE REPORT: Realising Potential

Who is the company behind the Work Capability Assessment (WCA)

Dr. Floyd Millen — Mon, 05 Jul 2010 14:01:16 +0000

At this years Welfare to Work Conference concerns were raised with both Lord Freud and Chris Grayling MP about the WCA But who is the company at the heart of the Work Capability Assessments? The company is called Atos Healthcare and it is assessing IB claimants at around 50,000 per month. According to reports Atos Healthcare is finding that only 5% of claimants are unfit to work. A third of those being judged 'Fit for Work' are disputing the decision and 40% win their appeal. This figure increases to 70% for those who have legal representation. Minister for Employment Chris Grayling MP has announced that there is a review of the WCA to ensure that the assessment is fair. But he added that the government would not be rolling back on their commitment to help people into work. Atos Healthcare have outlined what claimants can expect in their; ASSESSMENT

G4S's innovative approach and solution to funding and delivering W2W successfully

Dr. Floyd Millen — Mon, 05 Jul 2010 14:01:42 +0000

G4S explains that the AME/DEL formulation of the problem is wrong.

There is no funding challenge. Raising the capital required by the Work Programme is not difficult and the sums of money are readily attainable by credible, stable potential Prime Contractors. So there is not a funding challenge as it is currently conceived. There is however a real challenge around getting the risk balance right Three propositions are presented: Proposition 1

A 'Discovery Phase' (DP) period that properly shares risk and reward between Prime Contractors and the State

Proposition 2

Accelerated Risk Transfer (ART)

Proposition 3

Macro-Economics & Contractual mechanisms. This is where providers are only rewarded for outcomes that they caused and they providers are not penalised for factors beyond their control

READ Full text here

Newsletter 5th June 2010

Dr. Floyd Millen — Mon, 05 Jul 2010 17:52:40 +0000

G4S, Scottish communities benefit from employment programme, Solution to making the Work programme

Careers Development Groups (CDG) launches new welfare to work model!!!!!

Dr. Floyd Millen — Tue, 06 Jul 2010 08:25:33 +0000

THE PROFESSIONAL VOLUNTEER HYBRID MODEL is LAUNCHED Press release Dated: EMBARGO’D until 00.00 hours Tuesday 6th July 2010 EXPERT VOLUNTEERS A SOLUTION TO GETTING LONG-TERM UNEMPLOYED BACK INTO WORK STATES WELFARE-TO-WORK CHARITY, CDG Tapping into the time and commitment of people across the UK could be a major tool in solving the increasing problem – and growing taxpayer burden - of long-term unemployment, according to Welfare To Work charity, Careers Development Group’s chief executive Roy O’Shaughnessy. With senior civil servants gathering for the annual Civil Service Live Conference at Olympia this week (July 6-8), CDG is making a call to action, proposing that the sector looks at a professional/volunteer hybrid model, with businesses and the Welfare To Work sector collaborating to identify and utilise expert volunteers. Highlighting the huge challenge – in terms of finance, policy and sheer scale - faced in reducing the numbers of unemployed, O’Shaughnessy states that a collective approach is needed. “With the public sector facing big cost cuttings, we need new ways of tackling unemployment and the huge taxpayer burden it creates. But we are all responsible for tackling unemployment – employers, the not-for-profit sector, government and everyone involved in Welfare To Work programmes. Relying on piecemeal policy or chucking money at the problem isn’t going to work. However, there is a huge and free resource out there and we’ve got to find a way of tapping into it.” “There are tens of thousands of people across the UK, especially among the over-50s, with the skills and experience to help people achieve or return to employment who, if properly approached and trained, could provide their time and expertise voluntarily” stated the leading Welfare To Work charity’s chief executive. “We have not even touched on the potential of this resource, as the Welfare To Work sector as a whole has never sat down to review how we might approach such a strategy”. With rising numbers of long term unemployed, the sector faces unprecedented challenges due to limits in government funding, the huge investment needed to ensure that the aspiration of 50% or more sustainable jobs set by the Coalition is achieved and because there is currently no single model for delivery excellence among the many providers of Welfare To Work services. “Because of the vast scale of the challenge, government contracts are huge and require strong and cohesive strategies to attract suitable funds and to make sure that policies are effective” notes O’Shaughnessy. “The sector is currently only reaching around 30%, even with significant investment, so we need new, cost-effective approaches to give us the tools and impetus to achieve the 50% or more level set”. A call to action CDG proposes to quickly set up an October summit of all key players in the sector - charities, Welfare To Work organisations, employer representatives and the government - to agree a policy of tapping into expert volunteers across the UK and establish a means of doing so, to garner not just unexploited expertise but also exceptional cost savings and public benefit. The professional/volunteer hybrid model being mooted by CDG is fully achievable, according to O’Shaughnessy. “The Government has just announced an expectation of at least 25% public sector cost savings. We believe this is completely achievable in the Welfare To Work sector if we attract around 50,000 volunteers across the UK giving 2-10 hours a month. We’ve not yet had a chance to work on exact figures but this will be one of the key outcomes of the proposed summit. Not only will costs be cut but this idea will bring an additional boost to helping people off benefits and into sustainable work. “ To achieve this O’Shaughnessy notes that commitment to the model is needed from all key Welfare To Work organisations; that commercial businesses will need to adjust their CSR policies to participate and to offer staff as volunteers. Secondments from business and the retired are likely to be the first approached. In return, the Government should consider tax credits and businesses will gain from a substantial means of achieving significant CSR objectives. “In the current economic climate everyone is looking for maximum value for money. It’s no use applying a cash sticking plaster – what’s needed is a long-term, sustainable approach and our proposed hybrid model could be just that. That’s why we are calling on business, the government and Welfare To Work organisations to sit down together and debate how we could make this work.” CDG’s own strategy reflects this approach. As a registered charity it already ploughs all its surplus or “profits” back into the organisation’s work. This year that amounted to just under £2m and in the same year saw its achievements rise, with the number of customers supported going from 27,000 to 33,000. Ends For further information: Name/tel/email www.cdguk.org Notes to Editors CDG is attending the Civil Service Live conference (stand G68) at London Olympia on 6-8 July, the major talking point for key civil servants, attended by senior civil service members, politicians and business figures. CDG is a dynamic charity that seeks to help those who are unemployed find and sustain meaningful employment. Many of the people we support have multiple barriers to employment, including lack of recent work experience, disabilities, health problems and lack of relevant employability skills, to name a few.

cHRIS

Dr. Floyd Millen — Tue, 06 Jul 2010 14:45:19 +0000

cHRIS

Dr. Floyd Millen — Tue, 06 Jul 2010 14:50:45 +0000

David Freud

Dr. Floyd Millen — Tue, 06 Jul 2010 15:04:56 +0000

Adam Sharples

Dr. Floyd Millen — Tue, 06 Jul 2010 15:11:02 +0000

Framework

Dr. Floyd Millen — Tue, 06 Jul 2010 15:19:38 +0000

Base conference

Dr. Floyd Millen — Wed, 07 Jul 2010 00:41:41 +0000

BASE announces its 5th Annual conference

Dr. Floyd Millen — Wed, 07 Jul 2010 00:49:43 +0000

BASE holds its 5th annual conference in Brighton this year. Speakers include Kathy Melling (National Employment Lead, Valuing People Now), Sally Burton (Chief Executive, Shaw Trust) Rachel Perkins (Author of the Perkins Review: Realising Expectations). Delegates will be able to choose from a wide range of topical workshops. Further information and a booking form is available at: Conference www.base-uk.org/conference

Welfare to Work SPECIAL: Lord Freud

Dr. Floyd Millen — Wed, 07 Jul 2010 05:32:19 +0000

What the Lord Said!! Lord David Freud There was much weeping wailing and gnashing of teeth in the sector; but whoever said change was easy? This year’s welfare to work convention was a feast of activity. The weeping, wailing and gnashing of teeth were temporarily paused as Lord Freud approached the podium…. LORD FREUD Lord Freud gave his very laid back account of where we are, how we got here, why we need to make changes and what those changes are.

I am sure that you are all very well versed on this;

NOW FOR THE INTERESTING BIT Eyebrows were raised and the audience was forced out of its reverie when Lord Freud expounded on THE FRAMEWORK. The weeping, wailing and gnashing of teeth were replaced by murmurings and questioning; delegates were surprised, astonished and perplexed at what was said Here’s what was said….. Dave Simmonds follow up question: “Can I just clarify your response to Steve’s question about the framework and consortia? You seem to be implying that the priority for organisations should be to get onto the framework and thereafter you can sort out consortia yeah?” David Freud response: “Yeah.” Dave Simmonds continuation: “Whereas some people have been assuming that the hurdle is going to be so high to get on the framework that you’re going to have to sort out the consortia before. I think that was steve’s point. But you’re saying ‘no, no, no’ the hurdle’s going to be sufficiently low to let through maybe a greater number of organisations but you’re then anticipating that those organisations once one the framework will be congealing together in one shape or form.” David Freud response: see his FULL RESPONSE HERE ……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………… This raises questions as to what the framework really is; What do we know so far? “The framework competition will identify organisations (including consortia) that have the capacity and expertise to deliver not only the Work Programme but also other potential employment related support services contracts” Q:1 How will local authorities and other commissioners of employment related services access the framework? Q:2 Will the Framework be the primary tool used to commission provision or will there be separate tendering rounds. Given the huge spend by providers on PQQ, ITT and tender submissions DWP will need to act sensitively to reduce costs. I have some details on EU Framework agreements that I will be condensing for you…..its pretty heavy going though!

Welfare to Work 2010 Special: Adam Sharples.

Dr. Floyd Millen — Wed, 07 Jul 2010 12:11:06 +0000

What the Civil Servant said

ADAM SHARPLES

Adam spoke at length… the most interesting part came as he answered questions raised from the floor…..

Question: “You talk about early intervention that means private and voluntary sector provision or rather not Jobcentre Plus? So by inference there is a need to rethink what Jobcentre Plus does and the resources at its disposal...”

Adam Sharples response “…..the overwhelming majority of people who have contact with the welfare to work system will have a contact with JCP…….. … …collectively we need to open up this debate….”

Adam Sharples response “…we’ve put in place a new support contract arrangement, so JCP locally can draw down without having to go through any procurement process…”

Adam Sharples… “Whatever we’re doing in welfare to work we have to think about who ultimately makes the decision to hire somebody and the answer is it’s an employer. If we don’t understand the employer, understand their psychology, get under their skin……..”

Read the detail

Welfare to Work 2010 SPECIAL: Chris Grayling!!

Dr. Floyd Millen — Wed, 07 Jul 2010 14:08:40 +0000

WHAT the Minister said!

CHRIS GRAYLING MP

Voluntary sector organisations are crucial to the Coalitions planned reforms and Chris stressed this message to the voluntary sector!!

He went on to add that the Coalition Government “….will seek to protect the voluntary sector as it shapes the work programme”

Lets find out what this means……

He also announced that they will be holding forums with the voluntary sector over the next few weeks.

In bids he wants to see the voluntary sector as an integral part of the supply chain

“from the point of view of FND I look upon it as building out from there not replacing and tearing up what’s already there”

Question 8 is very interesting!!

“we’ve never believed that local authorities could themselves be private contractors because effectively it’s the public sector passing risk to another part of the public sector”

There is much much more

Anonymous responses to the framework- part 2

Dr. Floyd Millen — Thu, 08 Jul 2010 06:03:41 +0000

OTHER CONCERNS ABOUT THE FRAMEWORK

In response to G4S The Government wants to take no risks at all and place the financial risks on providers. Which investor/s in their right mind is going to put up finance based on the possibility of a long-term unemployed person getting into work after about a year or 2 years and the person staying in work for a further 1 year before they see any ROI. Where are these jobs going to be found in the current economic climate made even more problematic by the large scale job cuts and stringent tax regime being imposed? Am I the only one that sees that this whole idea is fraught with danger? Has any one even raised the question of legality around this framework that will exclude 90% of the market? The City will not accept the 80/20 split; it’s not feasible… I am confused about the Framework it seems to be a call for everyone to come in. There was already concern about the framework see our previous anonymous blog http://yesministerltd.wordpress.com/2010/06/30/anonymous-responses-to-the-framework/

Framework

Dr. Floyd Millen — Thu, 08 Jul 2010 06:08:04 +0000

NEWSLETTER 7th June 2010, confusion over Framework, what Lord Freud said, what the Minister said, What the Civil Servant said, ALPS conference

Dr. Floyd Millen — Thu, 08 Jul 2010 08:59:52 +0000

NEWSLETTER 7th June 2010, confusion over Framework, what Lord Freud said, what the Minister said, What the Civil Servant said, ALPS conference

Blog public sector employment

Dr. Floyd Millen — Tue, 13 Jul 2010 09:07:30 +0000

Blog public sector employment

Dr. Floyd Millen — Tue, 13 Jul 2010 13:10:44 +0000

ALP Logo

Dr. Floyd Millen — Tue, 13 Jul 2010 13:55:36 +0000

LATEST NEWS! ALP signs its 500th member!

Dr. Floyd Millen — Tue, 13 Jul 2010 14:33:33 +0000

13th July 2010

TheLightBulb is 500^th member switched on by ALP

The Association of Learning Providers (ALP) has successfully encouraged an Essex training company, TheLightBulb Limited, to become its 500^th member. To mark the milestone, the Basildon company was presented with an engraved memento by ALP chairman Martin Dunford OBE at the association’s annual conference in London today. TheLightBulb’s recruitment by ALP is the latest in a successful drive to increase membership. Over 60 new employment and skills organisations have joined ALP from the private, public and third sectors in the past twelve months. The new members see ALP as a leading and highly effective voice for vocational learning and welfare to work provision within government circles, especially when departmental budgets are coming under so much pressure. TheLightBulb, for example, recently attended an ALP workshop as a non-member on the government’s proposals to introduce minimum contract levels for BIS-funded skills programmes and it then recognised the value that ALP membership could add to its business. ALP members feature some of the largest employment and training providers in the country, but TheLightBulb is reasonably typical of the normal member profile – in this case, the provider has 450 learners split between apprenticeships and Train to Gain across various sectors, such as construction, health and safety, financial services and logistics. Graham Hoyle OBE, ALP’s chief executive, said: “I am absolutely delighted to welcome TheLightBulb as ALP’s 500^th member. Like many of our members, TheLightBulb has grown its business by listening closely and responding to the needs of local employers. This is the key to delivering more relevant training for the economy in a very challenging fiscal climate.” Lesley Jones, TheLightBulb’s CEO, said: “Our early experience of being an ALP member has informed us that ALP is working to the good of all its members. There is no question that over the next five years, providers like us are going to need a seat at the top table for the decision-makers to understand what value we bring to our recovering local economies and I am certain that ALP will fulfil that role admirably for us.” ENDS Contact Aidan Relf on 07710 305182

Public sector employment

Dr. Floyd Millen — Tue, 13 Jul 2010 14:52:14 +0000

Public sector employment

Dr. Floyd Millen — Tue, 13 Jul 2010 14:55:51 +0000

ALP Logo

Dr. Floyd Millen — Tue, 13 Jul 2010 22:03:17 +0000

Local councils and businesses encouraged to form Local Enterprise Partnerships

Dr. Floyd Millen — Wed, 14 Jul 2010 05:28:20 +0000

Now that RDAs will be abolished, the government has invited groups of local councils and business to form Local Enterprise Partnerships (LEPs). LEP partnerships will set local economic priorities for their area, and they will be able to bid for part of the new £1bn Regional Growth Fund. Sadly LEPs will have less funding than RDAs. RDAs have £1.5bn between them and LEPs will be able to bid for part of the £1bn Regional Growth Fund. This is what Eric Pickles MP said;

Role We anticipate that local enterprise partnerships will wish to provide the strategic leadership in their areas to set out local economic priorities. Partnerships will therefore want to create the right environment for business and growth in their areas, by tackling issues such as planning and housing, local transport and infrastructure priorities, employment and enterprise and the transition to the low carbon economy. Supporting small business start-ups will therefore be important. They will want to work closely with universities and further education colleges, in view of their importance to local economies, and with other relevant stakeholders. In some areas, tourism will also be an important economic driver. Further details will be set out in the forthcoming White Paper. Governance To be effective partnerships, business and civic leaders need to work together. We believe this would normally mean an equal representation on the boards of these partnerships and that a prominent business leader should chair the board. W The governance structures will need to be sufficiently robust and clear to ensure proper accountability for delivery by partnerships. Size To be sufficiently strategic, we would expect that partnerships would include groups of upper tier authorities. If it is clearly the wish of business and civic leaders to establish a local enterprise partnership for a functional economic area that matches existing regional boundaries, we will not object.

Going forward We will publish a White Paper later in the summer, which will set out the Government’s approach to sub-national growth. Legislation to abolish RDAs and enable local enterprise partnerships was announced in the Queen’s speech and is expected to be introduced to Parliament in the autumn.

See the full text

Public sector employment hot spots by regions

Dr. Floyd Millen — Wed, 14 Jul 2010 05:30:26 +0000

Whist we wait for further news on the Framework and the Work programme lets look at public sector employment across the regions of the United Kingdom. For those providers and entrepreneurs considering options and avenues for innovative new ventures TAKE CAREFUL note of these regions........ See also http://wp.me/pE32a-c3

Single Employment and Skills policy needed to respond to unemployment and NEET

Dr. Floyd Millen — Wed, 14 Jul 2010 05:32:03 +0000

Single employment and skills policy essential to satisfy government’s ‘more for less’ efficiency agenda, say training providers Britain’s training providers are urging ministers from different government departments to formulate a single unified policy to respond more effectively to growing unemployment and the NEET issue. Before offering the new government a series of suggestions on how to improve skills delivery to the unemployed and employed at today’s annual conference of the Association of Learning Providers (ALP), the association’s chairman Martin Dunford congratulated ministers on not only retaining the previous government’s commitment to apprenticeships at the core of their skills policy but immediately strengthening it by allocating an additional £150m of precious funding. Mr Dunford urged the government to maintain the centrality of work based learning, not only for young apprentices, but for adult workers who still needed basic skills and other skills development support. He also called for the development of a comprehensive pre-apprenticeship programme. The ALP chairman said that the coalition government’s reforms of its welfare-to-work programmes and the refocusing of training programmes offered a real opportunity to generate better outcomes when further spending cuts were in the pipeline. He added, however, that a much more substantial impact on employment could be made if the DWP, BIS and DfE agreed a joint policy and channelled funding through a single procurement agency which could commission integrated employment and skills (IES) provision for both young people and adults. ALP has noted that the recent BIS grant letter to the Skills Funding Agency prioritised skills training for the unemployed in 2010-11 while DWP ministers have previously identified training as a key component of the new Work Programme, due to start next summer. With the prospect of a very tough autumn statement, training organisations believe that the twin objectives of BIS and DWP could be met more efficiently by adopting the single commissioning point approach that has also been recommended by the UK Commission for Employment and Skills (UKCES). ALP would also like to see the DfE, which funds provision for 16-18 year old NEETs, involved in a new cross-government approach to tackling unemployment. The ALP conference is expecting to hear skills minister John Hayes and employment minister Lord Freud respond to the call for more IES provision when they address delegates at the London event. UKCES chief executive Chris Humphries CBE will also be speaking on the first morning (14 July). In response to a request from Mr Hayes, ALP has just submitted a paper to the skills minister, setting out proposals on how costs can be saved in the FE and skills system while delivering more effective training for employers and individual learners. The 6-point plan advocates:

i. further progress towards a demand-led open market with a single FE budget open to all providers from the public, private and third sectors

ii. a preferred supplier register which would help drive up the quality of delivery

iii. providers rewarded for successful outcomes rather than payments based on time spent learning

iv. a greatly simplified quality assurance system but still supported by independent Ofsted inspections

v. increased use of modern IT solutions, such as electronic signatures, to reduce frontline delivery costs

vi. a single, professional procurement agency for government-funded vocational education, skills training and employment placement.

Martin Dunford argued that implementation of these proposals would assist in achieving the BIS target of an extra 50,000 apprenticeship places which John Hayes announced in May. ALP also believes that the proposals will realise greater value from the continued £757m investment that the coalition government is making in work placed learning and will help justify this vital investment when upskilling the adult workforce is so important to a sustained economic recovery. ALP chairman Martin Dunford OBE said: “The new government has got off to a good start with its prioritising of apprenticeships as the flagship skills programme. Equally the decision to streamline welfare-to-work provision into a single Work Programme has obvious advantages. However we need ministers to be even bolder if we want to avoid a lost generation of young people and a raft of employers complaining that they don’t have the skilled recruits available to take advantage of any upturn. This requires greater cooperation between government departments to enable central and local funding mechanisms to commission more integrated employment and skills provision.” The ALP annual conference 2010 is being held on 14-15 July 2010 at the Park Plaza Riverbank Hotel on Albert Embankment, London – a five-minute walk from Vauxhall underground station. Full details on the conference programme are available at: https://registration.livegroup.co.uk/alp2010/.

