Policy paper

2010 to 2015 government policy: employment

Updated 8 May 2015

This was published under the 2010 to 2015 Conservative and Liberal Democrat coalition government

This is a copy of a document that stated a policy of the 2010 to 2015 Conservative and Liberal Democrat coalition government. The previous URL of this page was https://www.gov.uk/government/policies/helping-people-to-find-and-stay-in-work. Current policies can be found at the GOV.UK policies list.

Issue

Long-term unemployment is damaging to individuals and communities, it affects mental and physical health, and holds back economic growth.

We want to help people into work and make sure that work pays. In return, people on out-of-work benefits need to take the opportunities available to them to move off benefits and into work.

Out of work older people can find it more difficult to get a job and they are more likely than younger people to remain unemployed for longer.

Actions

We are making a number of welfare to work reforms which aim to fight poverty, support the most vulnerable and help people break the cycle of benefit dependency.

Introducing measures to give Jobcentre Plus flexibility in helping people back to work

To help people get back into work we have introduced a series of measures to give Jobcentre Plus some choice over what support to offer to claimants in their area based on claimant and local labour market characteristics.

We are working with back to work service providers, local authorities, training providers and employers to find innovative ways to help people back to work.

Managing the Work Programme

We have introduced the Work Programme to replace a range of employment schemes, pilots and projects. It provides personalised support for claimants who need more help to find and stay in work.

We will pay back to work service providers according to the results they achieve. Their contracts will include incentives to support those who need more help to get into work than others, such as the long-term unemployed or disabled people.

Introducing Help to Work to support the long term unemployed

We have introduced Help to Work to help those who have completed the Work Programme but have still not been able to find employment.

Jobcentre Plus work coaches will work with individuals to understand their needs and tailor their back-to-work plans according to the particular barriers to work they may have.

Work coaches can refer claimants to 3 different types of intensive support:

• extra intensive support from their Jobcentre Plus work coach and other local support, for example training schemes (Mandatory Intervention Regime)
• attending the Jobcentre every day for 3 months to talk to their work coach about the job applications they have made (daily work search reviews)
• a Community Work Placement for up to 6 months to gain work experience which will help improve their CV

Helping young people into work through the Youth Contract

The Wage Incentive was withdrawn 6 August 2014.

Work experience, sector-based work academies, work trials and Apprenticeships are all still available. Extra funding is being allocated for a range of initiatives that will be available over the next few months to further support young people in finding work.

We introduced a £1 billion Youth Contract in April 2012 to help young unemployed people get a job. The Youth Contract is a range of support to make it easier for businesses to give young unemployed people a job, training or work experience.

It will provide nearly half a million new opportunities for 18 to 24 year olds, including apprenticeships and voluntary work experience placements.

We have published more information about the Youth Contract and helping young people into work.

Supporting disabled people who need more help to find and keep a job

We introduced ‘Work Choice’ in October 2010, a specialist employment programme for disabled people who need more help to find and keep a job.

We provide money through the ‘Access to Work’ scheme towards the extra costs that will help a disabled person do their job, beyond what it is reasonable for their employer to meet.

We published the disability and health employment strategy: the discussion so far on 17 December 2013. This sets out our proposals for improving employment support for disabled people and those with health conditions. We published an update on our progress in the disability and health employment strategy: 1 year on on 8 December 2014.

Co-ordinating the Health, Work and Wellbeing initiative

We co-ordinate the cross-government Health, Work and Wellbeing initiative that aims to:

• improve the general health and wellbeing of the working-age population and reduce the number of days lost to sickness absence

• support more people with health conditions to stay in work or enter employment

We are setting up a new Health and Work Service that will help people with a health condition stay in or return to work.

Helping older people who want to find work or stay in work

Working longer can have a positive impact on an individual’s savings for retirement, and also for the economy as a whole. We have introduced a range of measures to support older people in choosing to work longer. These include:

• ending the Default Retirement Age so in most cases employers can no longer force employees to retire just because they reach the arbitrary age of 65
• helping employers take on or keep on older workers with measures such as flexible working
• changing legislation to protect people from age discrimination
• changing the rules so people can access their pension pots more flexibly and potentially choose to phase their retirement more gradually

On Friday 13 June 2014 the we published Fuller Working Lives: a framework for action. This explains how working longer can benefit individuals, businesses, society and the economy and it sets out a number of new actions we will take to help people have fuller working lives.

