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The New Deal is part of the Government's Welfare to Work
scheme. Four options are available to the young unemployed.
Every 18-24-year-old who has been jobless for six months will
be offered three training options: a job with an employer,
work on an environmental task force, or work in the voluntary
sector. The fourth option is full time education and training
at a college. Help towards self-employment will also be available.
For more information visit the new deal website: http://www.jobcentreplus.gov.uk/
Colleges throughout the country are being forced to cut courses
designed to help the unemployed get back to work under Labour's
flagship New Deal programme. Hundreds more lecturers working
for private training organisations that run courses for the
unemployed also face losing their jobs as cuts bite. Courses
are being axed as a result of a £125 million cut in
the training budget awarded to Jobcentre plus. The Department
for Work and Pensions said that Jobcentre Plus had £1.1
billion to spend on its training programmes in 2004-5, but
that this year the budget had been cut to £962m.
(TES, 16 September 2005)
A proposal to extend the pilot scheme involving punitive cuts
in benefits to Job Seeker Allowance claimants who do not take
up basic skills training, caused a storm of protest in November
2003. The Social Services Advisory Committee (which advises
Government) informally sounded out agencies and expert bodies
about the proposal.
In its original report in 2001, the committee advised government
against including the element of sanctions, and added that
if they were included their effect should be monitored before
any national roll out of the new sanctions. The subsequent
pilot scheme to test out such sanctions was judged to be too
small and inconclusive, hence the proposed extension.
Bodies such as NIACE (the National Institute for Adult Continuing
Education) and RAPAL (Research and Practice in Adult Literacy)
have already reiterated their their unequivocal opposition
to cuts in claimants' benefits as a means to encouraging them
to improve their skills.
In a formal response to the government, NIACE stresses three
key reasons why it opposes the proposals:
- they are not an effective approach: they will not motivate
people to learn
- they are unnecessary illiberal: 'a sledgehammer to crack
a nut'
- they are incompatible with the rest of the government's
skills strategy which stresses voluntary approaches to learning.
The NIACE document says the evidence is that adult learners
with low basic skills are only motivated to learn in an encouraging
and supportive learning environment. Imposing sanctions risks
confirming their fear and suspicion of the educational system.
Sanctions work by encouraging individuals to avoid something
unpleasant, and the proposals will consolidate the perception
of of involvement in learning as being undesirable and stressful.
RAPAL questions the proposal on grounds of the validity of the
research and its simplistic view of basic skills learners. It
points out that "no one learns well through fear or the
threat of further impoverishment". RAPAL proposes instead
that money should be spent on:
- further research into the strategies people use to manage
their literacy and numeracy lives
- increasing outreach activity and including learners in
designing and shaping the basic skills provision.
The proposal is thought to reflect the government's interest
in making the benefits regime more conditional. The Social Services
Advisory Committee is due to submit its recommendations shortly.
(Basic Skills Bulletin, December 2003/January 2004)
In response, the DfES commented:
"In future it will be harder to convince people to take
up learning, therefore we are open to all ideas that use incentives
and sanctions. This is why we worked with the Department for
Work and Pensions and Jobcentre Plus to pilot a number of different
ways of encouraging jobseekers into learning. These pilots have
resulted in Jobcentre Plus deciding to introduce a number of
changes from April 2004, including financial incentives to persuade
clients to continue to attend training and gain qualifications.
They are also planning to run further sanctions pilots with
a greater number of jobseekers.
"The pilots will test the effect of the threat of benefit
sanctions with jobseekers to see if this will persuade more
of those with basic skills needs to take advantage of the provision
on offer. They will be run for 12 months from April 2004, which
coincides with Jobcentre Plus introducing financial incentives.
The pilots will undergo a full evaluation. Ministers have made
the commitment that sanctions will not be introduced nationally
without firm evidence that the threat of sanctions has resulted
in a greater number of jobseekers improving their basic skills,
without there being any adverse impact on more disadvantaged
clients."
The arrangements are due to be debated in Parliament before
the pilots can start in April.