Public Sector employment as % of total employment

Dr. Floyd Millen — Wed, 14 Jul 2010 05:34:09 +0000

On 8th July 2010 the House of Commons Library published this information. It identifies the level of public sector employment as a % of total employment across the regions of theUK. Click on the image for a clearer view...... To access the Full summary

THE FRAMEWORK and DELIVERY AREAS. OTHER CONSIDERATIONS

Dr. Floyd Millen — Wed, 14 Jul 2010 05:35:02 +0000

THE FRAMEWORK & DELIVERY AREAS

Is it still the rule that public sector contracts must not account for more than 50% of a providers income ? The average contract is likely to be between £20m £25m. How many providers can leverage £20 or £30 million contracts in single or multiple lots? It is difficult to square the massive Geographic areas with the financials. If –as the framework agreement suggests - there are 3 primes each holding sizeable contracts in a lot how deep can the supply chain really be? Greater Manchester with the largest FND contract, with its larger areas is possibly the closest model. SERCO may well have the most pragmatic knowledge of how and whether the 11 Lots can work.

Child Maintenance and Enforcement Commission finally begins to enforce!

Dr. Floyd Millen — Wed, 14 Jul 2010 05:37:11 +0000

The Child Maintenance and Enforcement Commission has begun using tough new powers to halt or reverse the sale and transfer of assets by parents attempting to dodge financial responsibility for their children. In the first case of its kind, a father in the northwest of England has been prevented from selling a house he was advertising on a popular property website. The man, owes over £78,000 in unpaid maintenance. He has paid nothing to his former partner for almost twelve years while failing to respond to letters or phone calls from the Child Support Agency - now part of the Commission. The Commission applied for a 'freezing order' after the man put his house on the market, raising fears he would try to put the proceeds beyond the Agency’s reach. In the first case to be brought under powers introduced by the latest child maintenance legislation, the High Court has now imposed an order preventing the sale. The reforms also allow the courts to reverse the sale or transfer of property by parents who have unpaid maintenance arrears. These 'setting aside' orders are designed to stop parents putting valuable assets in the names of new partners and relatives in order to evade both the CSA and their duty to provide for their children. ............................. ABOUT TIME TOO.... WELL DONE ! CMEC

Newsletter 14th July. Child Maintenance and Enforcement Commission, ALP calls for Single Procurement Agency, RDA's Give way to LEP

Dr. Floyd Millen — Wed, 14 Jul 2010 17:52:53 +0000

Newsletter 14th July 2010. Child Maintenance and Enforcement Commission, ALP calls for Single Procurement Agency, RDA's Give way to LEP

LORD FREUD!! We will not tolerate lying

Dr. Floyd Millen — Thu, 15 Jul 2010 11:11:06 +0000

This is the definitive hot off the press statement from Lord FREUD at the ALP conference this morning!! FREUD “everyone pulled into the framework then there will be short competitions for short specific contracts. “The framework can be used by anyone so we will have a structure of great flexibility that the state can use. We have not spoke to other departments as yet but what we have is the architecture” Graham Hoyle we have a good outline of an outline framework. Pleased about the re-emphasis of the black box and hope that our members will be involved in this process. FREUD. Website has been setup and it will be sent to delegates after conference. Graham Hoyle Our members have been worried about the big PRIMES and there is a worry around how the SFA will operate. We are pleased that the Minister [Lord Freud] is aware of what the PRIMES are doing and that they are making good use of providers and their expertise. FREUD. We will not tolerate lying if you say you have a consortium. We would be very intolerant of lying …………………………………………… Question: There are still questions around skills and how it will be paid for…. PRIMES will not pay for this. Freud: If we get the pricing RIGHT and UP [IF] there is substantial money to go into this!! Hoyle: We welcome the development of a framework that has the potential to be used, we are not sure if it’s the right one but we are supportive and will look at it. (Open minded) Paul Warner: Who are you inviting to get onto the framework? FREUD: Those who are going to be in CHARGE of the consortium!! Let’s look at a region: You get into a region then there will be a competition later for which you set up your consortium but you need to get your main body up NOW. We are also interested in other arrangements, ie consortium approach, or a group which have capital and could assemble others beneath that capital. It is the leadership element of the consortium that we need to put onto the framework!! Supply chains need to be set up and negotiated now!! .. THERE IS A SIZZLING PACE HERE!!! If you need help with your partnership contact us at Yes Minister or visit What we do

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Dr. Floyd Millen — Thu, 15 Jul 2010 11:30:53 +0000

Former city banker David Freud speaks at

Dr. Floyd Millen — Thu, 15 Jul 2010 11:34:29 +0000

LONDON, United Kingdom: Former city banker David Freud speaks at a press conference at 10 Downing Street in central London, 05 March 2007. The recommendations in Freud's report include steps to get long-term benefit-dependent unemployed back to work. AFP PHOTO POOL/Toby Melville (Photo credit should read TOBY MELVILLE/AFP/Getty Images)

Unemployment goes down!!

Dr. Floyd Millen — Thu, 15 Jul 2010 11:44:12 +0000

The Government has welcomed today’s fall in unemployment but has warned that there is a long way to go in securing the recovery, dealing with the deficit and generating sustainable job growth. Employment Minister Chris Grayling said: "There is still a huge amount of work to do to revitalise the economy and create an environment where businesses are growing and employing people again. "What concerns me in today’s figures is that while there are more jobs in the economy there is too little evidence of them being taken up by the five million people who were stranded on out-of-work benefits under the previous Government. While there are fewer people on Jobseeker’s Allowance this month, the numbers claiming other benefits remains stubbornly high, and many of these people have been dependent on benefits for years…." Labour market statistics: July 2010 This month’s Labour Force Survey covers March 2010 to May 2010. The number of people in work rose this quarter

28.98 million people were in work in March to May.
The employment level in March-May was 160,000 higher than in the previous three months,

The employment rate is 72.3%, up 0.3 on the quarter but down 0.6 percentage points on the year.

JSA claimants fell this month but 5 million people still claiming one of the main out-of-work benefits:

Claimant unemployment was 1,46m in June 2010, down 20.8 thousand on the level in May,

Claimant unemployment rate, is 4.5%, down 0.1 percentage points on the month

The numbers claiming incapacity benefits remains broadly stable at 2.62 million

Lone Parents Provisional figures for May 2010 suggests the number receiving lone parent benefits has fallen from 695,000 in November 2009 to 675,000. ILO unemployment has fallen this quarter

2.47 million people were ILO unemployed in the March to May quarter, down by 34,000 on the December to February period

the ILO unemployment rate is 7.8%,

Economic inactivity

Economic inactivity level is 8.10 million, down 62,000 on the quarter but up 180 thousand on the year.

Economic inactivity rate is 21.3%,

The rise in inactivity is partly the result of more inactive students. Excluding students, inactivity as a proportion of the working age population is 15.4%, up 0.1 percentage points over the last year. The number of vacancies rose this quarter and the number of redundancies is broadly flat * There were 160,000 redundancies in March to May, down 2 thousand on the previous quarter and down 144,000 on the previous year. * ONS’s vacancy survey estimates an average of 486,000 unfilled vacancies in the three months to June 2010, up 10 thousand on the quarter and up 52 thousand on the year. The full figures

The Work Programme: Your Thoughts

Dr. Floyd Millen — Mon, 19 Jul 2010 13:16:52 +0000

DWP have launched its on-line consultation on the Work Programme. Follow the link.. http://interactive.dwp.gov.uk/the-work-programme-your-thought

Yes Minister’s response to DWP online consultation: Capital Raising

Dr. Floyd Millen — Mon, 19 Jul 2010 14:25:53 +0000

Capital Raising Although it is an important consideration, delivering programmes which are heavily outcomes based will not –in and of itself – pose insurmountable barriers to raising working capital. There are two reasons for this.

Firstly, raising and securing capital from corporate bodies is not substantively dependent on whether the contracts sort or held are primarily outcome based. Primary considerations will be around track record, business model, pricing structure and the fluidity and consistency of the market.

Secondly, historically, public funding has not been accepted by banks and many investors as viable leverage to raise capital. The levels of working capital that we are talking about will make this doubly difficult,

Thirdly, investors will be more exercised about the breadth and depth of competition and the degree to which the pricing structures and the outcomes synthesise with their business model. For example is the 80/20 model more relevant to a demand-led or a supply-side market.

Fourthly, Outcome facing contracts become problematic to providers and investors in the context of the wider economic and market conditions as juxtaposed against the challenging cohort of the long-term unemployed whose ranks will be swelled by the movement of more claimants unto JSA and ESA. The pricing therefore has got to be right: Clarity is needed on the unit cost and sustained payments. Note: the unit costs for PEP were unrealistic and unsustainable)

Fifthly, DWP needs to ensure that its performance expectation is realistic and that it really does align this to current provider performance,

On a positive note The Coalition government is committed to this programme and by extension it will support and aggressively ensure that its commitments are realised. Hence the commitment to invest more and to push through with the DEL/AME switch will be a positive sign for investors. However investors will need reassurance, as they may feel overly susceptible to the political process. There is an awareness that once the Work Programme goes ‘live’ in 2011 that there will be approximately 3 ½ years left of the Coalition. The fear is that contracts could quite easily be ripped up: Again! With this in mind investors will/may hold fire and wait to see which horses look promising in terms of, pricing, performance & investment maximisation. Providers have spoken to us and would welcome DWP sharing more of this risk thereby encouraging investment sooner rather than later. Finally & controversially, The wider sector needs to be aware that not ALL providers can or should try to be PRIMES so the fact that the setting of high financial requirements will exclude some providers should be perfectly understandable. This then provides an opportunity to ensure that the supply chain is tangible and robust.

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Dr. Floyd Millen — Mon, 19 Jul 2010 15:16:23 +0000

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Dr. Floyd Millen — Wed, 21 Jul 2010 06:14:05 +0000

Assessment of Learning Conference 2010

Dr. Floyd Millen — Wed, 21 Jul 2010 06:16:19 +0000

Assessment of Learning Conference 2010 For Qualifications in the Wider WBL and FE sectors 13th September 2010 – Maple House, Birmingham A wide view of qualifications and approaches for assessors and assessment and their contribution to learning especially related to QCF qualifications and the new assessor and quality assurance awards and certificates. This one-day conference will explore the assessment landscape from the fundamental skills through to designing assessment systems and criteria in different scenarios. We will cover the new assessor and quality awards and certificates and their possible application relating to other vocational qualifications beyond NVQs such as the QCF. If you wish to attend simply book on-line http://www.national-training.co.uk/events/conferences/assessment/ or alternatively contact the conference team on 0845 130 6152 or email conferences@national-training.co.uk

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Dr. Floyd Millen — Wed, 21 Jul 2010 06:17:33 +0000

Engaging Employers for the Learning Sector

Dr. Floyd Millen — Wed, 21 Jul 2010 06:19:30 +0000

Engaging Employers for the Learning Sector - A National Conference Monday, 27th September 2010 – Birmingham City Centre Working with Employers to Supplement Funded Revenue, Achieve Targets, Improve Skills and Productivity and Increase Employment. This conference will endeavour to bring employers and purchasers of Vocational Education and Training to the audience to express their expectations and values in the delivery of this learning. If you wish to attend simply book on-line http://www.national-training.co.uk/events/conferences/eec2010/ or alternatively contact the conference team on 0845 130 6152 or email conferences@national-training.co.uk

Local authorities and their role within the Framework

Dr. Floyd Millen — Thu, 22 Jul 2010 14:21:40 +0000

At the recent Welfare to Work Convention Employment Minister Chris Grayling MP explained that he did not expect or foresee local authorities bidding into the framework he explained that…. “One of the reasons why we’ve established the framework as an approach is because it does offer a greater degree of contractual flexibility for local authorities to form partnerships with the providers in their area. If they choose to do so to direct additional funding into meeting individual needs in those local authority areas I see no reason why whether its consortia or whether its groups of organisations working in different forms why local authorities can’t be part of that. What I don’t think is that local authorities can take on the overall capital responsibility for payment by results. If a local authority wants to set up a standalone company, raise the funds through the capital markets to be part of the process that’s fine it’s a local decision. But we’ve never believed that local authorities could themselves be private contractors because effectively it’s the public sector passing risk to another part of the public sector” DWP is “…encouraging organisations of all sizes from the public, private and voluntary sectors to consider getting involved, either by bidding as a prime contractor or working with others on a partnership/sub-contract basis” Are these two positions consistent? We know of two local authorities preparing to apply to the framework.

Skepticism and uncertainty about the Merlin Standard

Dr. Floyd Millen — Thu, 22 Jul 2010 14:25:41 +0000

The House of Commons Work and Pensions Committee published its report, “The Report is skeptical about the new Merlin accreditation standard. We are very concerned that in cases where the prime contractor is in breach of contract with the Department the Department says it would not get involved”. “‘We also note that decisions made by Merlin will have implications for the viability of individual subcontractors and for service delivery, and conclude that it makes sense for the Department to make these decisions itself, allowing it to ensure the market develops in a way which is stable, robust and meets the needs of customers’ There are a number of questions that obviously spring from this,

Is the standard necessary?
Is it owned – should it, can it - by the industry or is it the preserve of an elite?
What can we learn from experience in New York?
What are the consequences and implications of an ‘unsatisfactory’ grading?
What are the legal ramifications?
Independence, objectivity & conflict of interest: Is there an ELEPHANT in the room?

Clearly these and other questions are been analysed at the highest levels… Our critical appraisal is coming shortly …..

DWP told to fulfil its Market Stewardship role and to clarify what constitutes fair treatment of subcontractors.

Dr. Floyd Millen — Thu, 22 Jul 2010 14:27:21 +0000

As we move towards the Work programme there are valuable lessons to learn and there is much that we can build on. It s a while ago, but I think it is still very relevant. On 3^rd March 2010 The House of Commons Work and Pensions Committee published its report on the Management and Administration of Contracted Employment Programmes. The Committee examined DWP Commissioning Strategy and FND in 2009. One of the conclusions drawn was that whilst DWP saw itself as having a “market stewardship” role “there was no evidence of this happening in practice’. The report examined several examples of potentially unfair treatment of sub-contractors and added ‘….Whilst we do not know how widespread this problem is, neither does the Department and we call on them to clarify what constitutes fair treatment of subcontractors and ensure that prime contractors meet these standards. [the statement goes on]………the Department has shown no willingness to get involved with even the most serious cases”. However in response to the question; “…If there was evidence that a subcontractor was not making enough money to be able to run the service that they were providing, [or if] they were effectively subsidising the work that they were doing as part of the contract from other sources of income, would you ever want to be involved in that?” Alan Cave responded; “If that situation were arising because of a breach of a code of conduct, we would be involved. Again the commercial relationship is with the prime contractor. They are responsible for delivering what that contract needs to deliver in totality, so we hold the prime contractor to account for that”. Mr Heald: “In Glasgow we met one company who had been delivering a particular contract for seven years, they did not get the subcontract, and now what has happened is the large prime company has taken over their offices and their staff and so they have lost out. Is that not a bad example to be setting?” Mr Cave: “That is an example of competition, is it not? They have lost to competition and the consequence of that is that the prime contractor who ran the competition has had the staff and the..” Mr Heald: “This is exactly the attitude that I was hoping you might push back on. In Scotland one of the things that rather surprised us was that in the first round of Flexible New Deal the three prime contractors who had put in had each named the other two as their main subcontractors, so it did not matter who won, the big boys did. That is what worries us. Some of these small organisations which have done very good work and which are the most innovative in the niches and really delivering on the streets may end up getting parked”. .............................................................. VERY Interesting...... we need to be mindful of this. See our piece on "Threshold Providers"

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Dr. Floyd Millen — Thu, 22 Jul 2010 15:20:14 +0000

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Dr. Floyd Millen — Thu, 22 Jul 2010 15:21:26 +0000

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Dr. Floyd Millen — Thu, 22 Jul 2010 15:23:34 +0000

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Dr. Floyd Millen — Thu, 22 Jul 2010 15:25:01 +0000

Simon Hughes tackles the Coalition on Housing Benefit reform

Dr. Floyd Millen — Thu, 22 Jul 2010 15:40:32 +0000

Housing Minister Grant Shapps was challenged by Simon Hughes & Labour MP Karen Buck in the House of Commons about proposed changes to Housing Benefit. Simon Hughes called for Grant Shapps and DWP colleagues to meet a cross-party group of London MPs to ensure that the policy not unfair. See House of Commons questions http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm201011/cmhansrd/cm100715/debtext/100715-0001.htm#10071530000044 The reforms will save nearly £2 billion in the financial year 2014-15 and marks the first plank of the reform of the benefits system. Local Housing Allowance (LHA) will now be restricted to a maximum of four bedrooms for new and existing claimants. Alongside this, weekly LHA rates will be capped at £250 for a one bedroom property, £290 for two, £340 for three and £400 for a four bedroom property. LHA rates will now also be based on the thirtieth percentile of rents of the local area. The Coalition argues that the impact of this reform is that hard working individuals and families will no longer have to subsidise people living in properties they themselves could not afford. From April 2013 LHA will be uprated by CPI. To help make work pay from April 2013, people who have been on Jobseeker's Allowance for 12 months or more, will have a 10% reduction in their Housing Benefit. Working age HB claimants who are living in a property that is too large for their household size will have their benefit capped. To help the most vulnerable people who could be affected by this change, the Additional Discretionary Housing Payments budget will be tripled to £60 million a year from 2013-14.

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Dr. Floyd Millen — Thu, 22 Jul 2010 15:55:55 +0000

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Dr. Floyd Millen — Thu, 22 Jul 2010 16:07:08 +0000

Newsletter 22nd July:

Dr. Floyd Millen — Thu, 22 Jul 2010 16:39:12 +0000

Newsletter 22nd July PRIMES should be obligated to sub-contract, Housing Benefit concerns, Skills consultation launched, skepticism about Merlin, DWP and its stewardship role

Should an obligation be placed on PRIMES to Sub-contract with particular named providers? YES!! Yes Minister argues for the introduction of “Threshold Providers” Read more….

Dr. Floyd Millen — Thu, 22 Jul 2010 17:30:55 +0000

The solution to increasing performance, encouraging new providers into the sector and supporting the supply chain can be achieved by placing an OBLIGATION on PRIMES to contract with particular providers. In our opinion this will strengthen the sector and increase performance exponentially! Question:

How do you reduce the upfront costs for existing providers wishing to undertake delivery in particular lots?

How can we guarantee continuity, consistency and good delivery?

How does DWP do all of the above whilst securing increased performance and maintaining a competitive market?

Answer: By the introduction of “Threshold Providers”. Quite rightly, there is concern about what the Work Programme will look like in relation to delivery, milestones, unit costs, and sustainability. There is also fear and concern around what the tendering process and lot allocation will look like for providers who have;

Invested considerable resources in previous tender rounds,
Have a good track record of delivery,
Have positive historical links in an area,
Good performance but they are small,

Invariably they also fell unrepresented and trodden on by a predisposition to market considerations. The obvious questions are;

Who will be the successful PRIMES (or Super PRIMES)?
What does this mean for smaller providers?
Will the PRIMES merely subcontract with each other? (see our blog on the Work and Pensions Committee report findings which found that this was indeed the case in Scotland).

At Yes Minister we have been meeting and speaking with a large number of individuals and organisations. We have come up with what we think is a viable solution to sustaining delivery, supporting quality provision whilst facilitating a proactive mix of new and existing providers into the sector. We propose that DWP should;

Establish a performance threshold based on a league table of provider performance over the last few years. Providers who achieve the median threshold plus – say - 5% should form a new category of provider called ‘Threshold Providers’.

The threshold could be based on an amalgamation of performance offers and historic delivery.

These ‘Threshold Providers’ should automatically retain contracts if they are already delivering within a Lot or they should have preferred status for delivery in Lots with similar demographics.

PRIMES should be placed under an obligation – subject to due diligence and verification etc.. to enter into contract with these ‘Threshold Providers’.

Even if a new PRIME takes over a lot this principle should still apply until such time as the providers performance dips below the agreed threshold for 2 quarters or by more than 15%,

The introduction of ‘Threshold Providers’ will mitigate losses for those good performers who are already delivering and have invested in areas and it will provide an opportunity for continuity and for them to embed and improve their performance.

PRIMES may not like this, however if PRIMES are committed – and they all say that they are – to working with the best then this should facilitate that process whilst enhancing DWP’s Stewardship role!!