We are working with employers and employers’ organisations to:

• challenge outdated assumptions about older workers
• improve the employment and retention of older workers as part of a mixed age workforce

We have published guidance, employer case studies and research to help support employers manage an ageing workforce.

We have been working with over 80 trade bodies and skills councils in 9 of the largest sectors to:

• address specific issues in their sectors
• provide guidance to employers on adopting flexible approaches to retirement and the benefits of employing and retaining older workers alongside younger workers

Introducing a new scheme for tax-free childcare for working families

Working families will be able to claim 20% of childcare costs up to £2,000 for each child under 12 under a new tax-free childcare scheme. Disabled children up to the age of 16 will also be eligible, in line with existing childcare rules.

The scheme will be phased in from autumn 2015 and will be open to almost 2 million families. It will be delivered by HMRC.

Supporting people with drug or alcohol dependency

Jobcentre Plus has a range of support for people with drug or alcohol dependency.

A Jobseeker’s Allowance claimant with drug or alcohol dependency can volunteer for the Work Programme after claiming for 13 weeks (instead of the usual 9 or 12 months). This is subject to the normal entry requirements, availability and the agreement of their adviser. If treatment commitments might affect a jobseeker’s availability for work, their adviser can take this into account when agreeing the steps they take to find work.

In England and Scotland, advisers can refer claimants whose dependency is a barrier to work for a voluntary discussion with a treatment provider. In Wales, they can refer claimants to the Peer Mentoring Scheme.

Read more about the government’s policy of reducing drugs misuse and dependence.

Sponsoring the Ethnic Minority Employment Stakeholder Group

We sponsor the Ethnic Minority Employment Stakeholder Group which advises the government on helping to make sure ethnic minorities don’t face disproportionate barriers to achievement in the labour market.

Background

The government announced plans to improve the help and training we provide for people looking for work in the coalition agreement. This included:

• replacing existing welfare to work programmes with a single programme to help all unemployed people get back to work
• making sure that contracts with welfare to work providers are based more closely on the results they achieve in getting people back to work
• helping unemployed people who want to become self-employed with support from business mentors and financial help
• offering pre-employment training and work placements for unemployed people
• developing local work clubs where unemployed people can share skills and make contacts

Introducing Universal Credit

We began introducing Universal Credit in 2013 for people who are looking for work or on a low income. Universal Credit brings together a range of working-age benefits into a single payment. It will help to smooth the transitions into and out of work and encourage people on benefits to start paid work or increase their hours by making sure work pays.

Reviewing specialist disability employment programmes

In December 2010, the Secretary of State asked Liz Sayce, the Chief Executive of RADAR, the UK’s largest disability campaigning organisation, to conduct an independent review of the government’s specialist disability employment programmes. An aim of the review was to examine how more disabled people could be helped into work within the available funding.

The findings of that review were published on 9 June 2011 in ‘Getting in, staying in and getting on’.

We published the government response to the review on 11 July 2011.

Welfare reform communications toolkit

Our welfare reform communications toolkit helps explain how DWP is changing the welfare system. It covers:

• what we are changing
• why we are making the changes
• when we are making the changes

Who we’ve consulted

We ran discussions with potential suppliers of the Work Programme to propose and discuss ideas on specific areas from 19 July 2010 to 13 August 2010.

We sought views from customer representative organisations to help us develop the Work Programme from 16 September 2010 to 20 October 2010.

In December 2010, the Secretary of State asked Liz Sayce, the Chief Executive of RADAR, to conduct an independent review of the government’s specialist disability employment programmes.

We consulted on the recommendations in Liz Sayce’s review from 11 July 2011 to 17 October 2011. We published our response to the consultation on 7 March 2012.

We sought views on how we can help in-work Universal Credit claimants increase their earnings, develop skills and qualifications and achieve financial independence from 25 January 2013 to 25 March 2013.

Impact

We have published an equality impact assessment for the Work Programme.

We have conducted an equality impact assessment for work experience and a privacy impact assessment for work experience. The privacy impact assessment assesses the privacy risks to individuals in the collection, use and disclosure of information.

Appendix 1: managing the Work Programme

This was a supporting detail page of the main policy document.

The Work Programme provides personalised support for claimants who need more help looking for and staying in work. Service providers have freedom to decide how best to support Work Programme participants while meeting minimum standards for delivering the service.

