Category Archives: Tories

Youth Contract shrouded in mystery as Minister refuses to publish data

Ministers are refusing to publish any data for the Youth Contract more than one year after the flagship scheme began. In a response to a Parliamentary Question Ministers pushed back the date for release data again amidst growing rumours that the scheme is failing.

 

Three years after this government came to power youth unemployment is still hovering around the million mark – and still higher than it was at in May 2010.

 

The Youth Contract began in April 2012. The main part of the scheme is a wage subsidy of £2,275 to employers if they employ a young person who has been unemployed for nine months. In the 2011 Autumn Statement the Government boasted that the Youth Contract would offer 160,000 wage incentives to employers.

 

Ministers originally promised to release data in “early 2013”, yet in response to my parliamentary question last month asking when the statistics for the wage subsidy will be released, ministers could not give us a date.

 

Almost a million young people are locked out of work but the government’s flagship Youth Contract is nowhere to be seen. Ministers are hiding the scheme in the very same way they hid the Work Programme, and that turned out to be performing worse than doing nothing.

 

Britain is in the middle of a youth jobs crisis that shows no sign of ending – we simply cannot allow government schemes to continue to fail. Ministers must now come clean, publish the results they have been hiding and bring forward a real plans to get our young people back to work, starting with Labour’s Real Jobs Guarantee.

 

You can read the FT’s report here .

 

Universal credit has descended into universal chaos

Liam Byrne MP, Labour’s Shadow DWP Secretary, responding to reports that the Tory led Government’s Universal Credit plans have hit serious problems and that work on its IT delivery contract has been halted with hundreds of staff stepping down, said:

“Universal credit has descended into universal chaos and millions of families’ tax credits are at risk because ministers would not listen to clear and repeated warnings issued to them since November 2010.

“Iain Duncan Smith must now come before parliament and account for the incompetent mess his department has become. His Work Programme is worse than doing nothing, his bedroom tax hits soldiers but not prisoners, and now his flagship universal credit scheme is falling apart.

“We were promised universal credit would be the answer to all our prayers but now it has descended into one giant mess.”

ENDS.

Notes to Editors:

1.   ‘Universal credit system in meltdown’: http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2013/mar/05/universal-credits-meltdown-claims-labour?CMP=twt_gu

 

 

 

 

Labour councils are helping young people into work

Labour councils are helping young people into work

By Liam Byrne

The Guardian, Thursday 31 January

Government programmes are failing young people, with almost one in five unemployed. Our youth jobs taskforce is fighting back.

As Britain’s youth jobs crisis deepens, it’s time for ministers to hand local council leaders the tools they need to make a difference.

Britain’s youth unemployment crisis remains stark. Nearly 40% of people out of work are under the age of 25. That’s one of the highest rates in the western world. In the last jobs stats, youth unemployment rose again. Nationally nearly one in five young people is out of work and this is costing us a fortune. Over a billion pounds a year in dole bills. And the cost isn’t just short term. Acevo (the Association of Chief Executives of Voluntary Organisations) estimates that today’s rate of youth unemployment will cost us £6.3bn per annum in lost economic output.

But now it’s clear just who is leading the fightback. All over Britain it’s local Labour councils leading the way in building bridges for young people, from school or unemployment, into real local jobs.

Last year, as youth unemployment hit the million mark, I asked the leaders of 10 councils where youth unemployment is highest to come together, to share ideas, and to show Labour nationally what works to get young people into jobs. In the past 12 months, despite horrendous budget settlements, those leaders have begun to revolutionise the way we get our young people jobs in Britain’s 21st-century economy.

Cities such as Sheffield are transforming the way they identify young people at risk of graduating to a life of unemployment, so they can target special additional support. Bradford council is building “industrial centres of excellence”: small schools of 300 students aged 14-19 offering enterprise skills, paid work experience and business-led qualifications – all tailored to what’s actually available in the local jobs market.