DWP issues statement on TUPE and the Work Programme

Dr. Floyd Millen — Sat, 24 Jul 2010 08:08:14 +0000

Within the coming weeks DWP will be requesting information from providers who currently deliver existing Welfare to Work programme provision. A letter will be issued shortly giving details of the type of information that will be required and an indication of when you will be asked to provide this. This information will be required for inclusion in the Invitation to Tender which will be issued shortly. Follow the link HERE

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Dr. Floyd Millen — Tue, 27 Jul 2010 15:31:33 +0000

Work and Pensions Committee, announces NEW INQUIRY

Dr. Floyd Millen — Tue, 27 Jul 2010 15:32:54 +0000

27 July 2010 For Immediate Release: AN03 2010–11 NEW INQUIRY Youth Unemployment and the Future Jobs Fund The Future Jobs Fund (FJF) was announced in the 2009 Budget as a part of the Young Person’s Guarantee. Funding of around £1 billion was pledged, to be spent between October 2009 and March 2011, to support the creation of 150,000 temporary jobs, primarily for 18-24 year olds who had been out of work for at least six months. As part of the March 2010 Budget, the scheme was extended for another year to March 2012 DWP statistics show that in the first four months of the scheme (October 2009 to January 2010), 8,660 DWP claimants started a FJF job (of which 5,920 were aged between 18 and 24). The Coalition Government announced in May that it would cancel the extension of the FJF, and that it would now run until March 2011. DWP is not accepting any further bids, but existing guarantees will still be met. The Work and Pensions Committee has decided to conduct a short inquiry into Youth Unemployment and the Future Jobs Fund. Written evidence is invited from interested organisations. The focus of the inquiry will be on:

The extent to which the FJF has succeeded in matching new work experience opportunities to young unemployed people

Strengths and weaknesses of the FJF programme from the perspective of providers (including in the third sector), employers and young unemployed people, and particularly in relation to the long-term sustainability of employment opportunities

The likely impact of the decision to end the FJF in March 2011 rather than March 2012

How the transition from FJF to the Work Programme will be managed, including the part to be played by the Government’s proposal to fund new apprenticeships.

The deadline for written evidence is Friday 10 September 2010. How to submit your evidence

Contributors should feel no obligation to comment on all the issues raised above, but should focus on those areas in which they have particular expertise or interest.

Please bear in mind that the Committee cannot investigate individual cases.

Written evidence should be in Word or rich text format, not PDF format, and sent by email to workpencom@parliament.uk The body of the email must include a contact name, telephone number and postal address. The email should also make clear who the submission is from. Hard copy submissions should be sent to: The Work and Pensions Committee, House of Commons, 7 Millbank, London SW1P 3JA.

Submissions should be in the format of a self-contained piece of written evidence. Paragraphs should be numbered for ease of reference, and the document must include a summary. For further guidance on the submission of evidence see

www.parliament.uk/parliamentary_committees/witness.cfm

Submissions should be original work, not previously published or circulated elsewhere. Material already published elsewhere may be referred to within a proposed piece of written evidence, in which case a hard copy of the published work should be included.

Once submitted, your submission becomes the property of the Committee and no public use should be made of it unless you have first obtained permission from the Clerk of the Committee. The Committee normally, though not always, chooses to publish the written evidence it receives, either by printing the evidence, publishing it on the internet (where it will be accessible by search engines) or by making it publicly available through the Parliamentary Archives. If there is any information you believe to be sensitive you should highlight it and explain what harm you believe would result from its disclosure. The Committee will take this into account in deciding whether to publish or further disclose the evidence.

For data protection purposes, it would be helpful if individuals wishing to submit written evidence send their contact details in a covering letter. You should be aware that there may be circumstances in which the House of Commons will be required to communicate information to third parties on request, in order to comply with its obligations under the Freedom of Information Act 2000.

Further information Committee membership: Miss Anne Begg MP (Chair) (Lab, Aberdeen South), Harriett Baldwin MP (Con, West Worcestershire) Karen Bradley MP (Con, Staffordshire Moorlands), Ms Karen Buck MP (Lab, Westminster North), Margaret Curran MP (Lab, Glasgow East), Richard Graham MP (Con, Gloucester) Kate Green MP (Lab, Stretford and Urmston), Mr Oliver Heald MP (Con, North East Hertfordshire), Sajid Javid MP, (Con, Bromsgrove), Stephen Lloyd MP (Lib Dem, Eastbourne), Shabana Mahmood MP (Lab, Birmingham, Ladywood) Specific Committee Information: workpencom@parliament.uk/ 020 7219 5832 Media Information: Laura Humble humblel@parliament.uk/ 020 7219 8430 Committee Website: www.parliament.uk/workpencom Watch committees and parliamentary debates online: www.parliamentlive.tv Publications/Reports/Reference Material: Copies of all select committee reports are available from the Parliamentary Bookshop (12 Bridge St, Westminster, 020 7219 3890) or the Stationery Office (0845 7023474). Committee reports, press releases, evidence transcripts, Bills; research papers, a directory of MPs, plus Hansard (from 8am daily) and much more, can be found on www.parliament.uk

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Dr. Floyd Millen — Tue, 27 Jul 2010 15:42:30 +0000

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Dr. Floyd Millen — Tue, 27 Jul 2010 15:50:24 +0000

Work and Pensions Committee announce Inquiry into the Impact of changes to Housing Benefit

Dr. Floyd Millen — Tue, 27 Jul 2010 15:54:03 +0000

Work and Pensions Committee Select Committee Announcement 27 July 2010 For Immediate Release: AN04 2010–11 NEW INQUIRY Impact of the changes to Housing Benefit announced in the June 2010 Budget In its first Budget, the Coalition Government made a number of announcements on changes to Housing Benefit, and in particular to Local Housing Allowance. The new measures are as follows: • From October 2011, Local Housing Allowance rates will be set at the 30th percentile of local rents (instead of the 50th percentile). • Deductions for non-dependants will be uprated in April 2011 on the basis of prices. This will reverse the freeze in these rates since 2001-02. • From 2013-14, Local Housing Allowance rates will be uprated in line with the Consumer Price Index (CPI). • From April 2013, housing entitlements for working age people in the social sector will reflect family size. • Housing Benefit awards will be reduced to 90% of the initial award after 12 months for claimants receiving Jobseeker’s Allowance. This will be introduced in April 2013. • From April 2011, Housing Benefit claimants with a disability and a non-resident carer will be entitled to funding for an extra bedroom. • From April 2011, Local Housing Allowance Rates will be capped at £250 per week for a one bedroom property, £290 per week for a two bedroom property, £340 per week for a three bedroom property and £400 per week for four bedrooms or more. • The Government contribution to Discretionary Housing Payments will be increased by £10 million in 2011-12 and £40 million in each year from 2012-13. The Work and Pensions Committee has decided to hold an inquiry into those changes. Written evidence is invited from interested organisations. The focus of the inquiry will be the implications of the announced changes for:

Incentives to work and access to low paid work
Levels of rent, including regional variations
Shortfalls in rent
Levels of evictions and the impact on homelessness services
Landlord confidence
Community cohesion
Disabled people, carers and specialist housing
Older people, large families and overcrowding

The Committee may also follow up some of the recommendations in the Report published by the previous Work and Pensions Committee in March 2010 on Local Housing Allowance [Fifth Report of Session 2009-10, HC 235]. The deadline for written evidence is Monday 6 September 2010. How to submit your evidence

Contributors should feel no obligation to comment on all the issues raised above, but should focus on those areas in which they have particular expertise or interest.

Please bear in mind that the Committee cannot investigate individual cases.

Written evidence should be in Word or rich text format, not PDF format, and sent by email to workpencom@parliament.uk The body of the email must include a contact name, telephone number and postal address. The email should also make clear who the submission is from. Hard copy submissions should be sent to: The Work and Pensions Committee, House of Commons, 7 Millbank, London SW1P 3JA.

Submissions should be in the format of a self-contained piece of written evidence. Paragraphs should be numbered for ease of reference, and the document must include a summary. For further guidance on the submission of evidence see

www.parliament.uk/parliamentary_committees/witness.cfm

Submissions should be original work, not previously published or circulated elsewhere. Material already published elsewhere may be referred to within a proposed piece of written evidence, in which case a hard copy of the published work should be included.

Once submitted, your submission becomes the property of the Committee and no public use should be made of it unless you have first obtained permission from the Clerk of the Committee. The Committee normally, though not always, chooses to publish the written evidence it receives, either by printing the evidence, publishing it on the internet (where it will be accessible by search engines) or by making it publicly available through the Parliamentary Archives. If there is any information you believe to be sensitive you should highlight it and explain what harm you believe would result from its disclosure. The Committee will take this into account in deciding whether to publish or further disclose the evidence.

For data protection purposes, it would be helpful if individuals wishing to submit written evidence send their contact details in a covering letter. You should be aware that there may be circumstances in which the House of Commons will be required to communicate information to third parties on request, in order to comply with its obligations under the Freedom of Information Act 2000.

Further information Committee membership: Miss Anne Begg MP (Chair) (Lab, Aberdeen South), Harriett Baldwin MP (Con, West Worcestershire) Karen Bradley MP (Con, Staffordshire Moorlands), Ms Karen Buck MP (Lab, Westminster North), Margaret Curran MP (Lab, Glasgow East), Richard Graham MP (Con, Gloucester) Kate Green MP (Lab, Stretford and Urmston), Mr Oliver Heald MP (Con, North East Hertfordshire), Sajid Javid MP, (Con, Bromsgrove), Stephen Lloyd MP (Lib Dem, Eastbourne), Shabana Mahmood MP (Lab, Birmingham, Ladywood) Specific Committee Information: workpencom@parliament.uk/ 020 7219 5832 Media Information: Laura Humble humblel@parliament.uk/ 020 7219 8430 Committee Website: www.parliament.uk/workpencom Watch committees and parliamentary debates online: www.parliamentlive.tv Publications/Reports/Reference Material: Copies of all select committee reports are available from the Parliamentary Bookshop (12 Bridge St, Westminster, 020 7219 3890) or the Stationery Office (0845 7023474). Committee reports, press releases, evidence transcripts, Bills; research papers, a directory of MPs, plus Hansard (from 8am daily) and much more, can be found on www.parliament.uk

Kennedy

Dr. Floyd Millen — Thu, 29 Jul 2010 08:23:27 +0000

Kennedy photo

Dr. Floyd Millen — Thu, 29 Jul 2010 08:26:27 +0000

Kennedy Scott celebrate success

Dr. Floyd Millen — Thu, 29 Jul 2010 08:39:14 +0000

The DWP/ESF funded Hardest to Help project in Brent and Harrow recently celebrated its second anniversary and the success of the project. An open day was organised at the Harrow office, and Mr Bob Blackman, MP for Harrow East attended to present the certificate of achievement to the team. The event was attended by many partners who have helped to make the project such a success. The Sub-Contractors working alongside Kennedy Scott also attended with their teams to enjoy the celebrations. Over the first two years the project has signed up 1000 participants and supported 225 of them into employment. This has been achieved through a mix of one to one sessions and group training sessions. This in terms of performance means that in the last year the team has achieved a 33% success rate. This is 2% short of the 35% target, which in the current economic climate is very positive. The Team (including the sub-contractors) represents the diverse community that it serves, with a range of languages spoken and cultures represented by the team. The Sub-contractors are all specialists in specific target areas set by DWP/ESF contract. The project works with a wide range of participants including: those with Disabilities or health conditions, Lone parents, long term unemployed, 50+, refugees, those with ESOL needs, BAME, Carers, ex-offenders and those with alcohol or drug issues.

The project was inspected by OFSTED in March and achieved a grade 3 satisfactory mark. It also led to an entry on the OFSTED good practice website for the innovative Health and Fitness work it does. The report is available on their website and comments on other good practice on the project. Excellence Gateway. The project Business Manager, Jan Townsend also spoke at the TAEN (the age and employment network) conference in November 2009 about success with 50+ participants and this led to a video interview being posted on the ESF works website. It has also led to Jan contributing two chapters on working with partners and working with JobcentrePlus to their new online provider guide: 50 Plus Works Jan and Kerry (her deputy) also gave a presentation to the London ESF event in February 2010 about good practice working with 50+ participants. The project is delivered through a partnership managed by KS which includes: Lifeline projects who work with participants with drug or alcohol issues. They are based in the Kennedy Scott Wembley office. PLIAS resettlement who work with ex-offenders in the community and work from Bridge Park, and Citizens Trust who also work with ex-offenders, mostly pre-release and are based in Ealing. The project has led to really strong working relationships with the sub-contractors. This has in turn helped us secure a new project in Waltham Forest, again working with Hardest to Help participants, and using PLIAS resettlement and Lifeline Projects again as sub-contractors.

Unit costs and the Work programme

Dr. Floyd Millen — Thu, 29 Jul 2010 08:40:17 +0000

Has the sector missed the point about outcome payments? The sector has been preoccupied and obsessing about unit costs of circa £1,500. One can fully understand this because as we know, the unit costs for FND1 & FND2 were very testing and the costings for PEP were totally unrealistic. The first principle in any business is to understand and to know your costs: if the costs do not add up then you negotiate or walk away…..!!! Lord Freud stated, “the costs of helping individuals move into work need to be understood. Once the proposed regime is fully developed, both the State and the provider would then have a fuller knowledge of the expected cost of the support needed for an individual claimant” Question 1, is “the proposed regime fully developed?” Answer No it isn’t. However, regardless of whether it has been fully developed or not the fact remains that the sector has not adequately, consistently and with a united voice clarified and advised on the ‘true’ cost of delivery; the position has been reactionary rather than proactive. Every now and then however; it is useful to revert to source material and revisit initial thinking. At the time of writing Reducing dependency, increasing opportunity: options for the future of welfare to work 2007 David Freud outlined that the fiscal gain of moving an average recipient off benefit and into work for a year resulted in a substantial gross saving to the exchequer. The initial cumulative costs would be in the region of;

£9,000 for Incapacity benefit claimants,

£8,100 Jobseeker’s Allowance,

£4,400 lone parents,

Freud acknowledged however that the real costs would in fact be a multiple of these figures. So for Incapacity Benefit payments once a person has been on IB for a year, they are on average on benefit for eight years. Freud writes that a genuine transformation into long term work for an IB claimant is worth a net value of around £62,000, per person to the State. Ok Floyd…. What are you saying…? My first point is this…..

Whilst we do not know how long a former IB –ESA, JSA, or LP claimant stays in work, the cumulative figure is as reasonable a starting point from which to begin discussions as is the compound risk of a purely outcomes focused contract with no guaranteed flows.

My second point is this

The Document; The Work Programme Framework “...the price paid for job outcomes should not exceed the benefit savings that have been generated”.makes a very important observation…… See IB, JSA savings for 1 year divide by 12 x by 13 or 26 weeks =£x,xxx : thats more like it!! ( I know its crude but could it work?

My Third point is this

The department should proportionately apply the cumulative net savings over a given period this will provide considerable room for DWP to be more malleable around unit costs so for example, in the first 2 quarters of contract DWP could ‘front-end load’ payments... Remember what Lord Freud said at the Alps Conference about getting the pricing RIGHT and UP –see our report).

o The ‘front-end loading’ would have additional trigger and drawdown points. Finally,

This approach would provide the scope for the department to be more expansive regarding sustainability,

Radical thinking on the Accelerator Funding Model

Dr. Floyd Millen — Thu, 29 Jul 2010 08:41:12 +0000

The aim of the coalition is a), to reduce the claimant count and b), to assist more people into work. The last quarter has seen a surprising but uncertain growth in the economy of 1.1%. The increase in this quarters employment figures is encouraging, but the impact of the deficit reduction plan as will be outlined in the forthcoming Comprehensive Spending Review (CSR) will result in significant job losses in the public sector. The impact of these job losses are likely to trickle down resulting in people who are furthest from the job market being displaced and moved further down the pecking order as competition for entry level jobs increase. Added to this will be the reassessed IB claimants who are moved on to ESA and those deemed fit for work who will be moved onto JSA. The JSA count is set to expand hugely. As a suggestion, maybe over the next 15 months the focus should be on an active programme of assisting large numbers of claimants into work. So, for example, · The Accelerator Funding Model should not be implemented on commencement of the Work Programme. If an accelerator model is to be used, it should be phased in over the economic cycle of 3 quarters, · In order to encourage investment into the sector the focus should be on getting quick wins - see our piece on the myriad of measurable outcomes.

Possible legal challenge to DWP's Framework

Dr. Floyd Millen — Thu, 29 Jul 2010 08:41:48 +0000

Today Yes Minister spoke exclusively to the author of yesterday’s controversial response to DWP’s consultation: A Benson “It makes no sense if everyone is pretending that capital can be raised and that the payment model is workable , it simply is not. I noticed that despite everyone moaning and groaning few people have bothered to respond, I suspect this is because they are all worried about causing waves as all are heavily dependent on DWP contracts and do not want to be blacklisted. This is the main problem with the industry at the moment and this is why we cannot lobby collectively or speak with one voice” “I have been researching the possible contraventions of UK and EU public sector procurement regulations and legislation…” READ THE FULL CONTRIBUTION TO THE CONSULTATION; Author: ABenson Comment: I agree with most of the comments above, my ears are still ringing with the laughter of some associates in the banking sector when it was suggested that capital can be raised to support Welfare to work providers. No bank or venture capitalist would touch businesses or organisations in the sector with a bargepole for reasons which are clear and have been so articulately enunciated by previous commentators not least of all when financial forecasts are impossible to prepare in the current climate, there are simply too many uncertainties. If the Govt itself is not prepared to take the risk by providing upfront payments why would an investor? If we want providers to be able to access capital then DWP must be able to provide guarantees’ upon which business plans and projections can be drawn up and there must be some effort made to ensure that contracts are worth more than the paper they are written on and a commitment from the Govt not to arbitrarily terminate contracts which would provide some assurances from any would-be investors if any can be found. In addition, the legality of the qualification criteria for the framework should be questioned; as it may, as currently constituted, be non compliant with EU and UK non-discriminatory regulations on public sector procurement. Public sector procurement must comply with all applicable EU and UK procurement legislation, in particular the principle of non-discrimination, and apply the rules to all potential tenderers in a fair and transparent manner. Competition effects from procurement can be both positive and negative. The public sector, by virtue of its overall demand in certain markets, may be in a position to protect and promote competition, for example by maintaining a competitive market structure through deliberately sourcing its requirements from a range of suppliers, by providing incentives to suppliers to invest and innovate, or by helping firms to overcome barriers to entry. It may, however, also restrict and distort competition, e.g. by adopting procurement practices that have the effect of restricting participation in public tenders and that might even discriminate against particular types of firms. The current qualifying criteria for the framework as it now stands eliminates at least 90% of the market and could even be seen to promote collusion and create cartels, all these go against anti-competition laws. The framework and the qualifying criteria will reduce competition e.g. by increasing the gap between large and small firms within a market, or by forcing some firms to leave the market altogether. A rule of thumb is that more bidders make for more intense competition, resulting in lower prices and better quality. Even though the incremental benefits from having more participants in a tender may become smaller as the number of bidders increases, in most circumstances adding bidders increases the level of competition. This suggests that any feature of public procurement processes that limits participation has a detrimental impact on competition, which, in turn could increase costs for the public purse. I suggest that the whole premise of the framework and the work programme be reviewed in the light of its possible contravention of procurement legislation and the negative impact this would have on the market

What's IN an outcome, What IS an outcome?

Dr. Floyd Millen — Thu, 29 Jul 2010 08:42:21 +0000

The sector has been myopic and has erroneously focused on a single element of the Payment by Results regime. The Document; The Work Programme Framework makes two very important observations……

“the price paid for job outcomes should not exceed the benefit savings that have been generated”. See IB, JSA savings for 1 year divide by 12 x by 13 or 26 weeks =: thats more like it!! ( I know its crude but does it work?

On page 4, paragraph 5 of The Work Programme funding model says;

Whether contracts within the Work Programme are “….exclusively or heavily outcome-based….” This is of material importance

Exclusively or heavily outcome-based implies the potential for there to be a myriad of interconnected outcomes. Can I draw your attention to the suggested payment structure presented by David Freud in Chapter 4 of Reducing dependency, increasing opportunity: options for the future of welfare to work 2007 A potential payment structure Once a provider has successfully supported a move into employment they would receive separate payments for:

The initial move off benefit
Continuous, or near continuous employment for 13, 26, 52, 104 and 156 weeks
Personal pay progression, possibly reflected in a lower requirement for tax credits
Improvements in the person’s qualifications
Bonus payments linked to targeted outcomes across all client groups
Bonus payments for specific outcomes linked to wider Departmental objectives (such as the Child Poverty target)

Payments would also need to be weighted to reflect the complexity of needs of claimants so that the hardest to help would yield the greatest payments for successful outcomes. This would ensure that the incentives exist to extend the opportunity of support to everyone within the system. ....................................................... So there we have it... we need to embrace ALL the potential In-work outcomes ...... so lets get to it. .. here's the link to chapter 4.... ">

Newsletter 29th July 2010

Dr. Floyd Millen — Thu, 29 Jul 2010 12:27:47 +0000

Newsletter 29th July. Challenge to DWP Framework, Invitation from IDS, Kennedy Scott celebrates, Accelerator Funding Model and unit costs

- Yes Minister welcomes the Inquiry into the impact of the changes to Housing Benefit

Dr. Floyd Millen — Thu, 29 Jul 2010 14:44:05 +0000

We welcome this inquiry! The Coalition Government has a huge challenge. The poor will suffer much more if we rely too heavily on using the welfare budget as one of the main leverages for cutting the deficit. I am sure you have heard it before..... but the analogy of the swimming pool is appropriate and goes like this

…… You have a swimming pool with a ladder ascending out of it. There are three people on the ladder, one on the top rung, the other in the middle and the last person is at the lowest point just above water level. In the interest of fairness and equality each person is told that they need to share the pain and will need to go down 1 rung to make room. After stepping down one rung, the person at the bottom begins to drown because his 1 rung was the only thing that kept him above water.