This is a major change in the way we help people move from welfare to work in this country. We are creating a structure that treats people as individuals and allowing providers greater freedom to tailor the right support to the individual needs of each claimant.

The Work Programme also gives value for money for the taxpayer by basing payments to providers largely on results they achieve.

The Work Programme is part funded by the European Social Fund.

The first year of the Work Programme

On 27 November 2012 we published a summary report on the first year of the Work Programme. It is supporting more people than any previous programme by helping people off benefit and into employment.

More than half of people who joined the Work Programme in the first few months have spent some time off benefit, and, up to November 2012, according to industry data, more than 200,000 jobs had been started by Work Programme participants.

We are continuously monitoring providers’ performance and some are performing much better than others. DWP will take action with those providers who are not delivering the Work Programme to the standards we expect.

Information for employers and providers

We have published guidance for employers and Work Programme providers that will be useful if you or your organisation are interested in getting involved in helping to deliver the Work Programme or you are an employer and want to find your local provider contact details.

Employment adviser guidance for people with mental health problems

In summer 2011 the Minister for Welfare Reform invited representatives from the Work Programme, specialist employment providers and mental health services to work together to help more people with mental health problems back into work and, through work, help them to improve their wellbeing.

The representatives met regularly and in November 2011 they made a public pledge to work together to improve work and wellbeing for unemployed people.

On 30 November 2012 we published guidance to help employment advisers spot when jobseekers with mental health needs could benefit from wellbeing support, developed by the representatives.

Employment support for prisoners

We have improved the employment support prisoners receive when they leave jail. Everyone leaving prison and claiming Jobseeker’s Allowance will be immediately referred to the Work Programme, where they will receive specialist support to get them into employment as quickly as possible.

Real life stories

We have published a series of real life stories to show how people have benefitted from the Work Programme.

Work Programme Partnership Forum

Senior managers from Work Programme providers and DWP meet at the Work Programme National Partnership Forum. The purpose of the forum is to share experiences of implementing the Work Programme and discuss emerging policy that may have an impact on the programme.

Appendix 2: introducing a tax-free childcare scheme

This was a supporting detail page of the main policy document.

Department for Education survey data shows that nearly a quarter of employed mothers would increase their working hours if they could arrange good quality childcare which was convenient, reliable and affordable.

The scheme will be available to children under the age of 5 from autumn 2015, and all working parents with children under 12 will be covered within the first year. Disabled children under the age of 17 will also be eligible, in line with existing childcare rules.

The new scheme will be available to working families who each earn less than £150,000 a year, and don’t already receive support through Tax Credits or Universal Credit. In two parent familes, both parents must be in work to qualify.

For every 80p eligible families pay in, we will put in 20p, providing support of up to £2,000 a year for each child.

The scheme will be open to almost 2 million families and will be delivered by HMRC.

If you’re a parent, here’s the top ten facts about the new scheme.

Read the consultation on the scheme in full.

Appendix 3: co-ordinating the Health, Work and Wellbeing initiative

This was a supporting detail page of the main policy document.

Find out about Fit for Work that will help people with a health condition stay in or return to work.

Health, Work and Wellbeing is a cross-government initiative that aims to:

• improve the general health and wellbeing of the working-age population
• support more people with health conditions to stay in work or enter employment

We work with employers, trades unions and healthcare professionals to:

• create healthier workplaces
• improve occupational health services and rehabilitation support
• increase employment opportunities for people who are not in work due to ill health or disability

We do this by:

• educating individuals and raising awareness
• improving the range and capacity of occupational health services
• providing practical and effective support for employers, especially small businesses
• encouraging public sector organisations to lead by example on health at work

This work brings benefits to:

• individuals, through better health
• employers, through improved productivity and reduced sickness absence
• government, through fewer people claiming sickness benefits and reduced health spending

Our partners

The Health, Work and Wellbeing initiative is supported by 6 government partners:

• Department for Work and Pensions
• Department of Health
• Health and Safety Executive
• Scottish Government
• Welsh Government
• Department for Business, Innovation & Skills

The initiative has resulted in a number of measures, including those below. More information is available about how it began in 2005 and in the National Archives.

Fit for Work

We have introduced Fit for Work to help employees stay in or return to work. It is free and provides an occupational health assessment and general health and work advice to employees, employers and GPs.