Manchester is widening access to apprenticeships with its “apprentice ambassadors”, and a new Ucas-style clearing house to match students with apprenticeship offers well before they leave school, conditional on making the grades.

Wales, Glasgow and Birmingham are reinventing the highly successful future jobs fund to make sure that young people out of work are given paid opportunities as a springboard into local careers. Newham has even created Workplace, a one-stop job brokerage that places 5,000 local residents into jobs each year.

Liverpool, Leeds and Sheffield have created “apprenticeship agencies”, organising training and work opportunities for thousands of apprentices with their cities’ diverse business base of SMEs (small and medium-sized enterprises). Sandwell council in the West Midlands is guaranteeing three months’ work experience for every 16- to 24-year-old to ensure the borough’s young people are job ready.

Today, we publish these ideas and many more in the first report of Labour’s youth jobs taskforce, setting down just what can be done with a bit of can-do spirit.

But I can’t hide what disappointed me as I travelled round Britain listening to ideas that made a difference. The harsh reality is government programmes are failing. In fact, fewer than 6,000 young people have been helped into sustained jobs: that’s just 3.4% of young people on the Work Programme. The Youth Contract, launched with much fanfare by the deputy prime minister last year, is working so well that the government has decided to keep its results a secret.

Worse, I’ve heard loud and clear that the Department for Work and Pensions is now too often a handbrake on progress. Most council leaders I speak to have good things to say about their local jobcentre team – but Stalin-esque ministers are stopping people on the frontline getting on with what works best. “They’re good people, trying to do the right thing,” said one. “but they’re trapped in some very bad systems.” “DWP has been unwilling to engage locally,” said another. I heard the same story wherever I went.

The best thing we can give our young people is a chance. Labour councils are now showing day in and day out, that where there’s a will, there’s a way. With councils blazing ahead, and the national Work Programme in chaos, it’s time DWP ministers got behind local council leaders and took down the roadblocks to reform.

The first report of Labour’s Youth Jobs Taskforce, Our youth employment emergency: Labour fights back, can be downloaded here.

 

Give us the tools to tackle youth jobs crisis, say councils

Give us the tools to tackle youth jobs crisis, say councils

 

Labour councils demand new freedoms to fight for youth jobs as Work Programme fails young people

 Labour today called for new freedoms for councils to tackle the youth jobs crisis as analysis of the government’s Work Programme showed the programme found jobs for just 3.3% of young people.

Labour’s call came at the first summit of its Youth Jobs Taskforce, chaired by Ed Miliband in Birmingham. The Taskforce brings together the leaders of the 10 councils where youth unemployment is highest.

The summit will review a report from Labour’s Shadow Secretary of State for Work and Pensions Liam Byrne showing how Labour councils are beginning to revolutionise the bridge from school to work for young people in areas where youth unemployment is worst.

The report shows:

  • There are still almost a million young people out of work – yet the flagship Work Programme has a success rate of just 3.35% for young people.
  • Labour Councils are taking radical steps to build a new bridge from school to local jobs, reinventing the Future Jobs Fund, establishing UCAS style clearing houses for apprenticeships offers to young people, and creating Apprenticeship Agencies that place young people into new opportunities with local SMEs.
  • Council leaders widely feel held back by a ‘statist’ Department for Work & Pensons which is unable to innovate locally.
  • Council leaders now want new freedoms to develop plan that fit for purpose for their local economies; a simpler funding regime that joins up skills and jobs support for unemployed young people, and more opportunities to involve employers and colleges in schools advice and guidance provision

 Labour’s Shadow Work and Pensions Secretary, Liam Byrne said,

“As Government schemes fail, Labour’s local councils are beginning to commandeer the task of getting our young people into work.

“All over Britain, Labour’s council leaders are refusing to stand by and watch young people join the dole queues. They’re taking charge and building a completely new bridge from the class-room to a job.