The changes to Housing Benefit will quite literally be a matter of life and death for some individuals and families. I think that we all agree that something needs to be done; lets hope that this inquiry will effectively sift the evidence and arrive at conclusions that are fair and equitable, that protects not only the most vulnerable but the needy and those on the Margins. PEACE

- 21st Century Welfare, Rt Hon Iain Duncan Smith MP launches consultation

Dr. Floyd Millen — Fri, 30 Jul 2010 09:22:39 +0000

This morning Rt Hon Iain Duncan Smith launched the consultation paper ‘21^st Century Welfare’ He explained that “this is not a question of whether or can we reform it but it should be about what we reform” “This is a real opportunity to reform our antiquated welfare system” IDS has taken his lead from Beverage's principles to get rid of

WANT,
DISEASE,
IGNORANCE,
SQUALOR and
IDLENESS

The options for consultation on reforming the welfare system are:

A universal Credit (page 19)
Disregards and Tapers (page 21)
A single unified Taper (page 22)
Single Working Age Benefit (page 24)
The Mirrless Model (page 25)
Single benefit/negative income tax model (page 25)

The consultation begins on 30^th July 2010 and runs until 1^st October 2010. benefit.reform@dwp.gsi.gov.uk Read the Full details Read the Command Paper here Read the Quick Summary here ……………………………… Yes Minister will be presenting its comments and detailed musings from inside this mornings announcement.

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Dr. Floyd Millen — Fri, 30 Jul 2010 10:23:44 +0000

- Deputy Prime Minister launches consultation on Regional Growth Fund

Dr. Floyd Millen — Tue, 03 Aug 2010 10:53:56 +0000

The Coalition Government's Budget 2010 announced the creation of a Regional Growth Fund in 2011/12 and 2012/13. On the 29th June it announced that the fund would be worth £1bn.

Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg is seeking your views on

how the Regional Growth Fund should work.
What kind of activities it should support?
How they should judge which schemes are eligible for help? and
It should be carried on in the future?

The basic principle of the Coalition Government is that sustainable economic growth needs to be based on private sector enterprise and increased capacity, and a growth in private sector jobs. The Government is committed to ensuring that all parts of the country benefit from sustainable economic growth, and that private sector recovery is particularly strong in areas that are heavily reliant on public sector employment. See THIS and THIS. In parallel with proposals to form Local Enterprise Partnerships responses are being sought by the 6th September. The intention is that the Regional Growth Fund will bring together into one consolidated pot, funding streams which support sub-national economic growth. It will also enable private sector investors, business, the public sector and communities to come together with an overall strategy for their area, The government is inviting views on what kind of activities the fund should support and how the fund can be designed to best facilitate this and provide appropriate support for areas overly dependent on public sector spending. Regional Growth Fund: See our piece on Local Enterprise Partnerships (LEP) by using the Search function (above)

Liberal Democrat leadership hustings

Dr. Floyd Millen — Tue, 03 Aug 2010 11:52:01 +0000

Liberal Democrat leadership contender Nick Clegg delivers his speech at the Liberal Democrat leadership hustings in Rugby, Warwickshire. PRESS ASSOCIATION Photo. Picture date: Saturday October 27, 2007. The contest will be decided in a ballot of the entire party membership with the results to be announced in mid-December. See PA story POLITICS LibDems. Photo credit should read: Rui Vieira/PA Wire

English Regions

Dr. Floyd Millen — Tue, 03 Aug 2010 12:13:42 +0000

- December deadline for bidding to the Regional Growth fund

Dr. Floyd Millen — Tue, 03 Aug 2010 12:17:24 +0000

Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg announces two rounds of bidding for Regional Growth Funds.

The proposition is that there should be at least two rounds of bidding for the Fund. The deadline for the first round of bids should be the end of December 2010, with a view to decisions on successful bids being announced by the end of February 2011. See page 9

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Dr. Floyd Millen — Tue, 03 Aug 2010 12:28:07 +0000

- Latest Work Capability Assessment report: increase in numbers deemed Fit for Work

Dr. Floyd Millen — Tue, 03 Aug 2010 12:37:30 +0000

This report is the latest data on ESA claims in England, Scotland and Wales and is an update to the previously published statistics released in October 2009, January 2010 and April 2010. This report is based on the final decision made by DWP rather than ATOS Healthcare's recommendation. We recently reported on ATOS and HERE ATOS Healthcare undertake an assessment and their recommendation is passed to DWP to make a final decision on the claimant’s ESA status. The recommendation will be one of the following:

Support Group (severe disabilities) – they receive a higher rate of benefit entitlement and exemption from mandatory involvement with Pathways to Work;

Work Related Activity Group – They receive a higher rate of benefit than those on JSA and are mandated to engage with Pathways to Work; and,

Fit for Work – The ESA claim is ceased but individuals can ask for a reconsideration or appeal if they disagree with the decision.

If someone is found Fit for Work by DWP they are no longer entitled to claim ESA. However, they may ask for a reconsideration and then may appeal against the DWP decision. Interestingly, a large proportion of people claiming ESA cease their claim before assessment is complete (for example, if they have a short term health condition). HEADLINE STATISTICS FROM THE REPORT WCA results for all ESA Claims For all new ESA claims from October 2008 to November 2009 (breakdown of DWP decision at initial assessment by the end of May 2010):

Support Group - 6%

Work Related Activity Group -14%

Fit for Work - 39%

Claim CLOSED before assessment complete - 37%

Assessment still in progress - 4%

WCA results for all completed assessments For all completed initial assessments (not including assessments still in progress or people who left ESA before completing assessment) to the end of May 2010 the breakdown of DWP decision at initial assessment is as follows:

Support Group – 10%

Work Related Activity Group - 24%

Fit for Work - 66%

WCA Appeals Of people who made a claim for ESA between October 2008 and June 2009 and who were found Fit for Work at assessment, 32% have had an appeal heard by Tribunals Service to date. The original decision made by DWP has been confirmed for 60% of these appeals heard. See the full report....

- DWP publishes Structural Reform Plan

Dr. Floyd Millen — Tue, 03 Aug 2010 17:10:41 +0000

DWP has published it's Structural Reform Plans (SRP). The SRA provides a timetable of what the Department is planning... The SRP I have also attached the report which outlines the progress that DWP has made: PROGRESS SO FAR This makes for very interesting reading. The Department is on target and ontime!!

Housing Benefit

Dr. Floyd Millen — Wed, 04 Aug 2010 09:55:21 +0000

- Housing Benefit: Families receive equivalent income of £156,000

Dr. Floyd Millen — Wed, 04 Aug 2010 09:58:02 +0000

A couple with one child spending a third of their gross income on accommodation would need a household income of over £45,000 a year to afford a rent of £290 a week, and would be in the top third of the household income distribution. A similar family would need an income of over £156,000 to afford a rent of £1,000 a week and they would be in the top two per cent of UK earners. What these reforms mean is that people receiving Housing Benefit may not be able to live in expensive city centres, but the same applies to most working families who do not receive benefit. The Coalition Government has also announced that it will triple its contribution to local authorities’ funding for Discretionary Housing Payments. This is currently £20 million a year, and will increase to £30 million in 2011/12 and then to £60 million a year from 2012/13. Read DWP's outline summary 'Impact of changes to Local Housing Allowance from 2011' See full report ............................................................................. A note of caution; Whilst we need to remove barriers to employment. We must not blame the recipients of Benefits for a poorly planned and administered benefit system. Similarly, it is irrational to blame the unemployed for high unemployment. The implication of some of these reforms for some of our major cities will be significant. For example, in London, the Evening Standard reported that 9 out of 10 rental homes would be out of reach for people on housing benefit. Across the capital approximately 70% of private rented homes would be deemed ineligible. As we reported last week there is a much welcomed inquiry taking place into the impact of these changes. Also please see our piece on the response from Simon Hughes and Karen Buck.

The Telegraph argues that IDS has got it wrong

Dr. Floyd Millen — Thu, 05 Aug 2010 11:04:45 +0000

The Telegraph 's article on Iain Duncan Smith's welfare reform is a little confusing the author - John McTernan usually writes much better than this: Whilst I do agree when he says.... "This is so short of detail it is more a breathless, high-concept pitch for welfare reform ....... What’s missing, crucially, are any costings or modelling of the marvelous new systems we’re being offered" See article What John is missing is that this is BOLD thinking. If we do what we have always done in the past we will not address this very intractable situation. Secondly, and more importantly, it is clear that John has not been in the very difficult position where he has had to make the kind of decisions that the long-term unemployed have to make. We can all engage in easy soundbites about it being good and right to work but in reality these are very complex issues about rights, responsibility, incentives, self determination and aspiration. What IDS is presenting is a plan to reduce the financial risk thereby eliminating one of the blockages to work. It will cost more: but its necessary and worth a try! The Coalition however needs to be careful that it is not sleep walking into a perfect storm!

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Dr. Floyd Millen — Fri, 06 Aug 2010 15:42:16 +0000

- Government to sell off its NHS recruitment agency

Dr. Floyd Millen — Fri, 06 Aug 2010 15:43:18 +0000

The Department of Health (DoH) plans to sell off its recruitment agency ‘NHS Professional Ltd’, which is the largest supplier of temporary workers to the health service and which has approximately 50,000 labourers on its books. The DoH is encouraging private investors to register interest in buying some or all of the company as it believes that private sector involvement will enable staff to be contracted out to public bodies at a considerably cheaper rate than the company currently offers. Read the full report

- Positive Comments from CBI on 21st Century Welfare Proposal

Dr. Floyd Millen — Fri, 06 Aug 2010 15:49:45 +0000

John Cridland, the Deputy Director of the Confederation of British Industry (CBI), commented on the 21^st Century Welfare documentation recently produced by Iain Duncan Smith. The article sets out proposals for the abolishment of tax credits and the collation of several benefits into one package. Mr Cridland said “Long-term worklessness has been a problem for many years, and the Government’s announcement on realigning the benefits system to make work pay and improve welfare to work services is a step in the right direction.” “Getting more people off benefits and back into work is also crucial to restoring the public finances, as those in jobs will pay taxes and draw less in welfare payments” “The private and voluntary sectors have a strong track record in helping the long-term unemployed back into work, and the Government is right to draw on their expertise to help deliver this important programme.” Read More...

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Dr. Floyd Millen — Sun, 08 Aug 2010 20:42:53 +0000

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Dr. Floyd Millen — Sun, 08 Aug 2010 20:54:03 +0000

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Dr. Floyd Millen — Sun, 08 Aug 2010 21:01:48 +0000

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Dr. Floyd Millen — Sun, 08 Aug 2010 21:08:25 +0000

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Errors and Fraud

Dr. Floyd Millen — Mon, 09 Aug 2010 07:23:31 +0000

Error

Dr. Floyd Millen — Mon, 09 Aug 2010 07:26:52 +0000

David Cameron pledges support to the quiet man

Dr. Floyd Millen — Mon, 09 Aug 2010 07:29:18 +0000

A few weeks ago we reported on the huge errors and fraud in the benefits system. In a Sunday Times article the prime minister David Cameron said that he was determined to act against the overpayment of £5.2bn of welfare and tax credit. The Prime Minister explained that this was unacceptable and described it as the "one area of ingrained waste that outranks all others". Some of the cuts would be painful, he said, and would mean that "things that we genuinely value will have to go because of the legacy we have been left". The Secretary of State Iain Duncan Smith wants to use most of the savings to fund a universal credit system that he argues would improve financial work incentives, minimise cash going to wealthier claimants and reduce overpayments and fraud. But the Treasury says that a new system will not be ready for at least two years and is skeptical that the savings can be found. ...................................... We recently reported on the huge errors and fraud in our system: see our brief report See also our write up Also use our search function above to see further entries on Iain Duncan Smith.

hm-treasury

Dr. Floyd Millen — Mon, 09 Aug 2010 11:49:59 +0000

The Treasury is more evangelical about welfare reform than IDS

Dr. Floyd Millen — Mon, 09 Aug 2010 11:54:40 +0000

On Welfare reform the Treasury is even more evangelical than Iain Duncan Smith: but there is just one snag!

The need for welfare reform is understood and indeed welcomed by many. We are on the verge of a paradigm shift in the relationship between the state and the citizen. This shift is occurring in the place and at the point where the citizen requires most help from the state. The emergence of a simpler, Universal Work - or indeed a Universal Life Credit - to replace the myriad of current benefits and to present stronger incentives to work will also require a root and branch change in the relationship between government departments, (DOH, DWP, DBIS, and Treasury). Concern has been raised over the lack of detailed costs: will this cost £3bn or £9bn to implement? There are no figures or costs to support the plans..... well that was true until the weekend when the Prime Minister announced that the huge amount of Error and Fraud in the system could be used to fund this wholesale reform. We know that The Department for Work and Pensions has carried out detailed work on the costs. However, it would be useful if the costs were apparent during the consultation process rather than after. As some of you - older folks - will remember, the flaw in Frank Field’s 1988 plans was that whilst it was morally right, operationally it would cost the Treasury much more. The Treasury is naturaly cautious when a department or a Minister says they can save money in the future if they get an increase now. The Treasury is even more repulsed when it is told that it should take the risk now in the hope of future gain...... isn't this what providers are being asked to do but with much less certainty? ..... lets leave this alone for now!! The task set for Iain Duncan Smith is made doubly difficult becasue the priority of the Treasury is to reduce the deficit. In the words of David Laws " I was born for this moment" : in this regard the Treasury is even more evangelical than IDS to cut dependency on the state and to reduce the deficit. The mantra is "Reduce the Deficit, Reduce welfare dependency"; however the contradiction at the heart of the homogeneous mass is the realisation of the Invest to Save principle. Inevitably, you have to spend more to save a bit. Iain Duncan Smith could however still achieve a significant reduction in the welfare bill and it needn't cost a penny more..... ...the answer is..

- CIPD and KPMG Research Expects UK Employment Recovery to Stall

Dr. Floyd Millen — Mon, 09 Aug 2010 12:47:10 +0000

Research conducted by the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD) and accountancy firm KPMG asserts that recent decreases in the UK’s unemployment levels will not last. Findings from their research showed that 36% of public sector businesses were intending to make redundancies, with an overall balance of minus 35%. CIPD believes that a rise in unemployment in the next two years remains a distinct possibility as the private sector recovery is offset by the 600,000 public sector job losses. More specifically, the report predicts that the majority of job cuts will occur within local government. KPMG’s Head of Public Sector, Alan Downey, said “The big question is whether the private sector can create new jobs in sufficient numbers and quickly enough to offset the downturn in the public sector” Sources KPMG Politics.co.uk BBC

fraud

Dr. Floyd Millen — Tue, 10 Aug 2010 07:20:59 +0000

- Benefit fraud: The bounty hunters

Dr. Floyd Millen — Tue, 10 Aug 2010 07:31:49 +0000

The Coalition Government have appropriated the term "Bounty Hunters" to describe its approach to tackling benefit fraud. David Cameron will announce that his "uncompromising" clampdown on benefit fraud will result in tougher penalties for offenders. He will also announce the use of credit rating agencies to detect guilty parties. We understand that discussions have been had with Experian. The prime minister outlines plans to claw back £5.2bn - this figure is incorrect.. see our previous report on fraud and error - lost through fraud and system error. The prime minister says that three-quarters of those caught defrauding the system are not currently prosecuted.

There will now be "Tougher penalties for fraud,
More prosecutions and
a process to encourage those who know fraud is taking place to come forward.
There will also be greater efforts to reclaim money that's wrongly paid. The prime minister says this administrative incompetence, costs £1.6bn a year.

See the Prime Minister's article .............................. This is very interesting!! It seems credit agencies will become even more powerful.... Surely in order for this to work, credit agencies will need further legislation to enable them to look into peoples personal affiars and to have access to previously private benefit details. We understand that these companies will receive a 'bounty' payment of up to 5 per cent of the money they recover from fraudulent claimants. Something needs to be done; but is this it I wonder?

- Public consultation on Housing Benefit Regulation

Dr. Floyd Millen — Wed, 11 Aug 2010 09:06:22 +0000

The Social Security Advisory Committee (SSAC) has been asked by the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions to consider proposals for the Housing Benefit (Amendment) Regulations 2010, and the associated amendments to the Rent Officers (Housing Benefit Functions Order) 2010. Before the Committee considers and reports on these proposals, it would like to hear from organisations and individuals who have views. Those wishing to make representations to the Committee may obtain a copy of the Department’s explanatory memorandum, and a copy of the draft regulations from the SSAC website or from the Secretary to the Committee, Gill Saunders (0207 962 8345). Representations should be sent to the Committee at N E Spur, Level 3, Adelphi Building, 1-11 John Adam Street, London WC2N 6HT or by email to ssac@dwp.gsi.gov.uk, or via the consultation response facility on the website, to arrive no later than 10 September 2010. Please note that this consultation exercise has no connection with the Work and Pensions Committee’s enquiry into the impact of these Housing Benefit changes that was announced on 27 July 2010. DWP press release

- Field MP launches consultation into poverty and life chances

Dr. Floyd Millen — Thu, 12 Aug 2010 08:04:55 +0000

In June this year the Government announced that Frank Field MP had been appointed to lead an independent review into poverty and life chances. The main aims of the Review are to:

Explore how a child's home environment affects their chances of being ready to take full advantage of their schooling

Generate a broader debate about the nature and extent of poverty in the UK

Recommend potential action by government and other institutions to reduce poverty and enhance life chances for the least advantaged, consistent with the Government's fiscal strategy

Examine the case for reforms to the poverty measures, in particular for the inclusion of non-financial elements.

Over the coming months the Review team will be consulting with a range of lobby groups, poverty experts, delivery organisations, charities, parents and children. The Review will also consider existing evidence on poverty and the factors in childhood that have the biggest impact on future outcomes. The Review is due to report its findings to the Prime Minister at the end of the year. Consultation.

- Quote, Grief, Sorrow, baldness

Dr. Floyd Millen — Thu, 12 Aug 2010 08:05:47 +0000

It is foolish to tear one's hair in grief, as though sorrow would be made less by BALDNESS. Cicero

- Quote: The difference between an optimist and a pessimist

Dr. Floyd Millen — Thu, 12 Aug 2010 08:06:28 +0000

An optimist sees an opportunity in every calamity, A pessimist sees a calamity in every opportunity.

- Consultation launched on right to request time to train

Dr. Floyd Millen — Thu, 12 Aug 2010 08:10:50 +0000

In a bid to reduce the burden on business the Government has announced a review of all regulations Yesterday, John Hayes launched a consultation on the future of the right to request time to train. The legal right for workers in businesses with more than 250 employees to request time to take up relevant training came into effect from April 6 this year. “Before we make any decisions about the future of the right to request time to train, it is important that we gauge views of the regulation and whether it is improving training opportunities for employees. “We believe it is important that all regulations are properly scrutinised and we are therefore interested in hearing views on the future of this right and its role in promoting training in the workplace, which I see as vital to our economic success. This consultation will be shorter than the normal 12 weeks and will close on September 15. Consultation

- Quote, Round numbers

Dr. Floyd Millen — Thu, 12 Aug 2010 08:11:42 +0000

Round numbers are always false..

jcp

Dr. Floyd Millen — Thu, 12 Aug 2010 08:12:38 +0000

- JCP deliver job outcomes as unemployment decreases to 2.46 million

Dr. Floyd Millen — Thu, 12 Aug 2010 08:13:14 +0000

Official figures show that the UK’s unemployment levels have fallen by 49,000 to 2.46 million Official figures show that the UK’s unemployment levels have fallen by 49,000 to 2.46 million. This is the second month in a row that it has decreased. Figures from the Office for National statistics showed the largest increase in employment since 1989 which was mainly driven by the rise in the proportion of part-time workers. The figures

The number of people in employment aged 16 and over increased by 184,000 on the quarter to reach 29.02 million.

Employment is up 104,000 on the year but is 507,000 lower than two years previously.

The quarterly increase in total employment (mainly part-time workers) increased by 115,000 the highest figure since comparable records began in 1992.

The number of full-time workers increased by 68,000 on the quarter to reach 21.18 million.

The number of unemployed people fell by 49,000 over the quarter to reach 2.46 million.

The number of people unemployed for up to twelve months fell by 82,000, to reach 1.66 million. JCP delivering results

However, the number of people unemployed for more than twelve months increased by 33,000 over the quarter to reach 796,000, the highest figure since the three months to March 1997.

The number of people claiming Jobseeker’s Allowance (the claimant count) fell by 3,800 between June and July 2010 to reach 1.46 million. T

The inactivity rate for those aged from 16 to 64 for the three months to June 2010 was 23.4 per cent, down 0.2 on the quarter. The number of inactive people aged from 16 to 64 fell by 49,000 over the quarter to reach 9.35 million.

The number of vacancies for the three months to July 2010 was 481,000, up 9,000 over the quarter.