(Basic Skills Bulletin, February 2004)
The Government's work and welfare policies are in danger of
perpetuating a "low skills culture" and encouraging
"quick-fix solutions", according to the Learning
and Skills Development Agency. It also highlighted tensions
between the policies of Government departments, in a criticism
that suggests that New Labour has still not mastered its ambition
of creating "joined-up government".
The agency, which is responsible for developing policy for
the education and training of older teenagers and adults,
has criticised rules that prevent many unemployed people from
studying full time, and make it difficult for the sick and
disabled jobless to improve their employability by taking
part in learning.
Its report laments the fact that unemployed people outside
one of the Government's New Deal schemes are not allowed to
study for more than 16 hours a week, on the grounds that they
must be able to attend interviews and to start work immediately.
It also complains that people on incapacity benefit - who
outnumber the official unemployment claimant count - risk
losing benefit if they choose to study since this indicates
capacity to work.
The welfare system and post-16 learning: breaking down
the barriers, by Deirdre Macleod, is available at www.lsda.org.uk.
(Financial Times, 5 September 2003)
A flagship strategy to get unemployed young people into work
is failing to help those who need it most, according to a
committee of MPs. The New Deal for Young people, launched
in 1998, is mandatory for all 18 to 24-year-olds who have
claimed Job Seeker's Allowance for more than six months.
A target of putting 250,000 under 25s in work before the
end of 2001/2 was met. Up to June 2002, 116,800 people were
in full-time education or training as part of the New Deal.
The Committee of Public Accounts report revealed the strategy
helped reduce long-term unemployment, but a more flexible
approach was needed in the most deprived areas.
The percentage of leavers who got a job varied between 37%
and 71% from area to area.
(TES, 11 October 2002)
The Government's flagship youth employment programme does
not support deprived people in urban areas, a report released
in June 2002 claimed. Research published by the Economic and
Social Research Council revealed that the New Deal for Young
People initiative proved less effective in parts of the country
with slumping labour markets.
Set up to raise the job prospects of 18 to 24-year-olds,
the New Deal aims to tackle inactivity by improving the skills
and general employability of its participants instead of trying
to create jobs. But the research says that in 2000, the 50
per cent success rate in applicants finding a job claimed
in rural and semi-rural areas contrasts with as little as
30 per cent in some urban areas.
Report co-author Ron Martin, professor of economic geography
at Cambridge University, said: "If you're not in an area that
already has a dynamic where jobs are available you are less
likely to stay on the scheme." He added that the problem was
a product of the Government's preoccupation with trying to
get people into jobs rather than creating jobs for them.
More information available on the ERSC
Regard website
In October 2002, a further report, by a cross-party group
of MPs, claimed that New Deal was failing to reach both those
from the most deprived areas and ethnic minorities.
Although the scheme met its target of getting 250,000 off
benefit before the end of 2001-2, it was not having a positive
impact in areas of high youth unemployment, which have high
number of youth with specific needs, including lack of basic
skills, drugs or alcohol dependency and criminal records.
The scheme was also failing some minority groups, such as
Bangladeshi and Pakistani women and Afro-Caribbean men. Director
of the lobbying agency Black Training and Enterprise Group
(BTEG) Jeremy Crook said: "Job Centre Plus needs to do much
more work with employers to look at how they recruit participants."
Indian men and Afro-Caribbean women appear to be doing well,
however.
The report points to a lack of data on what happens to participants
after they gain employment.
The report, The New Deal for Young People, is available from
www.publications.parliament.uk.
(Regeneration and Renewal, 14 June and 11 October 2002)
In north Nottinghamshire, those who have been claiming Jobseekers
Allowance for more than six months are expected to get their
payments of £53 a week withdrawn for two weeks if they
fail to take up free basic skills training.
"I think there is a danger that this will be counter productive."
said Paul Convery of the unemployment unit and youth aid.
"For many people there is a stigma attached to their lack
of basic skills and we need to find imaginative ways of overcoming
that. Threatening to withhold their benefit is not imaginative."
The pilot is one of a number being tested as part of the
Government's attempt to target Jobseekers Allowance claimants.