There are two elements to Fit for Work:

• free, expert and impartial work-related health advice through a website and telephone line
• referral to an occupational health professional for employees who have been off sick or who are likely to be off sick for 4 weeks or more

The advice element is available now. For more information visit:

• England and Wales: www.fitforwork.org
• Scotland: www.fitforworkscotland.scot

There will be a phased roll out of the referral service taking place over a period of months – we will announce details in early 2015. The Fit for Work occupational health professional will identify obstacles preventing the employee from returning to work. They will produce a ‘return to work plan’ tailored to the employee’s needs. GPs will normally refer people to Fit for Work. Employers may also refer an employee if, after 4 weeks absence, they have not been referred by their GP.

We have published guidance for employees, employers and GPs on using Fit for Work. We will update this guidance regularly as referrals begin to be accepted for occupational health assessments, to reflect the roll out across Great Britain.

Reducing the number of days lost to sickness absence

On 17 February 2011 the government set up a review of the sickness absence system to help reduce the 140 million days lost to sickness absence every year. The review was jointly chaired by David Frost, former Director General of the British Chambers of Commerce, and Dame Carol Black, then National Director for Health and Work.

The review considered how the current sickness absence system could be changed to help people stay in work, reduce costs and contribute to economic growth and whether these costs are appropriately shared between the state, individuals and employers.

We published the report Health at work – an independent review of sickness absence on 21 November 2011.

The review presents an important analysis of the:

• sickness absence system in the UK
• impact of sickness absence on employers, the state and individuals
• factors which cause and prolong sickness absence and which, in too many cases, mean that employees move out of work entirely and on to benefits
• roles that healthcare professionals, employers and government services play

The government published its response to the sickness absence review’s recommendations on 17 January 2013. The response outlines a strategy to support the health and wellbeing of the working age population and examines:

• setting up a health and work assessment and advisory service
• improving sickness absence management
• supporting healthcare professionals
• reforming the benefits system

Fit note (statement of fitness for work)

The fit note replaced the old ‘sick note’ in 2010. The fit note allows doctors to provide advice to their patient about the effects of their health condition and how they might be able to return to work while they recover. The fit note also helps employers to support their employees back to work as soon as possible, so that they retain skills that are critical to business success.

Occupational health advice services for small businesses and GPs

Small and medium sized businesses face particular challenges when accessing occupational health advice. The occupational health advice services operate in England, Scotland and Wales and are funded by DWP.

• England – Health for Work website
• Scottish Healthy Working Lives Adviceline – 0800 019 22 11
• Healthy Working Wales Adviceline – 0800 107 0900

We published the Occupational Health Advice Lines evaluation: final report (RR793) on 29 February 2012.

Healthy Working UK

Healthy Working UK provides information for GPs and other primary healthcare professionals. It includes news, training and decision aids to support the management of health and work, including the fit note. The website was developed by Royal College of General Practitioners, the Society of Occupational Medicine and the Faculty of Occupational Medicine, with support from DWP.

Workplace wellbeing tool

The Workplace wellbeing tool allows employers to work out the costs of poor health and wellbeing to their business. It helps them build a business case for action to reduce those costs and improve the health and wellbeing of their employees.

Public Health Responsibility Deal

Organisations that have volunteered to join the Public Health Responsibility Deal are taking action to improve public health. They do this through their responsibilities as employers, as well as through their commercial actions and community activities.

Employer’s charter

The employer’s charter aims to help employers understand exactly what they can and can’t do when managing staff. It covers assessments of fitness to work and action employers can take in connection with sickness absence.

Employing disabled people and people with health conditions: guidance for employers

We have published guidance to help employers to become more confident when attracting, recruiting and retaining disabled people, including links to further resources.

Case studies

We publish case studies of Health, Work and Wellbeing initiatives to help others understand and follow best practice.

Evidence, research and policy papers

Find out how the initiative started and read our evidence, research and policy papers – including Working for a healthier tomorrow, Carol Black’s 2008 review of the health of Britain’s working age population.

Contact the Health, Work and Wellbeing team

Contact the Health, Work and Wellbeing team if you have any questions about the initiative or a case study they may want to consider.

Appendix 4: supporting disabled people who need more help to find and keep a job

This was a supporting detail page of the main policy document.