Official statistics

- Newsletter 12 August 2010

Dr. Floyd Millen — Thu, 12 Aug 2010 19:46:14 +0000

Newsletter: Jobcentre Plus delivers more jobs, Bounty Hunters in welfare & Treasury evangelical about welfare reform

- Quote: work hard

Dr. Floyd Millen — Fri, 13 Aug 2010 14:15:37 +0000

Work hard, the people on welfare depend on you

Serco Logo

Dr. Floyd Millen — Fri, 13 Aug 2010 14:29:32 +0000

- RICHARD JOHNSON on structuring the Work Programme to change society

Dr. Floyd Millen — Fri, 13 Aug 2010 14:34:52 +0000

The potential of the Work Programme is quite extraordinary - using savings generated in benefits to extend services to millions of people currently excluded by unemployment. Many of these people are locked out of society as a result of their worklessness, they are trapped in a dependency on benefits that is debilitating, depressing and so horribly destructive. The Work Programme has a potential that could transform families and communities. It is a model that could fundamentally change the relationship between the state and the frontline services which the state commissions/purchases. It has applications far beyond welfare to work, and is of considerable interest way beyond these UK shores. But if we are to realise that potential, I believe we must accept that it requires a fundamental shift in thinking. There is a sense in some parts of the welfare to work ‘industry’ that the Work Programme is simply an extension of existing services with a greater emphasis on outcome-based funding. There are, of course, aspects of this in what is being proposed: however, they are a small part of an idea which is actually about the creation of a new structure, in which the state defines the desired product or impact of the frontline service and then contracts with an organisation to deliver those outcomes. In the process, the state shifts risk to that contractor, with potential reward as compensation. If an organisation is to take on this risk/reward contract, to accept a funding model that requires upfront investment in services with payments linked to long-term employment outcomes, they are clearly going to have to have three significant capabilities which have been clearly set out by Ministers over the last couple of months:

A financing vehicle that can a) act as a bridge between upfront delivery and outcome-based funding, and b) manage the transition between existing funding mechanisms and this new model;

A network of service provision that will provide geographical coverage as well as meet the wide range of complex needs that will be presented by this extended group of service users. It will also benefit from alignment with associated services such as health and justice;

Supply chain capability, once this network has been established, to maintain the wellbeing of suppliers, to facilitate their development, to professionalise the industry as a whole and to deliver continuous performance improvement.

I believe this implies that we are creating a new tier of contractor in order to deliver on the Work Programme. ....................................... TIER 1 Risk-bearing tier, with differential funding all tied to long-term employment outcomes (up to three years of sustainability), i.e. with no service fee. A financing vehicle of some sort. Possibly sitting within or a subset of a distinct Special Purpose Company. Operating at a regional level. The ‘commissioner’ of the frontline services, bringing together and managing networks of subcontracted provision. ............................. TIER 2 Networks, or possibly consortia, of frontline service delivery. This is the existing welfare to work ‘industry’, including all Flexible New Deal, Prime Contractor New Deal, Employment Zones and Pathways to Work frontline contracts/services. It must also start to bring in new expertise and specialist interventions to address more complex needs. The relationship with their contractor in Tier 1 is likely to vary depending on the nature of their service: including preferred providers, subcontractors and suppliers. Their payment terms will reflect this, with the potential for service fees, on-programme payments and also outcome-based funding, depending on what is being delivered. A mix of public, private and third sector organisations. Key characteristic of the Serco model A key characteristic of the Serco model for Flexible New Deal is the clear separation between us as prime contractor and our subcontracted provision. I believe this enables us to have a ‘cleaner’ relationship with our subcontractors, objectively engaging with them on behalf of the jobseekers. There is also a clear delineation in terms of our skills set. Clarity over respective roles is at the heart of constructive contracting. Where this separation does not exist, in some of the welfare to work areas - not managed by Serco -, we continue to see poor relationships between prime and subcontractors, with consequent deterioration of service quality. The Merlin Standard is an attempt to ameliorate this, and I have sat on the steering group for the Standard. However, these relationships are principally determined by how things are procured from the outset and the contractual context within which they operate. At Tier 2 it is obviously vital that we have a wide, diverse market of provision. In Serco’s three current operations we have over 60 subcontractors, and these are just delivering FND. Using multiple providers mitigates risk for us, should one of our subcontractors underperform or fail. It is a wider base from which to identify innovation and best practice, which we can then promulgate. Specialist expertise is brought in, as well as local knowledge and contacts. It utilises existing infrastructure, reducing start up costs. We are also able to use competition between providers to drive higher performance, underpinned by transparent performance reporting. At Tier 1 we must be careful about applying the same assumptions. Is there any benefit to be gained from duplicating the infrastructure costs of the prime contractor within a region? If there were two Tier 1 organisations per region, there would be considerable overlap in their Tier 2 provision. In many instances they would be subcontracting to the same provider for precisely the same service in the same location. It should be possible at some point to replace the Tier 1 contractor, with service delivery seamlessly continuing at Tier 2, as the prime contract vehicle is changed. To unlock the potential of the Work Programme concept, this is about a thriving, high-performing market of frontline provision and a separate layer of risk-carrying financing/commissioning. This is not to say that we must not carefully monitor and benchmark performance. This can be achieved, however, through national comparisons, including identifying roughly comparable labour markets from within different regions. In the early transitional years of the Work Programme it is almost certain that the funding levels will have to be reset periodically, facilitated by open book accounting. Multiple Tier 1 vehicles within regions will not add any value to this process or to the wellbeing of the frontline services. The regions (Lots) and the Framework It is, of course, necessary to have some choice at that Tier 1. But sufficient, appropriate choice – given the nature of these contracts – can be provided if we have between THREE and SIX Framework Agreement contractors nationally with only one per region (and with any one managing no more than five regions in total). This is, for example, how the markets are managed for the electronic tagging and court escorting which Serco delivers, where there is no sense to have in-region competing provision but nonetheless a desire to maintain some diversity within the potential contractors come contract re-bid. There is clearly a political will to include the voluntary sector in the delivery of welfare to work. I certainly agree that there is expertise and commitment within this sector that can bring a great deal to the table. Around a third of Serco’s FND subcontractors are currently voluntary sector organisations. (We also, incidentally, subcontract to a number of public bodies.) In many cases they bring a very local perspective or offer a particular specialism that enhances our service delivery considerably. If the differential pricing is structured well it will attach additional rewards to the outcomes for individuals who are furthest from the labour market. These people are likely to require the specialist interventions which the voluntary sector can deliver – prime contractors will be forced, or at least incentivised, to engage positively with the sector. It would also be possible to stipulate a % of subcontracted provision (or % range) that must be let to the voluntary sector. (This might be difficult without clear Tier 1 and 2 separation.) I have suggested in the past that there is a role here for a strong Independent Regulator. The Regulator could be responsible for resetting the prime contractors fees, and also for overseeing the relationship (including financial) between primes and subcontractors. The Work Programme offers us a unique opportunity to do so much. Its application could be far reaching and run deep into society. One of my colleagues described this to me as a life-defining year. However, unless we accept the fact that this is a new way of thinking along with a new way of procuring, with a new structure to be created for the market, then we run the risk of squandering that opportunity. Richard Johnson Managing Director Serco Welfare to Work

Serco Logo

Dr. Floyd Millen — Fri, 13 Aug 2010 14:40:04 +0000

PRIMA MAGAZINE

Dr. Floyd Millen — Fri, 13 Aug 2010 15:16:52 +0000

- Top read posts since friday ....

Dr. Floyd Millen — Mon, 16 Aug 2010 08:27:41 +0000

Since Richard Johnson's article on friday, amongst the top read posts have been G4S's thinking on welfare to work and G4S's innovative approach to delivery.

- BBC report. Atos Healthcare paid £100 Million and tells terminally ill man he can work

Dr. Floyd Millen — Mon, 16 Aug 2010 09:25:08 +0000

The Report takes an in-depth look at the controversial Fit to Work tests. The cost of long-term sickness benefit is £90 per week which is paid to 2.6m people or 7% of British adults. The total cost is £12.5bn The report looks in detail at the Work Capability test. Atos Healthcare is paid £100m per year over 8 years to administer the test. In this report Atos Healthcare tells a terminally ill man that because he can walk he is capable of work. However Atos fails to acknowledge that he has been advised that unless he walks he will die due to his triple-by-pass. He is walking to recover! but it is described by Atos as an ability i.e what the claimant "Can do" Doctors Doctors working for Atos have spoken out after being told that they are too lenient. The architect of ESA Paul Gregg is also interviewed. It is worth listening to this broadcast.

Framework EOI Clarification Letter - Final _2_

Dr. Floyd Millen — Mon, 16 Aug 2010 12:59:42 +0000

Framework

Dr. Floyd Millen — Mon, 16 Aug 2010 13:05:08 +0000

- Organisations with turnover less than £20 million need not apply.

Dr. Floyd Millen — Mon, 16 Aug 2010 13:07:15 +0000

The Framework letter came out on Friday 13th DWP plan to issue Invitation to Tenders on 19th August "...under FND1 providers were required to fund up to £4m of working capital during the first contract year (based on contracts ranging from £20-60m pa). Under the Work Programme, typical contracts may require more significant working capital to be available, and for a longer period before break-even is achieved. Organisations are encouraged to consider this requirement carefully prior to submitting tenders." "....We currently anticipate the minimum value of Work Programme contracts to be £10m per annum. Given what is likely to be a more challenging reward model weighted far more heavily to the delivery of successful job outcomes, we have determined that the value of business awarded to a single organisation should not normally exceed 50 per cent of its existing annual turnover. This means that we would not expect to place organisations on the Framework whose current turnover is less than £20 million per annum unless.." Use our search function to revisit our previous comments and articles on this subject Framework EOI Clarification Letter - Final _2_

- The Chancellor (finally) signals his support for IDS's welfare reform plans.

Dr. Floyd Millen — Tue, 17 Aug 2010 10:52:10 +0000

According to the Times and the Financial Times, The Treasury has told Work and Pensions Secretary Iain Duncan Smith that he must find £5 of savings for every £1 he spends simplifying the benefits system. Iain Duncan Smith has been told to find £10 billion of savings over the next four years. In order to find these savings it is said that Iain Duncan Smith is looking at universal benefits such as Child Benefit and the £2.7 billion of winter fuel payments, for pensioners and parents According to the FT there have been real tensions between Iain Duncan Smith and chancellor George Osborne. George Osborne has written a letter outlining that simplification plans should not cost more than £2.5 billion to £3 billion and that £10 billion of savings needs to be identified. The Telegraph reports that today George Osborne has given his support to proposals for the reform of the welfare system and that he has played down reports of a Cabinet rift between himself and IDS. In an interview with the BBC’s Today Programme, Mr Osborne rejected suggestions that he was at odds with his Cabinet colleague over the plans. Telegraph The Times is behind a pay wall so I have not attached a link to it.

George_Osborne_0437

Dr. Floyd Millen — Tue, 17 Aug 2010 17:17:12 +0000

George_Osborne_0437

Dr. Floyd Millen — Tue, 17 Aug 2010 17:17:51 +0000

- Chancellor of the Exchequer “Building the Economy for the Future”,

Dr. Floyd Millen — Tue, 17 Aug 2010 17:19:33 +0000

Chancellor of the Exchequer, Rt Hon George Osborne MP, delivers a speech titled “Building the Economy for the Future”, at London’s Bloomberg Centre. In today’s speech the Chancellor of the Exchequer, Rt Hon George Osborne, stated that the UK’s economic recovery would be sporadic, but said that the government was committed to its recovery proposals. His statement mirrors that of Mervyn King, the governor of the Bank of England, who also recently said that the UK’s economic recovery would be ‘choppy’. Mr Osborne’s speech precedes the Coalition’s Comprehensive Spending Review (CPS) which is scheduled to be published in the autumn. It is anticipated that the CPS will contain plans for many Whitehall departments to make cuts of approximately 25% in an effort to reduce the £155billion budget deficit. Mr Osborne said that the coalition will be adopting “a ruthless approach to waste, inefficiency and bureaucracy in government” and that this could warrant the introduction of “external expertise”. He said “we will tackle soaring welfare bills and we will refocus public spending in those areas that will make a difference to our long-term economic success”. The plans conveyed by Mr. Osborne in his speech were criticised by the Shadow Chancellor, Alistair Darling, who said that the Coalition was “running the risk of derailing the economy” by divesting too much capital out of the public sector too quickly. To read the full speech please click here.

boris-johnson

Dr. Floyd Millen — Tue, 17 Aug 2010 21:45:34 +0000

boris-johnson

Dr. Floyd Millen — Tue, 17 Aug 2010 21:46:38 +0000

- IPPR Publishes report on personalisation in Welfare to Work

Dr. Floyd Millen — Tue, 17 Aug 2010 21:57:41 +0000

The Institute of Public Policy Research (IPPR) published Now It's Personal: Learning from welfare-to-work approaches around the world. This document consists of a collection of brief essays which analyse and exhibit international experiences. More specifically, it examines the role of the personal adviser as a method of investigating how policy can accomplish its goal of providing personalised employment support and advice. The papers contained within this document reinforce the argument for citizen focused welfare. They provide guidance as well as warnings to the UK’s government and providers working within different sectors with regards to making a single work programme financially viable and receptive to constituents’ requirements. See the full report here

- Mayor Asks the Coalition and Businesses to Provide Assistance in Getting Londoners Back to Work

Dr. Floyd Millen — Tue, 17 Aug 2010 22:03:00 +0000

London’s Mayor, Boris Johnson, published a report entitled ‘Increasing Employment in London’, which calls upon the UK’s government and businesses to assist London’s citizens in gaining access to education and employment opportunities. In this documentation the Mayor sets out five key points which he believes will enhance the existing jobs and skills opportunities for London’s constituents. These include:

welfare reform,
making work pay,
more coherent public sector support,
a more influential role for the Mayor in terms of affecting the skills and employment agenda, and
building on the pledge made by the GLA Group and London Boroughs to deliver approximately 5,000 apprenticeships by 2010.

Click here to read the full report.

g4s

Dr. Floyd Millen — Wed, 18 Aug 2010 05:38:31 +0000

g4s

Dr. Floyd Millen — Wed, 18 Aug 2010 05:39:42 +0000

G4S

Dr. Floyd Millen — Wed, 18 Aug 2010 05:42:46 +0000

SERCO

Dr. Floyd Millen — Wed, 18 Aug 2010 05:46:08 +0000

g4s

Dr. Floyd Millen — Wed, 18 Aug 2010 05:47:17 +0000

g4s

Dr. Floyd Millen — Wed, 18 Aug 2010 05:48:46 +0000

- G4S appoints new Managing Director for Welfare to Work

Dr. Floyd Millen — Wed, 18 Aug 2010 05:51:42 +0000

G4S Care & Justice Services today welcomes Sean Williams to the business, taking up the role of Managing Director of its Welfare to Work division. Bringing with him a decade of experience in helping disadvantaged jobseekers into secure and sustainable employment, Sean’s appointment is a critical element in G4S’s strategy to become the largest provider of welfare-to-work services in the UK under the Coalition Government's new Work Programme. Sean said “The Work Programme represents a unique opportunity to improve the lives of the 5½ million people of working age currently claiming out-of-work benefits.. G4S are a long-term partner for the reform and improvement of welfare-to-work in the UK and it’s a great time to be joining an organisation with the scale, capacity, jobs, partners and vision to transform welfare-to-work in this country for the better.” Before joining G4S, Sean was the Development Director for Serco Welfare to Work where he led their successful entry into the employment services space. Prior to this role, Sean led front-line welfare-to-work operations in the UK and Australia, helping many thousands of disadvantaged unemployed individuals to find work. His career to date also includes roles with Ingeus and Working Links where he gained experience in both policy and programme design and operational management. David Banks, Group Managing Director of G4S Care and Justice Services said “Sean brings a breadth of operational, delivery and policy experience in welfare-to-work that is unmatched and we are delighted to have secured him for our team. We invest heavily in nurturing our own people through training and development and are consequently well placed to transfer this knowledge into the welfare-to-work arena. Our moral imperative is to do more to help unemployed people to find decent, meaningful employment and we know that Sean will embrace the challenge of doing so.” David Banks, Group Managing Director of G4S Care and Justice Services said “Sean brings a breadth of operational, delivery and policy experience in welfare-to-work that is unmatched and we are delighted to have secured him for our team. We invest heavily in nurturing our own people through training and development and are consequently well placed to transfer this knowledge into the welfare-to-work arena. Our moral imperative is to do more to help unemployed people to find decent, meaningful employment and we know that Sean will embrace the challenge of doing so.” For more information please contact Elaine Brewster or Elizabeth Jones on 01386 858585. - Ends - Notes to editors: The Work Programme is the centre-piece of the Coalition Government's welfare reform plans. It replaces most current back-to-work schemes including Flexible New Deal. It aims to 'provide a coherent package of support for people out of work, regardless of the barriers they face or the benefits they claim'. The Work Programme is currently being tendered and will go-live from the middle of next year. G4S Care & Justice Services G4S Care & Justice Services (UK) is a pioneering provider of critical services and employs almost 8,000 people to deliver a wide range of services to central and local governments and their agencies, regulatory bodies, UK police forces and the private sector. Its range of services includes: adult and youth custody and rehabilitation; children's services; court services; inter-prison transportation; electronic monitoring; immigration detention and escorting; and police support services. G4S plc G4S is the world's leading security solutions group, which specialises in outsourcing of business processes in sectors where security and safety risks are considered a strategic threat. G4S is the largest employer quoted on the London Stock Exchange and has a secondary stock exchange listing in Copenhagen. G4S has operations in over 110 countries and over 585,000 employees. For more information on G4S, visit www.g4s.com.

- Framework Invitation to Tender delayed

Dr. Floyd Millen — Wed, 18 Aug 2010 21:30:55 +0000

We have learned that DWP's plan to issue the Invitation to Tender on 19 August 2010 has been delayed... We understand that this will only be a short delay. We will update you when we hear more...

- 100 days 100 cuts: TUC publishes new report

Dr. Floyd Millen — Thu, 19 Aug 2010 08:00:35 +0000

The Trades Union Congress (TUC) Publishes a New Report Detailing the Impact of the Coalition’s Current Spending Cuts The TUC recently published a new research report in which it exhibits the cumulative impacts of the Coalition Government’s current spending cuts. The TUC contends that “some of the UK’s poorest families have been hit by more than 10 unfair spending cuts during the first 100 days of the new Government…”. Their research provides a detailed breakdown of current public spending cuts and shows which cuts have had the biggest impacts on poor families in the UK. Below is a non-exhaustive list of cuts that the TUC believes are unfair to poor families: · Housing Benefit – Approximately 1 million households will loose around £624 every year as a result of the alterations to housing benefit. · Homes and Communities Agency – Reductions to programme funding including Kickstart, affordable housing, gypsies and traveller support and Housing Market Renewal (improvements to housing in deprived areas). Cuts in this area total around £450 million. · Young Person’s Guarantee – Approximately £450 million has been divested from the Guarantee, which will be dissolved in April 2011. This was a pledge to guarantee unemployed people access to a job, training or work after six months of unemployment. · Working Neighbourhood Fund – £50 million has been cut from this fund, which aimed to help unemployed in socially deprived areas move into work. TUC General Secretary, Brendan Barber, said: “Before the election we were told that cuts could be achieved through efficiency savings, that the most vulnerable would be protected and front-line services reserved. These pledges have not lasted 10 days.” Barber went on to say: “…these cuts are doing the opposite of what the Government intends. Far from securing economic recovery, they are slamming on the economic brakes. Growth will be well below potential an there is a growing risk of a double-dip recession.” The report

- The Coalition Aim to Purge the Big Society Agenda of Bureaucracy

Dr. Floyd Millen — Thu, 19 Aug 2010 08:20:59 +0000

On Tuesday Nick Hurd, Minister for Civil Society, and Mark Prisk, Minister for Business and Enterprise, announced that Robin Hodgson, Barron Hodgson of Astley as the new appointed leader of an innovative taskforce which has been strategically designed to flush out bureaucratic burdens on the voluntary sector. The announcement coincides with the Government’s commitment to making it easier for people to run charities, voluntary groups and social enterprises. The government claims that the lessening of bureaucratic burdens will free-up time and resources allowing organisations to make bigger impacts within their communities as well as helping to mobilise the Government’s Big Society agenda. Nick Hurd, the Minister for Civil Society, said: “This is a tough time for small civil society organisations and we want to make life easier for them. So I have asked for specific ideas on how we can thin the thicket of bureaucracy and regulation that too often gets in the way. Every pound or hour we can save a small voluntary organisation is a pound or hour that could be better spent.” Lord Hodgson said: “We need to swing the balance back in favour of entrepreneurial spirit. We want to make sure that charities spend more time on their valuable work to support our communities. This taskforce will build on previous research into burdens on small business to look at how we can encourage more people to work together to improve their communities and help one another” Cabinet office