“Labour will not stand by and watch this government abandon a generation to the scrap heap. Just because we’re not in government doesn’t mean we can’t make a difference. All over Britain its now Labour councils leading the fight to give our young people the chance to work.”

Notes: 

  1. 1.     This government is failing Britain’s young people

There are almost a million young people out of work, but this government’s welfare to work schemes are failing. New figures published today by Labour shows that Ministers flagship Work Programme has got just 3.35% of 18-24 year olds on the scheme into a sustained job.

Only 5,920 young people have achieved a job outcome under the Work Programme so far, of the 177,000 who participated in the programme. http://research.dwp.gov.uk/asd/asd1/work_programme/wp_release_nov12.pdf

  1. 2.     Labour Councils are building a new bridge for young people from schools to local jobs

 In five key ways Labour authorities are leading the way in the fight against youth unemployment:

  1. Stopping problems happening in the first place. Cities like Sheffield are transforming the way they identify young people at risk of graduating to a life of unemployment, so they can target special, additional support.
  2. Getting young people job ready. Councils like Bradford are building Industrial Centres of Excellence, small schools of 300 students aged 14-19 with enterprise skills, paid work experience and business-led qualifications – all tailored to what’s actually available in the local jobs market.
  3. Taking apprenticeships directly into schools. Manchester is revolutionising access to apprenticeships with its Apprentice Ambassadors and a new UCAS-style clearing house to match students with apprenticeship offers well before they leave school, conditional on making the grades. 
  4. Connecting SMEs to young people. Liverpool, Leeds and Sheffield have created Apprenticeship Agencies, organising training and work opportunities for literally thousands of apprentices with their cities’ diverse business base of SMEs.
  5. Reinventing the Future Jobs Fund. Wales, Glasgow and Birmingham are reinventing the highly successful Future Jobs Fund to make sure that young people out of work are given paid opportunities as a spring-board into local careers.

 DWP is getting in the way

Many of the Councils we met with reported poor and deteriorating relationships with the DWP nationally, though relationships with local jobcentres were often strong. It was felt that there was too little consultation by the DWP before nationally mandated programmes were stream-rollered through.

The DWP was often seen to be setting policy and commissioning contracts without regard to local needs. The result was that Councils’ employment programmes were often left to fill in important gaps. DWP was also considered to be too inflexible when it came to issues surrounding data sharing, which prevented local public services from being joined up.

Councils’ views on DWP

“DWP has been unwilling to engage locally, often embarking on nationally mandated initiatives with little or no consultation locally.”

“It seems that DWP is increasingly delivering an agenda determined in Whitehall with little or no regard to local circumstances.”

“Provision designed at the national level often makes incorrect assumptions about a given shape and size of local infrastructure.”

“A nationally driven process and inability to share data [have] meant that we couldn’t join up local public services to support people to achieve a better outcome.”

Councils call for more powers to tackle Britain’s youth job crisis

  • The freedom to deliver a plan that is fit for purpose in their areas. Different places have different economics. Businesses need different things. And the precise causes of youth unemployment vary. Skills needs may differ. The size of the challenge varies. Councils therefore need the freedom to tailor action – like job readiness training – to what’s needed in the local economy.
  • A simpler funding regime that joins up skills and jobs support for unemployed young people.  The current system is too complicated, and does not align the provision of skills with local employers’ needs.
  • The opportunity to involve employers and colleges in schools advice and guidance provision. This means that students can learn much earlier about the full range of local opportunities and what employers need.

A copy of the report Labour Fights Back can be downloaded here.

 

Government hitting millions of soldiers, nurses, cashiers and electricians with a strivers’ tax

Liam Byrne MP, Labour’s Shadow Work and Pensions Secretary, said:

“Tuesday’s Strivers’ Tax Bill marks the definitive end of any idea we are all in this together.