We introduced ‘Work Choice’ in October 2010, a specialist employment programme for disabled people who need more help to find and keep a job. Work Choice is operated through DWP contracted providers and Remploy, it is voluntary and provides:

• help through all stages of finding and getting a job
• help to stay in work, where the other DWP work schemes might not be suitable
• help for those who want to become self-employed

We expect around 23,000 people to be supported by Work Choice in each year of the programme with an average of about 9,000 of them to moving into employment each year.

Employers can benefit from employing a young person aged 18-24 on the Work Choice programme through the wage incentive. We can provide employers with help towards the wages of a young person that they take on through Work Choice in a job lasting more than 26 weeks. This is worth up to:

• £1,137.50 for part-time work between 16 and 29 hours a week
• £2,275 for full-time work of 30 hours or more a week

Helping with extra costs disabled people face in work

We provide money through the Access to Work scheme towards the extra costs that will help a disabled person do their job, beyond what it is reasonable for their employer to meet.

On 12 March 2015, the Minister for Disabled People announced that Access to Work grants will be limited to one and a half times average salary for each award. This is £40,800 at current rates. The limit will apply:

• from 1 October 2015 to new awards of Access to Work grants
• from 1 April 2018 to awards of Access to Work grants made before 1 October 2015

More people are seeking help from Access to Work and it is no longer sustainable to continue to meet all applicants’ needs on an unlimited basis. Introducing a limit on the amount of awards will mean that the scheme can continue to support disabled people to find and stay in work.

Access to Work advisers will work with disabled people to help them decide how to spend their grant most effectively.

We are continuing to look at ways of making Access to Work more efficient and effective, so more disabled people can be helped to get and keep jobs. This will include looking at ways to make sure employers are meeting their duty to make reasonable adjustments to support their employees.

Appendix 5: helping older people who want to find or stay in work

This was a supporting detail page of the main policy document.

Out of work older people can find it more difficult to get a job and they are more likely than younger people to remain unemployed for longer. For example, around 46% of unemployed people aged over 50 have been unemployed for 12 months or more compared with around 30% of Jobseeker’s Allowance claimants aged 18 or over (Office for National Statistics Labour Market Statistics, January 2014).

Working longer can have a positive impact on an individual’s savings for retirement, and also for the economy as a whole. For example:

• an average earner who starts using their savings 10 years early to retire could see their pension pot over a third smaller, and spread over a much longer retirement
• UK Gross Domestic Product (GDP) could have been £18 billion higher in 2013 if the difference in employment levels between people in their 40s and those aged 50 to State Pension age was halved

There is a commonly held misunderstanding that increasing employment for older people blocks jobs for younger workers. However, a recent report by the Institute for Fiscal Studies concluded there was ‘no evidence of long-term crowding-out of younger individuals from the labour market by older workers’.

Thriving businesses, large and small from across all sectors, report the benefits of employing younger and older workers:

• McDonald’s have 20% higher performance in those outlets that employ workers aged over 60 as well as younger workers
• South Wales Forgemasters have no retirement age – they say there are no concerns about reduced progression opportunities and the process of training new staff has been improved greatly by involving experienced, skilled workers as trainers on the company’s apprenticeship scheme

Working to improve older worker employment in the main business sectors

Older worker employment varies across and within the main business sectors because of different approaches to recruitment and working practices. In all sectors many older workers leave earlier than they would like.

Fortunately many employers report clear business benefits of effectively managing an ageing workforce – retaining the skills of older workers while bringing on younger workers.

On 13 June 2014 we published Fuller Working Lives: a framework for action. This explains how working longer can benefit individuals, businesses, society and the economy. It sets out a number of new actions we will take to help people have fuller working lives.

We have published guidance about employing older workers and working past 50. This includes the ‘Employer toolkit: guidance for managers of older workers’, produced in partnership with the Age Action Alliance, that covers all business sectors. The toolkit is available as an interactive version and to download as a PDF.

The toolkit builds on our previous Age Positive guidance. This provides case studies and tried and tested solutions to managing an ageing workforce from recruitment through to addressing under-performance.

Appendix 6: introducing measures to give Jobcentre Plus flexibility in helping people back to work

This was a supporting detail page of the main policy document.

Jobcentre Plus managers have flexibility to offer the following measures to help claimants back to work in their area, based on claimant and local labour market characteristics. Not all measures will necessarily be available in all areas.

Helping young unemployed people gain work experience

The work experience programme helps young people gain the experience they need to get a job.