An incentive has been introduced in Wearside, Sunderland,
involving £10 a week payments that will be made to people
who undertake basic skills training. They will also get £100
when they have improved their literacy and numeracy.
In Leeds, a mixture of both schemes will operate. "In north
Nottinghamshire it's just stick, in Sunderland it's just carrot
and in Leeds it's a mixture of stick and carrot," said a spokesman
for the Department for Education and Employment. He stressed
there will be hardship payments for people who have had benefit
withdrawn.
In the City of Nottingham, the Government will try out a
fast track programme where a 10-minute test devised by the
Basic Skills Agency will be offered to assess individual needs.
The pilots came into effect in September 2001 and the results
of these pilots will determine how ministers seek to raise
literacy and numeracy in the future. At the end of October,
a further pilot was established in Cambridgeshire to look
at the effect of identifying literacy and numeracy needs when
people first start claiming jobseeker's allowance.
(TES, 4 May 2001 and New Start, 21 September 2001)
Unemployed young people will face interviews about their
readiness for work before they are allowed to sign on. The
result will be that many young unemployed people expecting
six months on benefit before facing a choice of a place in
the New Deal or losing their right to claim will have to make
that choice from the moment they claim social security.
The New Deal has exceeded its target of moving 250,000 young
people into jobs. More than 270,000 had gone through the scheme
into jobs, at half of the planned cost.
The new scheme is likely to involve claimants undergoing
tests to judge their level of skills and any problems that
might prevent them getting a job. Those who are told they
could benefit will be sent on courses to enhance their skills
or literacy, or improve their attitude. Under current rules
they must wait six months before they are eligible for support.
Paul Convery, head of the independent Unemployment Unit and
Youthaid, applauded what he called a move away from the mechanistic
formula laid down by the New Deal. "It is a bit criminal forcing
people to tread water and wait six months before they get
help."
(Guardian, 8 March 2001)
- The Government's latest plans for New Deal mean that
claimants will be forced to take a subsidised job, training,
voluntary work or a place on an environmental taskforce,
or lose their entitlement to jobseeker's allowance. Single
parents will also be faced with a more stringent regime.
From April 2002 all lone parents will be called in for interview
by the employment service, not just those with children
over five. But they will not be forced to take part in the
New Deal unless they choose to. In return, the Government
will promise to make sure that jobless claimants are equipped
for work by giving them enhanced training. (Guardian
14 March 2001)
A new website, Worktrain, containing every job vacancy listed
with the employment service, offers access to some 300,000
jobs. It can be searched in a range of ways, such as on a
regional basis.
The site also provides details of around half a million training
courses. The idea is that users can easily discover the training
or qualifications they need for a specific job and where to
gain them.
A useful info' section offers tips on writing CVs, interview
techniques and benefits and childcare, and it is possible
to save searches and make notes.
The service is offered by UK Online, the £250 million
Government initiative that aims to offer internet access to
everyone. One of the key planks of UK Online is the creation
of 6,000 centres by the end of 2002, which will accommodate
computers for public use. 1,200 centres are now open. They
are sited in libraries, churches, colleges, community centres
and mobile facilities. This is seen as one way of tackling
the "digital divide" between computer haves and have-nots.
The initiative is targeted at disadvantaged communities including
Britain's 2,000 most deprived wards, rural areas with transport
problems and disadvantaged sectors of society with low or
no technology skills.
Worktrain: www.worktrain.gov.uk
UK Online: http://www.direct.gov.uk/Topics/Employment/fs/en
(TES, 9 March 2001)
Through the Government's New Deal programme, 18 to 24-year-old
clients may already be screened for basic skills needs and offered
intensive help to improve their skills. Now Employment Services
will also screen unemployed clients aged over 24 after six months'
unemployment. Those with basic skills needs will receive help
through work-based learning. In the past, screening has been
haphazard and those with needs have not necessarily received
support. The employment service has now started an intensive
programme of training for their advisors. To date, 1,100 advisors
have completed this training.