“This government are handing a £107,000 tax cut to millionaires but hitting millions of soldiers, nurses, cashiers and electricians with a strivers’ tax that will cost them hundreds of pounds a year.”

Ends

Notes to editors:

1. Liam Byrne’s interview in today’s Observer can be found online here: http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2013/jan/05/benefits-cap-shirkers-scroungers?CMP=twt_gu

 

 

IDS is in trouble over his Strivers’ Tax – and he knows it.

IDS is in trouble over his Strivers’ Tax – and he knows it.

You can tell ministers are in trouble when they start pedalling distortions on the scale we’ve seen from Iain Duncan Smith this week. IDS is in trouble. And he knows it.

Next week, the beleaguered welfare secretary comes to the Commons to defend the indefensible.

The comprehensive failure of George Osborne’s budgets has forced the independent OBR to revise up its forecasts for the claimant count by a third of a million.

That’s pushed up welfare spending by an eye-watering £13 billion. To pay that bill IDS has been asked to push through a strivers’ tax – more than 60% of which will come from working families -  on top of the £14 billion already removed from Tax Credits, while Britain’s richest citizens get a £3 billion a year tax break.

It’s unjustifiable. And IDS knows it. So this week, we’ve had a very muddled attempt to make up some kind of case.

First, we had a made-up story that tax credit fraud had jumped by 58%. This claim lasted about as long as it took Channel 4′s FactCheck to gently point out, that IDS couldn’t actually add up and the sums were wrong.

Then we had a new line of attack. Benefits are rising faster than earnings. Except they’re not. In the last ten years wages have risen faster than JSA, and the independent OBR tells us wages will power ahead of inflation in the next four years.

Then Nick Clegg tried to say Labour was being inconsistent to low paid public service workers. We back a 1 per cent pay freeze, so why not a 1 per cent benefits cap? Because we’ve always said that 1per cent should be an average with a tougher squeeze for the best paid public servants to fund higher pay rises for the lowest paid.

Its all fairly desperate stuff from a government that’s trying to avoid at all costs admitting that the lion’s share of the savings will come from working families’ tax credits.

So the real question in next week’s debate is this: how can the government justify cutting working families’ tax credits to pay for their failure to get Britain back to work – when millionaires are being given a tax cut?

Right now working people are being hit with a double whammy. Wages are stagnant and tax credits are being slashed whilst at the same time the cost of living goes through the roof as anyone who boarded a train yesterday will tell you.

The basic truth that IDS won’t confront is simple. The best way to get welfare spending down is to get Britain back to work. But IDS’ much vaunted welfare revolution is in tatters. The Work Programme is literally worse than doing nothing. Universal credit is beset with IT problems and has already been raided to pay for rising dole bills. Now the benefit cap is being pushed to the back end of the year because it’s a mess. Next week’s welfare bill does literally nothing to address any of this. It does nothing to create a single new job.

More than half of the people currently out of work have been so for more than 6 months but the government isn’t lifting a finger to help. The Youth Contract is nowhere to be seen and the all too predictable result is youth unemployment still hovering around a million.

That’s why this government should be looking at far more concerted action to get Britain back to work with ideas like Labour’s proposed tax on bankers’ bonuses to create a fund big enough to get over 100,000 young people back into jobs.

There will plenty more smoke and mirrors from the government over the coming months but they can’t disguise the reality of this Bill. It is a strivers’ tax which hammers hardworking families. The vast majority of the households hit are in work. Those are the people this government wants to cover the cost of their failure whilst 8,000 millionaires an average tax cut worth over £107,000. If this government want a battle over fairness whilst they are taking from hardworking families to fund a tax cut for the wealthiest Labour are ready to take them on.

 

The price of Tory failure: my letter to party members

Last week’s Autumn Statement exposed the grim truth of David Cameron’s economic failure. Growth down. Borrowing up. And Britain’s strivers paying the price.

Since then hundreds of people have been in touch to tell us their fears about what David Cameron’s failure means for them and their families.