- The Government considers rescinding benefits from Unrelenting Drug Users

Dr. Floyd Millen — Fri, 20 Aug 2010 12:29:30 +0000

The Home Office is considering rescinding the welfare benefits received by individuals who are dependent upon drug and alcohol if they refuse to treatment for their condition. This idea recently appeared in a consultation paper regarding the government’s drug strategy for England, Wales and Scotland. The paper also recommends that people within this cohort should not be required to work whilst receiving treatment for their condition. However, the Social Security Advisory Committee argued that withdrawing benefits could lead addicts to engage in illegal activities, such as theft and prostitution, in order to obtain capital. Martin Barnes, Chief Executive of DrugScope, was highly sceptical of this strategy and “seriously questioned” whether linking benefits sanctions to a mandatory requirement to undergo medical treatment was fair and effective. He contended that there was no evidence that this approach to employment would work, especially for those whore are vulnerable and marginalised. See story

- Financial Rewards Should be Distributed to Employers who Take on NEETs

Dr. Floyd Millen — Fri, 20 Aug 2010 12:39:17 +0000

A new report by the think-tank DEMOS argues that employers should be paid to offer internships to disadvantaged young people Not in Education, Employment or Training (NEET). DEMOS contends that the government could make significant savings by encouraging young NEET people off of welfare and into employment. The report claims that in June 2010, nearly 400,000 16 to 17 year olds and 3.5 million 18 to 24 year olds were unemployed; and that the 16 to 18 year olds classified as NEET cost the state approximately £4.6 billion per year. The Cabinet Office Report 'Fair Access to the Professions' published in June last year found that internships significantly increased people’s chances of obtaining employment. However, DEMOS’s recent study ‘Access All Areas’ found that young people with mow qualifications were not presented with the opportunity to obtain critical internship experience as most internships were aimed at university graduates.. The report recommends that financial rewards be distributed to employers who offer good quality placements which give young people within the NEET cohort an opportunity to enhance their workplace skills. See Personnel Today

40,000+ hits to this site. Thank you

Dr. Floyd Millen — Fri, 20 Aug 2010 12:51:33 +0000

There has now been over 40,000 hits to this site. THANK YOU..... PLEASE KEEP VISITING AND CONTINUE TO LET US KNOW MOOOORE!!! Floyd

- Increasing Numbers of Public Sector Suppliers becoming Insolvent

Dr. Floyd Millen — Mon, 23 Aug 2010 12:31:40 +0000

The number of bankruptcies involving private enterprises that rely on public sector contracts has increased considerably in the past year according to the accountancy firm Wilkins Kennedy. Research by Wilkins Kennedy suggests that insolvencies for public sector suppliers rose by 47 per cent over the past 12 months. This can be compared to the 5 per cent decrease in insolvencies which occurred previously within the same period. During the first six months of 2010, 168 firms operating within the health, social services, education and defence sectors were liquidated, compared with 114 in the same period in 2009. The health and social care sectors have been hit the worst, with 106 firms collapsing this year. Anthony Cork, the Director of Wilkins Kennedy said: “While the real cost-cutting that this government has threatened has yet to take place we are already seeing a wide range of companies fail because of delayed contracts.” Mr Cork believes that the October Spending Review will “heap on even more pain”. Source: Public Finance http://www.publicfinance.co.uk/news/2010/08/public-sector-supplier-insolvency-grows/ ...................... In W2W we wait pensively to hear further details on the framework and the Work Programme. These decisions will have an immediate affect on the solvency of many organisations in the sector. Tomorrow I will be posting further thoughts on other threats to the provider base.....

dwp_logo

Dr. Floyd Millen — Tue, 24 Aug 2010 09:36:55 +0000

Framework

Dr. Floyd Millen — Tue, 24 Aug 2010 09:38:21 +0000

- DWP Tendering Opportunities

Dr. Floyd Millen — Tue, 24 Aug 2010 09:40:31 +0000

DWP Tendering Opportunities There are currently two main tendering opportunities available to access on the DWP website. The first of these consists of delivering ‘Low Value Welfare to Work Training’. Your organisation may currently provide or want to provide Low Value Provision (LVP) for welfare to work related training. DWP defines LVP as ‘one-off training requirements up to the value of 50K’. In order to bid for and supply LVP, providers are asked to complete an online application form which can be accessed on the DWP website by clicking here and following the instructions. The there is no closing date for this tender. . . The second opportunity available revolves around facilitating the delivery of a new framework for the provision of employment related services. The framework will last for four years and is expected to be the default vehicle for identifying all DWP employment related support services. Once the framework is established, no further organisations will be accepted to assist with its delivery. Please click here to view the relevant documentation needed to apply for this tendering opportunity. The closing date for this tender is 27^th September, 2010. Source: Department for Work and Pensions

- Latest Labour Market Outlook Survey Finds Employers Offshoring and Recruiting Overseas Talent.

Dr. Floyd Millen — Tue, 24 Aug 2010 10:30:40 +0000

The latest CIPD and KPMG Labour Market Outlook survey has found that nearly 600 employers are experiencing difficulties in recruiting skilled people from the UK as the country’s economy slowly stabilises. This has compelled them to turn to offshoring and recruiting migrant workers to fill in the shortfall in ‘home-grown’ talent. Results from the survey show that approximately 10 per cent of private sector firms intend to offshore UK jobs between now and June 2011. Of those planning to do this around 65 per cent said that they will be offshoring to India, 36% per cent to China and 29 percent to Eastern Europe. CIPD Public Policy Advisor, Gerwyn Davies, warned that “employers running global operations will be forced to offshore skilled jobs to other countries if the right skills mix in the UK cannot be found”. Read the full survey here ........... It is quite remarkable that companies are seeking talent from abroad when unemployment is at an all time high and we have increasing numbers of young people and graduates seeking work - not to mention the reams of people who have been made redundant. This appears to be an excuse by some companies to cut costs by going abroad: Maybe I'm being cynical?

- Newsletter 24th August 2010 DWP tender, serco, neets etc..

Dr. Floyd Millen — Tue, 24 Aug 2010 19:47:05 +0000

Newsletter 24th November 2010, DWP tender opportunities, Serco on the Work Programme, Neets and much much more...

George_Osborne_0437

Dr. Floyd Millen — Wed, 25 Aug 2010 13:32:52 +0000

George_Osborne_0437

Dr. Floyd Millen — Wed, 25 Aug 2010 13:33:39 +0000

- Budget 2010 Institute for fiscal Studies announces that the poorest will be worst hit

Dr. Floyd Millen — Wed, 25 Aug 2010 13:38:36 +0000

The June 2010 Emergency Budget set out a number of tax and benefit changes to be introduced by 2014-15. For the first time, the Budget documentation contained distributional analysis of the changes by household income, which showed that the measures to be introduced between June 2010 and April 2012 were progressive relative to household income, and in his Budget speech the Chancellor used this as evidence that it was a 'progressive Budget'. In their post-budget briefing, the Institute for Fiscal Studies cast doubt on this claiming that many of the progressive tax rises that will be introduced over the next two years were announced by the previous Government, and that the Budget measures scheduled to come in between 2012 and 2014 would be generally regressive. Moreover, the distributional analysis in the Budget documentation did not include the effects of some cuts to housing benefit, Disability Living Allowance and tax credits that are likely to affect the poorer half of the income distribution more than the richer half. James Browne, senior research economist at the IFS, told the Today programme that measures coming into effect in 2012-2014 and changes to housing benefits, disability living allowance and tax benefits will mean the "poorest tenth of the population will lose more as a percentage of their income than the richest tenth". Mr Browne added it was "very difficult to see" how the combination of 20% tax rises and 80% spending cuts could not affect the poor more than the rich. The report in brief The full report ......................................................... I suppose Karen Buck MP and Simon Hughes MP will have a lot to say about this. See our previous posting. As far as providers are concerned; careful attention needs to made to ensure that in-work calculations are effectively and correctly undertaken and that claimants are clearly advised of the parameters of receiving their benefits and the level of participation required!!

- GCSE Pupils Forced Out of Further Education and onto Benefits

Dr. Floyd Millen — Thu, 26 Aug 2010 11:14:21 +0000

This summer has seen a considerably high proportion of students achieving exceptional GSCE and A Level results. This coupled, with the shortage of higher education places means that colleges will be saturated with high achieving GCSE students and prospective university students who have been unable to secure a place at their chosen institution. . The University College Union (UCU) have issued a warning in response to this situation saying that the pressure on colleges to meet performance targets means that they will be more selective about their intake, which could force poorly performing GCSE pupils “out of college and into a competitive job market or onto the dole”. The union’s Senior Further Education Policy Officer, Dan Taubman, said:

This is particularly worrying when we consider the number of young people already Not in Education, Employment or Training and the current job market. We see little economic or social benefit in forcing more young people onto the dole and believe the government has to look seriously at funding more places in further and higher education as part of the forthcoming spending review”.

See the full release here

- Flexible jobs shortage could hamper government single parent work plans

Dr. Floyd Millen — Thu, 26 Aug 2010 11:21:50 +0000

In its emergency budget the government announced that it will need 100,000 single parents to secure employment in 2011, when their youngest child reaches five as opposed to the current age of 10. Additionally, 120,000 single parents whose youngest child is seven will be required to source employment. However, the findings in a new report ‘Changing the Workplace’ by the charity Gingerbread suggest that over 500 lone parents felt that there were few jobs that offered them flexible working arrangements; partially indicating the impracticality of the government’s aforementioned employment plans.

The Chief Executive of Gingerbread, Fiona Weir, claimed that recent policy alterations were pressurising single parents to find employment or risk benefit cuts, and argued that this is not what is needed. She said: “Nationally, nearly 60% of single parents are already in work and most of those on benefits say they want a job. A workplace that works better for single parents is the missing part of the jigsaw. Without action from government and employers many single parents will remain trapped in poverty”

See the Full report

- Employers still confused by fit note

Dr. Floyd Millen — Thu, 26 Aug 2010 11:30:09 +0000

Numerous employers are confused about how they should respond to the medical advice from GPs on the new Fit Note. According to the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP)

Doctors are able to advise people who are on sick leave for over 7 days whether, with extra support from their employer, they could return to work earlier”. However, according to the Scottish occupational health and safety advice service, Healthy Working Lives (HLW), employers have been confused as to “…whether or not an employee can return to work before the end date stated on Med 3”.

HLW advice published in August states that

“if your employee agrees with you that it is appropriate to return to work, and you are able to support them to do so, they do not have to wait until the end of the period stated to return. This is unchanged by the fit note and was the case with the previous Med 3”.

Personnel Today

- Sickness and Disability Benefits Enquiries Increasing for the Citizens Advice Bureau (CAB)

Dr. Floyd Millen — Mon, 06 Sep 2010 07:52:09 +0000

With so many flaws in the current system we predict the number of people who come to us for advice on this benefit will only continue to increase” .

Gillian Guy, Chief Executive (Citizens Advice Bureau) . Since ESA was introduced (October 2008) the Citizens Advice Bureau has been monitoring its impact. The CAB is concerned about the poor level of knowledge of ESA rules among Jobcentre Plus and DWP medical staff. It is also concerned about the inadequate administration systems and the crude nature of the work capability assessment (use our search function to see our previous comments about the WCA and Atos Healthcare). . The Citizen’s Advice Bureau (CAB) across England and Wales dealt with 6% more benefit problems between April-June 2010, compared to the same period last year. New figures indicate that in the first quarter of the financial year (2010/11) the total rise in welfare benefit(s) queries was due to large increases in advice on sickness and disability benefits.

Employment and Support Allowance (ESA) rose 77% (from 25,528 problems in Q1 09/10 to 45,257 in Q1 10/11).

Carers Allowance rose 17% (from 11,558 problems in Q1 09/10 to 13,488 in Q1 10/11).

Disability Living Allowance (DLA) rose 11% (from 98,380 problems in Q1 09/10 to 108,742 in Q1 10.11)

Citizens Advice Bureau press article

- Yes Minister appoints former Virgin Executive

Dr. Floyd Millen — Mon, 06 Sep 2010 07:56:58 +0000

Yes Minister is pleased to announce that it has appointed Horatio Walker as its Business & Commercial Director. . VIRGIN DIRECT / VIRGIN NET Horatio Walker LLB (Hons) MBA was the Business Development Manager for Virgin Direct / Virgin Net, a Start-up within the Virgin Group to launch Virgin Unlimited. . Key Achievements : Negotiated and lead the development and pilot launch of an innovative discounted / cash-back credit card in strategic partnership with RBS. Lead commercial / business analysis and profitability modeling of diverse initiatives such as on-line car purchase with short-listed partner Emap. . FIRST-E UK THE INTERNET BANK Horatio was Head of Product Strategy at first-e UK the Internet Bank where he was the lead deal-maker and contractual negotiator. Key Achievements : achieved first “green field” launch of UK on-line current account. Fast-track sourcing / delivery of a range of e-solutions for Credit Card, Unsecured Loans, ISA, Car Insurance, Travel Insurance, Foreign Exchange and Energy Services. Life Assurance, Brokerage and Mortgage search service brought to pilot. Navigated complexities of EC directives and UK regulations on “pass-porting” into other member states . Horatio was on the Board of Directors of the ethical bank (c£50m) Kingdom Bank. For 12 year Horatio worked with Birmingham Midshires, a leading UK Building Society, assets exceeding £8bn and 1m+ customer base (since merged with Halifax PLc). He held a number of roles including; Head of Customer Market Planning, Business Development Leader and Head of Investment Services. Horatio has also held various business assignments with,

Wolverhampton Credit Union,

BLJ Solicitors,

London; Rochas Group of Companies.

Horatio was also Managing Director and owner of CBS Construction.

- Work Programme contract termination period axed!

Dr. Floyd Millen — Mon, 06 Sep 2010 08:15:29 +0000

The recent cancellation of FND and FND1 caused distress and much anguish in the sector. Organisations had spent considerable time, effort and resources preparing for and finally submitting tenders. The financial loss will have lasting repercussions for many years, not least of which is the acknowledgment that contracts are now only as strong as their termination period. For many, the only saving grace was the twelve month termination notice period negotiated by ERSA The current Draft framework schedule has raised an uncomfortable problem which is likely to have a knock on effect on contracting and wider investment into the sector. Schedule 4 Call-off Terms and Conditions

8.3 Break - The Contracting Body shall have the right to terminate the Contract at any time by giving three (3) Months' written notice to the Prime Contractor.

8.4 Framework Agreement - The Contracting Body may terminate the Contract by giving written notice to the Prime Contractor with immediate effect if the Framework Agreement is terminated for any reason whatsoever.

........... I do hope that ERSA is negotiating fervently on this matter as it was ERSA that had negotiated the 12 month termination period for FND. Please bear in mind that DWP is very likely to negotiate/amend this....WHY?.... because they have stated that all documents are subject to change....

The Framework Terms and Conditions and Schedule 4-Call-Off Terms and Conditions. NB these Terms and Conditions remain in draft and DWP reserves the right to make amendments to them. The Framework Doc

- JCP short-term contracts come to an end

Dr. Floyd Millen — Mon, 06 Sep 2010 08:21:51 +0000

The recent economic downturn and subsequent increase in the number of Jobseeker’s Allowance claimants resulted in a rising demand for Jobcentre Plus services. In order to meet this demand, Jobcentre Plus recruited an additional 16,000 staff. In our recent posting we highlighted that JCP has been very successful in placing jobseekers into work. . We have learnt that 'most' of the 16,000 appointed on short term contracts from 2008 will not have their contracts renewed. This is not a blanket policy but it will be applied in specific geographic areas. We are also aware that Core Hours 8:30- 6pm - otherwise know as 'Chartered Hours' - are also being brought in. There will/may be a consultation process.... ................... It will be interesting to see how the unions will respond. . At the same time, a package of temporary ‘downturn measures’ was developed for use in Jobcentre Plus offices as a short-term solution to help manage increasing customer volumes and staff workloads, whilst maintaining levels of customer service. . The report below presents findings from qualitative research which explored Jobcentre Plus staff’s perceptions of the downturn measures in order to gain an insight into their effectiveness. REPORT

- UK is likely to experience a chronic skills deficit

Dr. Floyd Millen — Mon, 06 Sep 2010 08:30:43 +0000

Mike Jones, Siemens Human Resources Director in the UK and north-west Europe, has informed People Management that the UK is likely to experience a chronic skills deficit unless private-sector employers formulate a ‘joined-up approach’ with the government and education sectors. Stimulating interest in STEM subjects (Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths) amongst school students along with the development of training facilities is vital if we are to meet the increasing demand for technical skills. Mike Jones said that

There is a need to develop an estimated 50,000 skilled engineers, project managers, construction supervisors and craft workers nationally over the next 10 years”

Full article

- Newsletter; Work Programme contracts, 16,000 JCP contracts come to an end, former Banker joins Yes Minister

Dr. Floyd Millen — Mon, 06 Sep 2010 08:41:32 +0000

Newsletter 6th September 2010: Work Programme contracts have reduced termination period, 16,000 JCP short-term contracts come to an end. Banker and former Virgin Executive joins Yes Minister.

- Weatherspoons to Recruit 1,000 School Leavers

Dr. Floyd Millen — Tue, 07 Sep 2010 10:41:40 +0000

High Street pub chain, JD Weatherpoon, has pledged to create approximately 1,000 new jobs for school leavers over the next twelve months. The positions being offered include front-of-house customer service and roles within the food kitchens. The new workers will not come into contact with any alcohol. Furthermore, new employees will be given the opportunity to study for NVQ qualifications, with the chance to complete a professional business diploma or a honours degree if they progress to managerial status. The Head of Personnel and Training at Weatherspoon, Mandy Ferries, said “We believe that many school-leavers will welcome the opportunity to work for Wetherspoon. We can offer them the chance to study as part of their work as well as progress within the company”. Last year, Personnel Today, learnt that over 40 per cent of the 10,000 new employees Weatherspoons intends to recruit will be sourced from the UK’s pool of long-term unemployed people. Personnel Today

- Planned Housing Benefits Cuts Forecast to Exacerbate Child Poverty

Dr. Floyd Millen — Tue, 07 Sep 2010 10:50:56 +0000

New research conducted by Cambridge University on behalf of the housing association Shelter has concluded that the government’s cuts in housing benefits will exacerbate the living conditions of the 54,000 children already living below the poverty line. . The study claims that families will be left with less than £100 a week to cover all their outgoing costs including bills, transport and food. . Campbell Robb, Shelter’s Chief Executive, said, “As a result of these cuts, many families are going to face a stark choice between eviction and possible homelessness, or finding cheaper accommodation. Unfortunately, most will find the only housing they can afford will be either substandard or lead to overcrowded conditions”. . John Healey, Shadow Housing Minister, said Shelter’s report “As more and more damning evidence emerges of the impact these cuts will have, the government must urgently re-think its proposals or thousands of children will suffer the consequences”. Full Story

- Robustness of Proposed LEPs Questioned

Dr. Floyd Millen — Wed, 08 Sep 2010 13:16:44 +0000

Earlier this week the government confirmed that it had received 56 requests from councils and businesses across England to establish Local Enterprise Partnerships (LEPs). However, on the same day a Commons select committee inquiry raised concerns over the capability of the bodies which will succeed the nine regional development agencies in 2010. The Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, Rt Hon Eric Pickles MP said that the proposals to establish LEPs are “just the beginning of a new radical way of delivering prosperity and rebalancing the economy”. Commenting upon this issue, Rt Hon Vince Cable MP the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, said “The key is that these partnerships are built from the bottom up and will have the flexibility to determine their own agenda rather than have it handed down to them by Whitehall”. Conversely, Paul Newark, Head of Organisation at the Trades Union Congress, informed the business, innovation and skills select committee that creating 50-60 new LEPs would result in each one lacking ‘critical mass’, consequently, they would be “too small to carry the clout and weight they need to support economic growth in their areas”. He told MPs of his concern over the amount of resources available to the proposed LEPs and suggested that the establishment of 12-15 would more reasonable. Cities and counties that have put bids forward include Liverpool, Leeds, Leicestershire, Worcestershire, Greater Cambridgeshire and Greater Peterborough. A full list of LEP bidders can be viewed at: x-apple-ql-id://B0DAC285-49C2-4162-B8E9-8ECCB36428AA/x-apple-ql-magic/7FCD2141-A454-47B8-ACC8-961951FE5C4C.pdf

- Coalition of Charities Castigate the new Benefits Health Test

Dr. Floyd Millen — Wed, 08 Sep 2010 13:31:55 +0000

The much debated WCA test under which the government reassess the medical condition of 2.62 million incapacity benefit claimants. Has come under attack. Again! A coalition of over 30 charities including the Papworth Trust, Mind and the Multiple Sclerosis Society claim that they have been “overwhelmed by evidence showing the assessments are inaccurate and unjust”. These charities said that of the 166,000 people that have so far been found fit for work, approximately a third have gone on to appeal. Government sources have admitted that there have been issues with the new assessment, saying that ministers had modified it in order “to better recognise people suffering from cancer and mental health conditions”. The consortium of charities has also expressed concern over the changes introduced in the emergency budget tying housing benefit to jobseekers allowance. They said “it is concerning that an assessment which we do not believe has demonstrated its ability to place people correctly on to employment and support allowance may become the basis of eligibility for a far wider range of benefits”. Source: The Guardian http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2010/sep/06/benefit-health-tests-unjust-charities?&CMP=EMCSOCEML657

- Nearly 4 Million UK Households are Jobless

Dr. Floyd Millen — Thu, 09 Sep 2010 11:32:00 +0000

The latest Office for National Statistics (ONS) report on employment and worklessness shows that 3.9 million households in the UK have no working adults. This is an increase of 148,000 on last year and means that approximately 2 million children reside in workless households. The north-east of England has the largest proportion of workless households, with 24.3 per cent of homes in the region. Whilst the south-east has the lowest percentage of homes where no one works, at 14.2 per cent. Rt Hon Chris Grayling, the Minister for Employment, said that the figures were “a shocking reflection of the scale of worklessness across the UK. This is why we are pushing ahead with our Work Programme, which will give people who are out of work and need a job the right support at the right time so that they can get into employment”. Read More..... x-apple-ql-id://FA24CD22-2017-4069-B318-5D3C62486B99/x-apple-ql-magic/2F44AB27-D82B-40E7-894D-13B31385A547.pdf

- The Big Society: Financially Viable or Not?