Training resources
The Basic Skills Agency, through its national support project
for the New Deal, provides regional training and seminars,
including advice on initial assessment, skills training, effective
programme design, materials and awareness raising. The New
Deal option packs (cost £11) each contain basic skills
learning material for each of three options: environment task
force, employment and the voluntary sector.
For more information visit the Basic Skills Agency website
www.basic-skills.co.uk
or call 020 7405 4017.
(Literacy Today,
June 2000)
A group of basic education students participating in New Deal
in West Fife is basking in the success of winning a cash prize
and the Local Group Award as part of the Adult Learners' Awards
in Scotland. Having won locally, the group goes forward to the
Scottish Television awards, organised in collaboration with
Community Learning Scotland.
(Literacy Today,
June 2000)
One of Labour's 1997 manifesto pledges was to get 250,000
young unemployed people off benefit and into work. According
to ministers, the Government is almost three-quarters of the
way towards meeting its manifesto pledge. However, analysis
by the Unemployment Unit & Youthaid, an independent organisation
specialising in welfare-to-work issues, has found that almost
50,000 of the young people who have left the New Deal to take
up work were claiming benefit again within 13 weeks. Also
many of those helped into jobs by the New Deal may have found
work anyway thanks to Britain's still booming economy. Despite
this, Paul Bivand of the Unemployment Unit believes the initiative
has been an improvement on previous Government schemes. "It's
gone rather better than we expected," he said.
Most of those finding jobs do not take up any of the five
education options. In some areas 85% of those getting jobs
are from the "Gateway" - part of the New Deal invented by
the Civil Service as a way of assessing young people. The
fact that it is proving easier than expected to find jobs
for the young unemployed is a good thing, implying that a
larger number of them are more employable than was first thought.
But it does mean they are not getting the education and training
the New Deal was designed to provide.
It also means that the third of young participants placed
on a training option tend to be the most challenging cases
and the fist round of inspection reports suggests these case
are proving difficult to crack. (see below)
(TES, 31 March 2000)
Dave Sherlock, chief executive of the Training and Standards
Council, the organisation that has just completed the first
round of inspections on the New Deal, warned that in some
places fewer than 10% of 18 to 24-year-olds in education or
training get a qualification. He was particularly critical
of the full-time education option, which is chosen by most
New Dealers. "Unfortunately that is the one with the most
disappointing results," Mr Sherlock said.
Courses on offer under the New Deal typically lead to foundation
or national qualification level 2, although more advanced
courses are available where they would enhance job prospects.
Only one of the New Deal areas so far received a good grade
for its education option and four were judged to be unsatisfactory.
Typical criticism includes poor attendance, insufficient workplace
experience and clients being put on inappropriate programmes.
(TES, 31 March 2000)
The Princes Trust has accused employers of short-changing
young people hoping to be rescued from unemployment by the
Government's New Deal programme.
Some firms are pocketing the £60-a-week handout for
taking on a New Deal employee but failing to provide them
with the training they should receive, according to What
Works? a report published by the Princes Trust in August
1999. The report states, "Unfortunately, it would appear that
the quality of training provided to New Dealers is not always
of the highest quality. Most disconcerting of all, however,
is that one in three employers in the What Works? sample who
had taken on New Deal recruits said that no training was being
provided, with 21% saying that no training was planned."
The study, carried out with the Employment Policy Institute
think tank and the Institute of Personal Development, stops
short of accusing employers of exploitation. Some employers
told the researchers they believed training was provided elsewhere,
and that they were under no obligation to offer any.
The training failure is contributing to "a fundamental expectations
gap" among both recruits and employers says the report. The
employers feel let down by the calibre of recruits and the
recruits are "disappointed that they are not given greater
opportunities to improve their skills and employability".
The criticism by the Princes Trust follows attacks on government
figures saying more than 40,000 young people have found real
unsubsidised jobs since the New Deal was launched in April
1998. Sceptics say many of them would have found work anyway,
while research published in the Royal Economic Society's Economic
Journal suggested that motivated youngsters, left to fend
for themselves without the help of such costly job programmes,
would find work themselves.
(Daily Mail 12 August 1999)
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