Today we’ve launched a website, www.thepriceoftoryfailure.com, to share those stories.

This one, from Robert, was typical of what we’ve received so far:

“My daughter and her partner relied on their tax credit to make ends meet. George Osborne cut tax credits earlier this year and they are now £25 per week worse off; this has put them almost on the bread line.”

Robert’s daughter isn’t an exception or someone who has slipped through the cracks. With support cut for working families, many of them the poorest in society, she’s just one of many ordinary working people who are picking up the bill for this Government’s failure.

We need more of these stories to expose the truth of this Government which is cutting tax for millionaires while millions pay more – will you share yours?

David Cameron tried to say he was making further cuts aimed at the “shirkers and scroungers”, but the truth is that six out of ten people hit by these cuts are people who get up every morning and go to work.  The lowest paid ­families ­getting tax credits. The new mum who will lose £180 in maternity pay.

At the same time – next April each person earning over £1 million a year will be getting on­ ­average a tax cut of £107,000 each, not just for one year, but every year.

I’m asking every Labour Party member and supporter to back the people who are doing the right thing – who are in work, or trying to find work, but need a little bit of help to get by. 

Will you help us share these stories and back those that need our help the most?

Show the Tories they are out of touch with the vast majority, on the side of the wrong people.

Liam Byrne

 

My question to Iain Duncan Smith at Work and Pensions Questions today

 

1. Can the SoS set out the projected rise in the dole bill as a result of the Budget?

 

2. He clearly doesn’t know!

 

Let me help him:

 

It’s nearly £6 billion higher as a result of his failure to get Britain back to work

 

Now to pay that bill he’s proposing a Uprating Bill, which I’m afraid sounds all wrong to me;

 

It’s wrong that it takes £4 billion from tax credits

 

It’s wrong that it takes £300 million for maternity pay

 

And it’s wrong that this strivers tax is going to hit 4,500 working families on tax credits in his own constituency

 

He should be fixing welfare reform, not flogging working families

 

So perhaps he’d like to tell the house just what share of the savings will come from working people?

 

Remploy factory closures are shameful

Liam Byrne MP, Labour’s Shadow Work and Pensions Secretary, responding to news that Ministers are set to close at least 10 more Remploy factories and a further five have been put at risk, said:
 
“This is a shameful act from a contemptuous government. A day after the Autumn Statement in which the claimant count was revised up, David Cameron and Iain Duncan Smith have thrown out of work almost 1,000 disabled workers.

“Iain Duncan Smith didn’t even have the nerve to come to Parliament to tell MPs face to face. Instead he chose to hide in his office while he was putting disabled workers out of a job. He ought to be ashamed of himself.

“Iain Duncan Smith is the minister who said that Remploy workers did nothing better than sit around drinking cups of coffee. Now, in a final act of contempt he has sacked almost all of them, despite knowing that 90% of those who lost their jobs in the last closures are still out of work.
 
“We say loud and clear this round of closures must stop. David Cameron’s government is failing to get disabled workers back into jobs. The Work Programme is worse than doing nothing. This closure plan must stop until there’s a plan that works to get disabled workers back into jobs.”
 
Ends

Editor’s Notes:
 
1. Remploy phase two – A day after the Autumn Statement in which the claimant count was revised up, the Government is throwing nearly 1,000 disabled workers on the dole.
 
Ten factories are proposed for closure. These are Clydebank, Burnley, Dundee, Heywood, Huddersfield, Norwich, Portsmouth, Porth, Stirling and Sunderland.
 
Three factories face significant restructuring. All staff are at risk of redundancy. These are Neath, Blackburn and Sheffield.
 
Two factories are not saleable as a going concern. All staff are at risk of redundancy. These are Leven and Cowdenbeath.
 
Three factories are safe. These are Birmingham, Coventry and Derby.
 