Some young people have difficulty finding a job because they do not fully understand the world of work or have not had a chance to prove themselves. Jobcentre Plus works with employers to offer 18 to 24 year old jobseekers the opportunity to overcome these barriers, through work experience placements lasting 2 to 8 weeks available through the Youth Contract. In certain circumstances people over the age of 24 may be eligible for work experience.

Young people on work experience will continue to receive their benefit and continue to look for permanent work. Jobcentre Plus will cover the costs of travel and childcare if required.

Some participants can have their work experience extended by up to 4 weeks if an employer offers to take them onto an apprenticeship.

Providing training, work experience and a guaranteed interview in sectors with high local vacancies

Through sector-based work academies we offer pre-employment training, work placements and a guaranteed interview in sectors with high volumes of local vacancies for claimants of:

• Jobseeker’s Allowance
• Employment and Support Allowance (work-related activity group)

We have published guidance for employers about using sector-based work academies in England and Scotland to help fill their vacancies.

Helping people develop skills and experience through mandatory work activity

A Jobcentre Plus work coach may ask a claimant to take part in a mandatory work placement of up to 4 weeks. If they do not take part, they could lose their benefits for a period of time. The aim is to help the claimant develop the skills and behaviours employers are looking for and to help them get into the habit of attending work on time and every day.

Read more about mandatory work activity.

Helping people who want to start their own business

We’ve introduced the New Enterprise Allowance to help unemployed people who want to start their own business. It can provide mentoring support and money to help people start their own business if they get certain benefits and have a business idea that could work.

By May 2013, the scheme had resulted in:

• around 2,000 new businesses being set up each month – more than 26,000 in total
• over 6,000 businesses being started by people aged 50 or over
• over 4,500 disabled people becoming their own boss

Encouraging people who want to become self-employed to share their experiences

We support the setting up of Enterprise Clubs to provide unemployed people interested in becoming self-employed with a place to share experiences and get help from other people who want to become self-employed, as well as local business people and advisers.

Encouraging people who are out of work to share skills and experience

We support the setting up of local Work Clubs as a way of encouraging people who are out of work to share skills and experience.

Promoting volunteering to improve employment prospects

Through Work Together we are encouraging unemployed people to think about volunteering as a way of improving their employment prospects while they are looking for work.

Jobcentre Plus offices offer space for the Prince’s Trust and local volunteer centres to provide advice on volunteering.

Introducing flexibility for some people in full-time training to remain on Jobseeker’s Allowance

We have introduced flexibility so that a claimant who has been on Jobseeker’s Allowance for 6 months or more may attend full-time training and remain on Jobseeker’s Allowance rather than moving onto a training allowance. This only applies to training of up to and including 30 hours a week and which lasts for a maximum of 8 weeks.

Appendix 7: introducing Help to Work to support the long term unemployed into work

This was a supporting detail page of the main policy document.

We introduced Help to Work on 28 April 2014 to help those who have completed the Work Programme and still not found a job move into work.

Help to Work gives 3 options of intensive support to help the long-term unemployed into work.

Intensive Jobcentre support (Mandatory Intervention Regime)

This is for claimants with multiple or complex barriers to work.

The Jobcentre Plus work coach will spend more time with the claimant looking at how to tailor back-to-work support. They will have more flexibility to:

• send people on training schemes
• refer people to other local services which may help remove barriers to work
• cover costs to remove barriers to work, such as initial travel costs or suitable clothes for a job interview

Daily work search reviews (attending the Jobcentre every day)

This is for claimants who would benefit from regular support with looking for jobs. The claimant will attend their Jobcentre every day for a meeting with their work coach. The meeting will look at:

• progress made in looking for work
• how they can improve their skills

The daily meetings could last for up to 3 months.

Community Work Placements

This is for claimants whose lack of work experience may be holding them back from finding a job. Their work coach may ask them to take part in a work placement that will also benefit the local community. The purpose is to give the claimant skills and experience within the work place.

The placements will be for up to 6 months for up to 30 hours a week.

The claimant will also receive at least 4 hours job searching support each week to help turn the work experience into full time employment.

Read more about Community Work Placements

Case studies

Following a long period of unemployment after leaving college, a Community Work Placement helped Lee find a permanent job

After 5 months on a Community Work Placement, Leon’s perseverance paid off and he was offered a full-time job with a parcel delivery firm..

Claimants who do not take part in the Help to Work scheme

Claimants who do not take part in the Help to Work scheme when asked to by their work coach could lose their benefits for a period of time.