Dr. Floyd Millen — Thu, 09 Sep 2010 11:38:57 +0000

Outsourcing public services to the third sector is a central tenet of the government’s Big Society initiative. However, the leaders of several charities have questioned the viability of the agenda as an increasing number of organisations needed to make this happen are likely to be hit by large spending cuts. Stephen Bubb, the Chief Executive of the Association of Chief Executives of Voluntary Organisations (ACEVO) expressed anxiety over what he called the government’s ‘salami-slicing’ approach to public spending cuts that will harm the sector. Mr Bubb went on to say “There are few signs that those involved in making cuts understand the importance of protecting our sector and its vital work in supporting communities”. Ann Blackmore, the Head of Campaigns and Communications at the National Council of Voluntary Organisations (NCVO) added “If you are genuine about wanting to transform public services to achieve this Big Society, you need to make sure you don’t knock out the organisations that will help you deliver that”. Read More.... x-apple-ql-id://58C3C400-914F-4731-B12B-143127388B93/x-apple-ql-magic/AB820D6D-7EB9-48A7-ADE2-7DD3C534F914.pdf

- Work and Pension Select Committee Announcement

Dr. Floyd Millen — Thu, 09 Sep 2010 12:18:33 +0000

Work and Pensions Committee Select Committee Announcement 9 September 2010 For Immediate Release: AN05 2010–11 ORAL EVIDENCE Work of the Department for Work and Pensions -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Wednesday 15 September 2010, Room 15, Committee Corridor At 9.30am Rt Hon Iain Duncan Smith MP, Secretary of State for Work and Pensions Sir Leigh Lewis, Permanent Secretary, DWP The Work and Pensions Committee will hold its first oral evidence session on 15 September with the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions. It is intended to be a broad-ranging session and will cover the range of policy changes and reviews announced by the Coalition Government which affect benefits and pensions. Further information Committee membership: Miss Anne Begg MP (Chair) (Lab, Aberdeen South), Harriett Baldwin MP (Con, West Worcestershire) Karen Bradley MP (Con, Staffordshire Moorlands), Ms Karen Buck MP (Lab, Westminster North), Margaret Curran MP (Lab, Glasgow East), Richard Graham MP (Con, Gloucester) Kate Green MP (Lab, Stretford and Urmston), Mr Oliver Heald MP (Con, North East Hertfordshire), Sajid Javid MP, (Con, Bromsgrove), Stephen Lloyd MP (Lib Dem, Eastbourne), Shabana Mahmood MP (Lab, Birmingham, Ladywood) Specific Committee Information: workpencom@parliament.uk/ 020 7219 5832 Media Information: Laura Humble humblel@parliament.uk/ 020 7219 2003 Committee Website: www.parliament.uk/workpencom Watch committees and parliamentary debates online: www.parliamentlive.tv Publications/Reports/Reference Material: Copies of all select committee reports are available from the Parliamentary Bookshop (12 Bridge St, Westminster, 020 7219 3890) or the Stationery Office (0845 7023474). Committee reports, press releases, evidence transcripts, Bills; research papers, a directory of MPs, plus Hansard (from 8am daily) and much more, can be found on www.parliament.uk

george_osborne

Dr. Floyd Millen — Fri, 10 Sep 2010 14:11:12 +0000

george_osborne

Dr. Floyd Millen — Fri, 10 Sep 2010 14:12:42 +0000

- Annual Welfare Bill to be reduced by £4 billion

Dr. Floyd Millen — Fri, 10 Sep 2010 14:15:00 +0000

In an interview with the BBC Rt Hon George Osborne, Chancellor of the Exchequer, announced that the government would be reducing the welfare bill by a further £4 billion. This is in addition to the £11 billion cuts that were announced earlier in June this year.

Mr Osborne claims that this move will compel “benefit cheats to take up employment as there will be no cash to support their exploitative lifestyles”. However, the Labour Party said that the coalition’s proposals would hit the poorest the hardest, in particular pensioners and disabled people, rather than the “work-shy”. The combined £4 billion and £11 billion cuts represent 6 per cent of the government’s total expenditure on welfare. Mr Osborne’s announcement was criticised by the Liberal Democrat MP, Bob Russell, who described the cuts as unethical and a “smokescreen”. He said, “Yes, let's deal with the welfare cheats. But the notion that they are responsible for all the ills of the nation is in fact a smokescreen and it's not very ethical”. British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) ..................................... I am not aware of the significance of this, but it has been said that this is not 'a real' story but that it was a timed announcement to deflect the media's attention from the phone tapping story (?)

- ERSA Work Programme speed dating

Dr. Floyd Millen — Fri, 10 Sep 2010 15:25:34 +0000

The Employment Related Services Association (ERSA) is hosting a series of Prime Pitch “speed dating” events to assist providers interested in subcontracting opportunities within DWP’s Work Programme to meet up with prime bidders. The Prime Pitch events are designed to bring together a number of prime bidders in the same venues at the same time, and are particularly supportive of smaller, specialist and voluntary sector providers in enabling them to pitch their services to multiple bidders in a single day. The Prime Pitch events are taking place on the following dates: London - Tuesday 12th October Church House, Dean's Yard, Westminster, London SW1P 3NZ Birmingham – Thursday 14th October National Motorcycle Museum, Coventry Road, Bickenhill, B92 0EJ Leeds – Friday 15th October The Loft, Cross York Street, Leeds, LS2 7EE ERSA are aiming to attract as many prime bidders as possible to host a speed dating table at each event, to talk to subcontractor candidates and disseminate their literature. A4e, Remploy, and FourstaR Employment & Skills are amongst the prime bidders who have already confirmed interest in hosting a table. Further prime bidder hosts will be announced in due course. Alongside ERSA’s membership, the Association of Learning Providers (ALP) and the Association of Chief Executives of Voluntary Organisations (ACEVO) have also confirmed their support in promoting the events to their membership. The events will be free for subcontractor representatives to attend (limited to two representatives per provider per event), although pre-registration is required. Each event will involve a separate morning and afternoon session (09.30am to 12.30pm and 13.30pm to 16.30pm). Participants will be regularly rotated between the tables, to ensure that subcontractor candidates get the chance to meet all of the prime bidders that they wish to see. The Prime Pitch events are being organised on behalf of ERSA by Carley Consult. To register to attend any of the Prime Pitch events, please e-mail Jane Shelley (jshelley@carleyconsult.co.uk), confirming the event(s) that you wish to attend, the names of your representatives, and whether you would prefer to attend the morning or the afternoon session. If you are a prime bidder and would like to receive an order form to host a table at any of the events, please also contact Jane at the same address.

Frank Field

Dr. Floyd Millen — Sat, 11 Sep 2010 09:04:16 +0000

- Frank Field MP announces plans to reduce summer holidays and support mothers

Dr. Floyd Millen — Sat, 11 Sep 2010 09:06:38 +0000

The Government's poverty adviser Frank Field MP has said that the school summer holiday should be shortened in order to improve the prospects of poorer pupils,. Frank Field has explained that disadvantaged children fall further behind during the extended break because they are not being read to and tutored. In an interview with The Times, Mr Field called for the school year to be broken into four or five terms with shorter holidays to help poorer pupils who do not receive support at home. He said: "Long holidays damage those who are already disadvantaged. They drop behind, they are not being read to, or tutored or talked to in the same way. They have often fallen behind by the beginning of the school year." The Labour MP for Birkenhead said the six-week break was "out of kilter" with working parents, many of whom struggle to pay for childcare and activities. Mr Field is expected to present his interim report on "child poverty and life chances" to David Cameron in the next few days. Mr Field will also recommend that mothers are given up to £25,000 in advance child benefit payments to enable them to stay at home to look after young children. Associated Press The Telegraph

Prime Pitch logo 7

Dr. Floyd Millen — Sat, 11 Sep 2010 09:08:03 +0000

iain_1569209c

Dr. Floyd Millen — Sat, 11 Sep 2010 09:26:22 +0000

- Iain Duncan Smith looks to Germany for inspiration

Dr. Floyd Millen — Sat, 11 Sep 2010 09:27:13 +0000

Iain Duncan Smith the Work and Pensions Secretary, is looking at a radical scheme to change the lifestyles of families in which nobody of working age has ever had a job by improving their basic skills. Iain Duncan Smith is examining a German approach where long-term unemployed families have been encouraged to create a "household culture" with trips to the cinema and evening classes. The family will be the centrepiece of the Coalitions welfare reforms IDS has been promoting the "family futures" scheme, pioneered in a town near Dusseldorf, where 1,661 households had three or more individuals who were long-term unemployed. The welfare cost to the German exchequer was €31m (£25m) a year – and the plan to focus on families brought the bill down by one-third. The scheme was designed by Maximilien Dorostian; European Director for A4E welfare to Work.

Parents had lost the "working habit" and fear losing housing support or seeing income cut if they got a job. The younger adults often had issues with figures of authority and unrealistic expectations.

The younger members think they should all be the boss in an office with people working for them. It's because they have never worked and never interacted with people," he said. "We have to give them this habit so they can have realistic expectations of work." .

The savings were dramatic despite the initial costs being double those of the scheme targeting unemployed individuals. By cutting workless households by one-third, the German taxpayer saved €10m a year One of the drawbacks is that money needs to be spent now to save the Treasury cash later. The chancellor, George Osborne, has a simple formula for the Department of Work and Pensions – officials must find £5 of savings for every £1 they spend reforming the benefits system. Using that logic, £800m would be made available if Duncan Smith could find an extra £4bn in welfare cuts demanded by the chancellor this week. The Guardian See our previous blog

Prime Pitch logo

Dr. Floyd Millen — Sat, 11 Sep 2010 12:45:21 +0000

Prime Pitch logo

Dr. Floyd Millen — Sat, 11 Sep 2010 12:46:24 +0000

- Big Society: New Dawn or False Hope

Dr. Floyd Millen — Mon, 13 Sep 2010 08:00:41 +0000

The Big Society- New Dawn or False Hope- by Gary Parker, Chair of Future Communities, a social Enterprise based in South London . Commenting on recent announcements concerning the Coalition governments ‘Big Society’ initiative, the Labour leadership contender, David Miliband described it as ‘ground we should never have conceded to the Conservatives’. To this end at least, there is consensus that social action by individuals and community organisations to improve and develop their local communities has all party support. However to develop such initiatives and projects will require significant changes in government policy and new ways of working in partnership with the community and voluntary sector, particularly by government departments and civil servants, who will have to undertake a much more supportive role to develop the ‘new localism’ agenda, rather than a centralised and more directive driven role. It is still not clear exactly what the ‘Big Society’ initiative will entail in practise, but an informal network called the Big Society Network (BSN) has been formed and is currently holding a series of ‘round table’ discussions in various parts of the country including London, Bristol and Bradford. The BSN is not receiving any public funding, but is talking to various charitable trusts and other funding organisations on how it might develop its work. Funding is an issue, recently, Croydon Council in South London cut its direct grant budget to community groups by 66%; it is also likely that local authorities, whatever their political leadership, are likely to make significant cuts in voluntary sector grants, in the wake of the pre- budget statement by the Chancellor George Osborne, in October this year. Already some forecasts have estimated that there have been cuts to national community and voluntary sector funding of over £700 million in the current financial year, so new funding streams and sources will need to be accessed or developed in order to develop ‘Big Society’ projects. So where does this leave the development of the ‘Big Society’ initiative, a number of so-called ‘Vanguard Communities’, were announced by David Cameron in July, which are;

Eden Valley (Cumbria),
Liverpool,
Windsor & Maidenhead
Sutton,

A range of projects are being developed including:

Community backed affordable housing in Cumbria,
Devolved powers to parish councils - Windsor & Maidenhead;
Volunteer projects- Liverpool
Community hub for young people in the London Borough of Sutton.

While these projects are being supported in the short term by the DCLG, in the long term, even projects run by volunteers will require some funding in terms of support and management of such projects. Given that many agencies who might have supported such projects, such as Primary Care Trusts, Future Builders, Capacity Builders and others are now being abolished or restructured, volunteering, self help and income generation are the only real alternatives. Without some support at local government level the long term development of such projects is open to question in my view. However the Big Society initiative should not be dismissed purely as a ‘smokescreen’ for public spending cuts, many communities and individuals will welcome the opportunity to develop neighbourhood services and projects, without what many of them see as bureaucratic or centralist intervention by local government and Quango’s. In my view this is a significant initiative and the ‘flag ship’ policy of the new government, which will continue to develop regardless of economic circumstances. How the initiative develops at local level, particularly in disadvantaged areas, were people are unable or unwilling to volunteer or may not have the confidence or skills to do so, remains to be seen. The strength of this initiative is that if it can genuinely empower communities to take social action, this has the potential to transform these communities and pose some awkward questions for local politicians and local government officers, who for too long have sought to manage community action and development into existing structures and initiatives regardless of neighbourhood circumstances and not always in a true spirit of partnership. Notes Future Communities is a social enterprise based in South London, which works at neighbourhood level to fundraise, develop community initiatives and projects and train volunteers and community activists. For more information email- gary.parker@cntassociates.com

- Pathways to Work: THE VERDICT!

Dr. Floyd Millen — Mon, 13 Sep 2010 10:25:54 +0000

The report came out a while ago.. nevertheless.... Some of you will have heard the Chairwoman of the Public Accounts Committee Patricia Hodge MP speaking on The Today Programme this morning. Patricia praised the sterling job done by JCP in working with the IB client group. The National Audit Office which wrote the report found that there was no evidence that the programme had performed better or cost significantly less in contracted out areas than in those run by Jobcentre Plus. ....by the way..., this chimes with one of Yes Minister's recent postings which noted JCP's success at placing jobseekers into work..... . The report found that;

Contractors had universally underperformed against targets set by the Department, .....Question! were the targets correct in the first place I wonder....?

DWP lacked adequate information on the Pathways supply chain. ... DWP Stewardship role raises its head again. see our previous posting on this....

A third of contracts made a financial loss, ... in these straitened times providers of all size can ill afford this ...

The contribution Pathways to Work made to the reduction of 125,000 in IB claimants is unclear. The report however concluded that the contribution is likely to be limited.

The bulk of the reduction is likely to be due to the medical assessment …. ATOS Healthcare again

Full Report Executive Summary

- Frank Field; A framework to equalise life chances

Dr. Floyd Millen — Mon, 13 Sep 2010 13:29:22 +0000

A new framework to equalise life chances The gob-smacking findings (to use that gentle phrase of Chris Patten) was that, as children turn up for their first day at school, they possess a wide range of abilities …… children from families on the lowest incomes were more likely to be towards the bottom end of the range of these abilities. And there they remained when a second set of tests were taken at ten.

. Read the speech here

- NEWS.... Proposals to remove legal aid from benefit claimants

Dr. Floyd Millen — Tue, 14 Sep 2010 07:12:42 +0000

We have heard that Ken Clarke, the Justice Secretary is proposing that welfare claimants will no longer be able to seek legal aid to challenge their benefits levels. . The current situation The Legal Services Commission (the LSC) provides funding for advice and assistance for welfare benefits. This advice is means tested and is only available to those individuals with a disposable income of less than £649.00 per month and with less than £8,000 capital. The sums involved in benefit claims tend to be very small compared to the costs which the LSC have to pay for assisting the claimant. For example, LSC funding will not pay for representing a claimant at a Tribunal hearing; lawyers either attend tribunal hearings for free or they send the client along with a script or they ask the tribunal to consider written representations. ..... Some would argue that the main problems with legal aid is that it encourages risk-free, speculative litigation, and fuels a costly compensation culture. The fact that claimants receiving legal aid are not responsible for defendants’ costs if their case is unsuccessful essentially puts them in a no-lose situation. Defendants i.e the state, on the other hand, just can’t win because it is going to be out of pocket whatever happens. On the other hand however, for many this is the only hope of righting a wrong: by definition, they cannot afford to pay for their day in court.

Newsletter: 16 September 2010

Dr. Floyd Millen — Thu, 16 Sep 2010 14:09:49 +0000

Newsletter 16 September 2010: CDG signing up p50,000 volunteers, £17.5m investment in Wales, Nick Clegg and the poor, Big Society: New Dawn or False hope?

- CDG press release... signing up 50,000 expert volunteers

Dr. Floyd Millen — Thu, 16 Sep 2010 15:15:34 +0000

14 September 2010 Under strict embargo until 00:01 on 14 September 2010 Tackling unemployment by signing up 50,000 expert volunteers Ensuring Britain continues to be a civilised and harmonious society means attracting 50,000 expert volunteers to sign up to the fight in supporting the unemployed back into work, according to the charity Careers Development Group’s (CDG) position paper1 launched today2. The aim of CDG’s expert volunteer initiative is to attract those who, alongside having the capacity and desire to volunteer, have the skills to support and share with the long term unemployed. They would complement the work that welfare to work providers such as CDG and the government undertake. Examples of expert volunteers include: retired English teachers supporting those needing basic literacy support directors and managers helping to build the self-confidence of those who have been unemployed for more than a year former builders who having sold their businesses and want to help young people learn a trade. An expert volunteer corps would support the need to increase the transfer of skills and knowledge between the generations if Britain is to avoid a society split between those with jobs or who have enjoyed good careers and those who are struggling to get, or get back, into employment. Effectively this is a transfer of skills and experience from retired or retiring baby boomers to generations X and Y. Roy O’Shaughnessy, Careers Development Group’s chief executive, said: “With a full commitment from government and employers, and taking advantage of Britain’s strong volunteering record, this initiative has the opportunity to harness all parts of civil society to change lives, communities and society for the better. “Now, more than ever, is the right time for the welfare to work sector to encourage those with the skills, desire and time to climb aboard and volunteer their expertise. Those coming forward would be making a real difference to people who need their help. “We are all responsible for the society in which we live and none of us should turn a blind eye to those who need our support to get, or get back, into work.” The expert volunteer initiative will be led by third sector organisations and welfare to work providers who together would facilitate and structure the initiative. Reach, the national skilled volunteering charity, is working with CDG in raising the profile of expert volunteering initiative. Sarah King, chief executive of Reach, said: “Volunteering, using their skills and personal life experiences, is a hidden opportunity for thousands of people - they just need avenues to channel the help they can give. The link between remaining mentally active in retirement and improved health and wellbeing is well evidenced. “Helping the long term unemployed in this way would be a stimulating opportunity for many skilled individuals, whether retired or still building their own careers. It would give them the opportunity to change lives while balancing their own time and life demands.” To tackle the problem of long term unemployment, a concerted effort from all parties - the government, voluntary and community organisations and the private sector – is needed. It means the public, private and third sectors have an opportunity to cement the Big Society philosophy together. The CDG summit CDG will be holding a summit on 14 October 2010 at Central Hall, Westminster, London, to discuss and debate with leading figures in the public, private and voluntary sectors how this initiative can work in practice and how it can contribute to the Big Society agenda. Tapping into the potential of expert volunteers: A Vision for the future of welfare to work ENDS Notes to Editors 1 The CDG position paper, Tapping into the potential of expert volunteers: A vision for the future of welfare to work, is available at www.cdguk.org/expert-volunteer-initiative 2 Formally launched at the GovNet partnership conference, Efficiency Through Service Delivery Partnerships 2010, takes place on Tuesday 14 September 2010 at the QEII Centre, London. Details can be found at www.govnet.co.uk/service-delivery/overview.html Roy O’Shaughnessy, CDG’s Chief Executive will be giving a speech on Cementing the Commercial, Community and Government Sectors to the Big Society: Added Value Resource Efficiency and Job Creation. About Careers Development Group CDG is a UK charity with nearly 30 years’ experience in helping those who are unemployed find and sustain employment. Many of the people CDG supports have multiple barriers to employment including a lack of recent work experience, disabilities, health problems and lack of relevant employability skills. CDG helped over 33,000 people into jobs in 2009/10 and works across 29 centres in the UK (London, the South East, the Isle of Wight and the East Midlands). Further information Journalists requiring further information should contact Mark Brooks via: (t) 020 7811 3164 (m) 07766 197727 (e) mark.brooks@cdguk.org

- £17.5m investment in Welsh skills

Dr. Floyd Millen — Thu, 16 Sep 2010 15:17:27 +0000

The Deputy Minister Lesley Griffiths called on Welsh employers to support a new initiative and sign up to the new Employer Pledge which is supported by £10m from the European Social Fund. skillscymru, is the largest ever interactive careers and skills event to be held in Wales. It is part of a major push by the Welsh Assembly Government to aid Wales’ recovery from the global economic downturn by preparing the population for a new higher-skilled era. This investment is geared to raise the skills of 30,000 people working in businesses and organisations of all sizes across Wales. It is expected that 1000 employers will sign up over the next four years and commit to improving the basic skills of their workforce. The emphasis will be on results with learners being encouraged to gain recognised qualifications that for many will mark their first step towards further workforce skills development. “The Employer Pledge is one of the commitments highlighted in Economic Renewal: a new direction and is designed to help employers tackle the costs and wasted potential arising from low levels of literacy and numeracy in the workforce. The Employer Pledge Award will be presented to Cartrefi Cymru, a Welsh national charity that provides social care and house-related support for people. Cartrefi Cymru employs over a thousand staff and works in twelve local authority areas across Wales. It was one of the first social care providers in Wales to be recognised for its pledge to improve the basic skills of its employees. It participated in the first phase of the Employer Pledge programme in 2006 and by March 2010 over ninety staff had received support within the organisation, with one member of staff progressing to an assistant manager. It has resulted in huge benefits for the organisation including improvement in staff retention rates. The Award recognises the organisation’s commitment to embed the Employer Pledge within the company ethos. Read More...

- The poor must accept benefit cuts

Dr. Floyd Millen — Thu, 16 Sep 2010 15:50:49 +0000

"The state-must not compensate the poor for their predicament ........" This is the bold and controversial statement from Nick Clegg as he signals his support for benefit cuts. In this mornings Times newspaper he argues that the ballooning benefits bill under Labour from £63bn in 1997 to £87bn was nothing more than a giant cheque written by the state. (Agreed) Rather than it being an engine of mobility and change it was a safety net rather than a trampoline. On the day that JSA figures increased: this will send a sobering signal to millions of Britain's who now find themselves jobless, - some- hopeless and overs staring redundancy in the face. ....................

As you know, I'm not one for making comments, espousing value judgements or indeed suggesting that one or other view is flawed, baseless, insensitive and/or misinformed. (... I see your smile...)

But on this occasion I will break with that tradition!!! Firstly, many of us are indeed disgruntled at the inbuilt unfairness in our benefits system that:

you can pay into it for years but when you need to draw on it it is like extracting teeth, not only do you need to prove that you exist, but the process is often soul destroying and demoralising.(I hear)

on the other hand we see people willy nilly living on and drawing on the system that we have so diligently paid into. Many recipients are in no hurry and have no sense of their duty to contribute to society. (allegedly)

There are however those on the other hand for who finding work and reducing their dependency on state would cause more problems due to health, familial, caring and other reasons. This is the group that Nick needs to be mindful of and careful not to badge as benefit scroungers and the undeserving; because some of these people are • People like me • People like you Etcetera... Etcetera..... Etcetera.... Etcetera....

Liberal Democrat leadership hustings

Dr. Floyd Millen — Thu, 16 Sep 2010 16:05:02 +0000

- The Government Plans to move 500,000 people onto Jobseeker’s Allowance

Dr. Floyd Millen — Mon, 20 Sep 2010 15:45:25 +0000

The Rt Hon Iain Duncan Smith recently told the Work and Pensions committee that an estimated half a million people could be judged as “fit to work” and subsequently moved off of Incapacity Benefit (IB)/ Employment Support Allowance (ESA) and on to Jobseeker’s Allowance (JSA) over the next few years. Approximately 23 per cent of the country’s 2.2 million claimants could be judged as fit to work under the government’s new employment criteria, which could significantly increase the number of people receiving JSA by 500,000, after all those on incapacity benefits have been assessed by 2014. Despite the possibility of the JSA claimant count rising by 500,000 if all those transferred onto this form of benefit were not able to obtain employment, the government would still save a considerable amount of money as JSA pays £65 per week, whilst the two levels of Employment Support Allowance (ESA) pay over £90 a week.

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Dr. Floyd Millen — Mon, 20 Sep 2010 16:02:28 +0000

- Grayling welcomes rise in employment but voices concern over large numbers of individuals claming out of work benefits

Dr. Floyd Millen — Mon, 20 Sep 2010 16:06:08 +0000

The Employment Minister, Rt Hon Chris Grayling, recently welcomed the country’s biggest quarterly rise in employment which has been primarily driven by the private sector. However, the fact that these jobs are not being filled by people on benefits has sparked his concern. Statistics released by the Office for National Statistics show that while the number of people in employment increased by over 280,000 on the quarter, the 3 million people claiming the three main out of work benefits (Jobseeker’s Allowance, Incapacity Benefit and Income Support) has not decreased significantly, with a marginal rise this month in the number of people receiving Jobseeker’s Allowance. Commenting upon this issue the Rt Hon Chris Grayling said:

Today’s jump in employment, driven by the private sector, is good news but it doesn’t disguise the fact that the system the Government inherited is failing to get people on welfare into these jobs. It is neither fair for the nearly five million people on benefits, nor the taxpayer who supports them.

That’s why we are pressing ahead with retesting everyone claiming incapacity benefits and introducing our new Work Programme, which will give people the tailored support they need to move them into sustained work”

The most recent Department for Work and Pensions figures show that roughly 2.6 million people are claiming Incapacity Benefit/Employment Support Allowance, with the number of lone parents claiming income support hovering around 675,000. Department for Work and Pensions

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Dr. Floyd Millen — Tue, 21 Sep 2010 07:31:25 +0000

** EVENT! Working with Employers to Supplement Funding, Achieve Targets & Increase Employment

Dr. Floyd Millen — Tue, 21 Sep 2010 07:35:40 +0000

Working with Employers to Supplement Funded Revenue, Achieve Targets, Improve Skills and Productivity and Increase Employment’ . In its third year the one day conference aims to bring employers and purchasers of Vocational Education and Training to the audience to express their expectations and values in the delivery of this learning and to bring together the following three groups of speakers to disseminate what Employer Engagement means to each stakeholder:

Keynote speakers outlining policy for and expectation of employer involvement in the sector.

Employers, SSCs and employer representatives, who provide the ultimate checks and balances about their expectations of service and skills development beneficial to future employment.

Highly focused professionals covering a wide range of aspects of how educational institutions and learning providers can react to Government policy the actual needs of employers and benefit the performance of their organisation.

Training providers and colleges who have developed successful strategies for employer engagement and non-funded revenue streams.

The conference also includes an exhibition and offers sponsorship opportunities for organisations wishing to support the conference. READ MORE... Monday 27^th September 2010, at the Lakeside Centre, Birmingham

- TOO BIG TO FAIL: DWP stretches out a helping hand

Dr. Floyd Millen — Wed, 22 Sep 2010 11:43:50 +0000

PATHWAYS REVISITED HEADLINE COST

To March 2009 Pathways cost DWP £538 million

In 2008-09 (year 1 of the national Pathways programme), Pathways cost £247 million, of which £130 million related to provision in Provider-led Pathways areas.

In 2008-09, there were 650,000 new claims for incapacity benefits leading to 501,000 (77% of new claims) individual ‘starts’ to the Pathways programme from people required to participate.

There were a further 77,000 individual ‘starts’ to the programme from longer term incapacity benefits claimants who had volunteered to participate, of whom around 90% have been engaged by contractors in Provider-led Pathways areas.

JOB COSTS

15% of claimants starting Pathways to the end of March 2009 had moved into employment, at a cost of £2,942 per job

Pathways as a whole, including New Deal for Disabled People in Jobcentre Plus Pathways areas cost £451 per programme start,

Compare this with £3,530 per job for the former New Deal 25 plus scheme for the long-term unemployed,

Jobs achieved through mandatory participation in Pathways would have been achieved without the programme, Jobcentre Plus Pathways has performed better than Provider-led Pathways in supporting mandatory claimants into employment, Support offered through Pathways (including the Condition Management Programme and the Return-to-Work Credit) appear to have no additional employment impact... That's £94 million spent with no discernible impact WOW! PERFORMANCE Even taking account of the impact of the recession, contractors have underperformed against targets set out in contracts. Provider-led Pathways has NOT demonstrated better performance than Jobcentre Plus. Consequently, Contractors have not received payment in line with what they expected, The Department removed earlier restrictions on allowing contractors to claim performance payments for people who volunteer to participate in Pathways. Contractors can now claim payments for helping an unlimited number of voluntary participants. TOO BIG TO FAIL

Due to contractor underperformance and cash-flow difficulties, DWP invited contractors to submit individual applications for a proportion of the contract service fee to be paid early. During 2008-09 £24 million of service fees were paid in this way.

Risk that contractors will pull out of their contracts because they cannot make them pay. Over half said they would not bid for a new Pathways contract under the same terms

Despite being conceptually sound The Office of Government Commerce concluded that the contracted out model of welfare-to-work was still unproven.

With one third of prime contractors and two thirds of subcontractors expecting to make a financial loss. The contracting model the Department has chosen does not appear to be sustainable"

UNREALISTIC BENCHMARKS In procuring Provider-led Pathways, the Department set ambitious benchmarks. The tenders subsequently submitted by contractors and agreed with the Department were significantly in excess of these benchmarks and [obviously were] not realistic. ................ CONCLUSION THE SPEND IS £3,362...... COMPARE THIS WITH THE COST OF NEW DEAL!!!! DEDUCT THE 10% MANAGEMENT (£363) .....THE REAL COST IS £3,000. Over promising, overspending, under performance: lessons will/must be learned

- Microsoft announces 150 work placement

Dr. Floyd Millen — Fri, 24 Sep 2010 07:52:46 +0000

Microsoft has made a pitch to join the government’s ‘big society’ agenda by announcing the creation of 150 new work placements which are designed to provide young people who are unemployed with valuable work experience skills. Microsoft’s Director of Corporate Affairs, Matt Lambert, told politics.co.uk that: “Work experience has a big impact on employability. This ‘One Week to Change a Lifetime’ programme is us trying to give a lead. It’s a great chance for business at very little cost, to change the prospects for young people”. Microsoft is encouraging other businesses to follow its lead and all three main political parties have shown support for the programme. Read more...

Robert_Devereux

Dr. Floyd Millen — Tue, 28 Sep 2010 15:51:37 +0000

- New Permanent Secretary for the Department for Work and Pensions

Dr. Floyd Millen — Tue, 28 Sep 2010 15:52:22 +0000

Earlier this week Sir Gus O’Donnell, the Cabinet Secretary and Head of the Civil Service, announced the appointment of Robert Devereux as the new Permanent Secretary of the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP). Mr Devereux will be taking over from the current Permanent Secretary Sir Leigh Lewis who will be retiring at the end of December. The appointment was approved by the Prime Minister, David Cameron, and the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, Ian Duncan Smith. Mr Devereux will commence his new position at the beginning of January 2011. Commenting upon his appointment, Robert Devereux said: “I am delighted to be returning to DWP, to lead the Department at such an important time for welfare and pension reform. I have learned a great deal from my experience, and enjoyed working with excellent colleagues, at the Department for Transport over the last eight years, and look forward to the challenges ahead” Sir Leigh Lewis said: "I welcome Robert’s appointment and am certain that he is the right person to help the Department deliver our ambitious programme of welfare and pension reform in the coming years. "It has been a pleasure and a privilege to lead the Department for the last five years and I know that its staff will support Robert in the way they have supported me." Robert Devereux Biography Robert Devereux began his Civil Service career in 1979, with a degree in mathematics from St Johns College, Oxford. He began working with the Overseas Development Administration and during his career has held posts in HM Treasury, the Department for Social Security, the Department for Work and Pensions, as well as a secondment to Guinness Brewing Worldwide. He joined the Department for Transport in 2003 and took over as Permanent Secretary in May 2007. He became Head of the Policy Profession for the Civil Service in April 2009. Sir Leigh Lewis Biography Having graduated in Hispanic studies from Liverpool University, Leigh Lewis joined the then Department of Employment as an Administrative Trainee in September 1973. Since then Leigh’s career has spanned the public and private sectors. He has been Principal Private Secretary to Lord Young, Minister without Portfolio and Secretary of State, in 1984 and in 1988 joined Cable and Wireless plc as group personnel director. He was subsequently appointed Director of Finance at the Department of Employment and Chief Executive of Jobcentre Plus. In February 2003 Leigh Lewis was appointed to the Home Office as Permanent Secretary for Crime, Policing, Counter-Terrorism and Delivery. He was appointed to his present post in November 2005. Read More

- National Minimum Wage rules and rates change on Friday 1st Oct

Dr. Floyd Millen — Thu, 30 Sep 2010 16:47:08 +0000

National minimum wage (NMW) regulations. Under the new protocols the NMW will increase from:

£5.80 to £5.93 an hour for workers aged 21 and over.
£4.83 to £ 4.92 and hour for workers aged 18 to 20.
£3.57 to £3.64 an hour for workers aged 16 to 17.

The adult minimum wage will be extended to labourers aged 21 or over from October 2010. The previous qualifying age for the adult NMW was 22. The following wage rates for apprentices will also apply from the 1^st October, 2010:

£2.50 per hour for apprentices under the age of 19.
£2.50 per hour for apprentices aged 19 and over, but in the first year of their apprenticeship.

HMRC

- Competitiveness of UK businesses hindered by a deficit of management skills

Dr. Floyd Millen — Thu, 30 Sep 2010 16:52:21 +0000

The Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD) has responded to the government’s Skills for Sustainable Growth consultation arguing that the UK is suffering from a lack of leadership and management skills which is inhibiting the country’s economic competitiveness. The CIPD’s response consisted of criticism over the large proportion of public spending on skills which they argue is not having the desired effect as poor management is hindering employees’ motivation and engagement. Stephanie Bird, the CIPD’s Director of Public Policy and HR Capability, said: “There is much in the new government’s skills consultation that is to be welcomed. A clear intention to simplify the byzantine skills system, a focus on enhancing the role apprenticeships can play in supporting skills development and job creation. However, we are concerned that too much spending on skills – by government and employers alike – is being wasted because managers lack the skills to engage, motivate, coach and develop people in the workplace. Effective managers also manage stress, conflict and absence effectively and provide support when employees are facing problems” In order to remedy this predicament the CIPD has called for the establishment of a pan-government people management skills strategy. This would focus on elevating employee engagement by endorsing best practice on leadership and people management in order to influence employers to invest more effectively in staff management skills. People Management

- CDG Expert Volunteer Summit

Dr. Floyd Millen — Thu, 30 Sep 2010 22:14:47 +0000

CDG’s Expert Volunteer Summit on 14^th October 2010 (10am to 2pm at Central Hall, Storey's Gate, Westminster, SW1H 9NH) has just 19 places still available for those interested in joining delegates from the welfare-to-work, private, public, charitable and community sectors to discuss and debate the expert volunteer initiative. Speakers at the summit, giving their views and opinions on how to attract expert volunteers to support those who are unemployed back into work, include: o Helen Simpson, Director of Volunteering, BT - The benefits of volunteering, an employer perspective o Sarah King, Chief Executive, Reach - The appetite of volunteers & how to recruit them o Mark Ravenhall, Director of Operations, Niace - Community Learning Champions National Support Programme o Bob Leach, Managing Director, Maximus - Volunteering and welfare to work, a DWP prime contractor perspective o David Mears, Partner, Charity Team, Russell-Cooke Solicitors - Legal considerations when using volunteers o Roy O’Shaughnessy, Chief Executive, CDG - Next steps for the Expert Volunteer Initiative If you wish to take up one of the 19 remaining places, please contact Rebecca Green, Development Manager at volunteers@cdguk.org

maximus

Dr. Floyd Millen — Fri, 01 Oct 2010 14:47:09 +0000

CDG

Dr. Floyd Millen — Fri, 01 Oct 2010 14:47:59 +0000

- CDG & Maximus combine forces!!

Dr. Floyd Millen — Fri, 01 Oct 2010 14:49:24 +0000

01 October 2010 Immediate release CDG and MAXIMUS combine charitable and private sector expertise in groundbreaking alliance to help more people back into work Combining expertise in the charitable and private sectors in helping those who are unemployed back into work, welfare to work charity Careers Development Group¹ (CDG) and international welfare to work provider MAXIMUS² have agreed an alliance to bid for the government's new Work Programme³ in each of England’s nine regions⁴. This alliance is a significant development in the UK welfare to work sector. By bidding as an alliance, both organisations are looking to increase the number of people they help in obtaining the skills and support they need to get back into employment. Both CDG and MAXIMUS currently provide welfare to work programmes for the government and across the two organisations currently cover the South East, South West, London and East Midlands regions. CDG helped support 33,000 people on their journey back into work in 2009/10 and MAXIMUS worked with 20,000. As well as the experience both organisations have in this sector, CDG particularly has expertise in supporting hard-to-reach groups, especially those who have multiple barriers, and in working with smaller charitable, community and social enterprise groups. In addition to its UK expertise, MAXIMUS brings international experience including from Australia and the US. Roy O’Shaughnessy, Chief Executive of Careers Development Group, said: “This forward-thinking and groundbreaking alliance combines the expertise of the private and charitable sectors, with the common goal of helping those who are unemployed back into work. “Together we will be able to reach more people while improving the level of individual support we can give - it is the best of both worlds. “There should not be artificial barriers between sectors when we share the same interests at heart.” Bob Leach, Managing Director of MAXIMUS UK, said: “This alliance has the best interests of all stakeholders at its centre. “Both MAXIMUS and CDG recognise that the Work Programme is a step change from previous programmes and that new and innovative approaches to helping unemployed people from a wide range of backgrounds will be required. Through this alliance we will be focusing our efforts to achieve the results required. “I and my team look forward to working with Roy and his team in the months and years ahead.” In keeping with its charitable ethos, CDG recently launched a position paper on its expert volunteer initiative, which highlighted how the private, public and voluntary and community sectors must work together to support people who are unemployed get, or get back, into work. This alliance is the first stage in making this vision a reality. CDG will be holding a summit on 14 October 2010 at Central Hall, Westminster, London, to discuss and debate with leading figures how the expert volunteer initiative can work in practice and how it can contribute to the Big Society agenda. ENDS Notes to Editors (1) About Careers Development Group CDG is a UK charity with nearly 30 years’ experience in helping those who are unemployed find and sustain employment. Many of the people CDG supports have multiple barriers to employment including a lack of recent work experience, disabilities, health problems and lack of relevant employability skills. CDG helped over 33,000 people into jobs in 2009/10 and works across 29 centres in the UK (London, the South East, the Isle of Wight and the East Midlands (2) About MAXIMUS MAXIMUS Employment UK specialises in helping UK citizens with disadvantages in the labour market to obtain meaningful employment. Since the 2008 acquisition of WTCS, Ltd. a UK research and training company founded in 1991, MAXIMUS has helped numerous individuals achieve sustainable employment. Operating in over 30 sites, spanning the south of England, MAXIMUS is ultimately a wholly owned subsidiary of its parent company MAXIMUS, Inc. A leading pure-play provider of government health and human services programmes, MAXIMUS has offices in the US, Australia, Canada, the UK and Israel. MAXIMUS (NYSE: MMS) is a publicly traded company listed on the New York Stock Exchange. . (3) About the Framework Agreement for the Provision of Employment Related Support Services and the Work Programme The deadline for submissions to the new framework being created by the Department for Work and Pensions, which also includes the Work Programme, is 27 September 2010. For full details please visit http://www.dwp.gov.uk/docs/framework-eoi.pdf The Work Programme to be introduced by the coalition government next summer will provide a single, personalised welfare to work programme for all those who find themselves out of work, rather than the wide range of differing programmes currently offered which are largely based on the type of benefit being claimed. The Work Programme Framework is an umbrella commercial which sets out some terms of agreement on future contract arrangements. For full details please visit http://www.dwp.gov.uk/docs/work-programme-prospectus.pdf (4) The nine English regions are: Eastern, East Midlands, London, North East, North West, South East, South West, West Midlands and Yorkshire and The Humber (5) Further information Careers Development Group Journalists requiring further information should contact Mark Brooks via: (t) 020 7811 3164 (m) 07766 197727 (e) mark.brooks@cdguk.org

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Dr. Floyd Millen — Fri, 01 Oct 2010 14:58:54 +0000

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Dr. Floyd Millen — Sat, 02 Oct 2010 08:23:55 +0000

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Dr. Floyd Millen — Sat, 02 Oct 2010 08:27:54 +0000

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Dr. Floyd Millen — Sat, 02 Oct 2010 08:29:33 +0000

- Atos Origin… Pinnacle People & Shaw Trust

Dr. Floyd Millen — Sat, 02 Oct 2010 08:42:02 +0000

Atos Origin, Pinnacle People and Shaw Trust are working in partnership to win positions on all 11 lots of the Framework for the Provision of Employment Related Support Services. Atos Origin On the surface Atos Origin appears to be part of Atos Healthcare which is the company undertaking the Work Capability Assessment.

Atos Origin

Atos Healthcare ............................................ Other Atos Stories on this site; Atos 1 Atos 2 Atos 3 Use the search function above to find more...

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Dr. Floyd Millen — Mon, 04 Oct 2010 16:29:38 +0000