2. Today, Labour revealed that in the communities where factories are earmarked for closure there are 66% more people chasing every job than the national average

The Government’s much vaunted work programme secured just 1.3 per cent of people on disability benefits into work.
Attached Claimants per vacancy in constituencies affected

3. In July Maria Miller guaranteed this Government would more disabled people into work:

John McDonnell (Hayes and Harlington) (Lab): The Minister referred to this as a difficult decision, but for the Remploy workers watching this debate it is a tragic decision. She has just mentioned the numbers who left work last time who have never been employed since. How many can she guarantee will be in secure employment in 12 months’ time?
Maria Miller: I can guarantee that by using the money differently we can help more disabled people into work. As a result of today’s measure [adding £15 million to Access to Work], some 8,000 disabled people can get into work who would not have had that support otherwise.
http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm201213/cmhansrd/cm120710/debtext/120710-0001.htm

4. 1.3% of ESA claimants referred on to the Work Programme found a job lasting more than six months.

This rate is outcomes divided by referrals:

Outcomes are for ESA volunteers, New ESA claimants, ESA ex-IB claimants over the period June 2011 to May 2012. See Table 1.1: http://statistics.dwp.gov.uk/asd/asd1/work_programme/wp_release_nov12.pdf?x=1

Referrals are for the same payment groups over the same period (See Table 1.1 in the annex)
 
5. The Written Ministerial Statement will appear here (copied in full): http://www.parliament.uk/business/publications/hansard/commons/todays-written-statements/

Written Ministerial Statement
 
Thursday 6 December 2012
 
THE DEPARTMENT FOR WORK AND PENSIONS
 
Disability Employment
 
The Minister for Disabled People (Ms Esther McVey MP): I would like to make a statement on Remploy to update the House on the next steps in the reforms that my predecessor as Minister for Disabled People, the Rt Hon Member for Basingstoke, set out in this House on 10 July 2012.  
 
The Remploy Board is today making make an announcement, and is quite rightly informing all those employees whom it affects.
 
The Remploy Board has now concluded its assessment of the Stage 2 businesses. It has been working closely with the Department for Work and Pensions and independent business analysts to explore in detail whether the remaining factory based businesses (Automotive, Automotive Textiles, E-Cycle, Frontline, Furniture, Marine and Packaging), CCTV contracts and Employment Services could viably exit government ownership and if so, how this could be best achieved.  
 
Further work is being undertaken on Employment Services and a separate announcement will follow when a decision has been made.
 
The Government has decided to confirm the exit of Stage 2 factories and businesses, and the Remploy Board has today announced the results of its analysis and its proposals for a commercial process for stage 2 factory businesses and the CCTV business.
 
The Automotive business operating from factories in Coventry, Birmingham and Derby is considered by Remploy to be a viable business. It has the potential to successfully move out of Government funded support as a going concern. Remploy will now move to market this business , there is no proposal to close this business and staff at these sites are not formally at risk of redundancy.
 
The Automotive Textiles operation at Huddersfield is not commercially viable and the factory there is proposed for closure. All staff in this business are now at risk of redundancy.
 
The Furniture business based in Neath (Port Talbot), Sheffield and Blackburn has the potential to be commercially viable but would require significant restructuring consideration and downsizing of its operations. Remploy will market this business as a prospective going concern, while recognising that the current trading position of the business may ultimately result in no viable bids being received and that there may therefore be consequential redundancies and factory closures. All staff in this business are now at risk of redundancy.
 
The Marine Textiles business (based at Leven and Cowdenbeath) has an established market position and might attract commercial interest. Remploy Management will discuss any potential opportunities for a commercial exit with its current distributor and any other parties who express an interest. However the business currently makes significant losses and is not saleable currently as a going concern. The employees of the Marine Textiles business are therefore at risk of redundancy.
 
The CCTV business has the potential to become a viable business or series of businesses and successfully move out of Government control. Remploy will now discuss with the 27 organisations who have let contracts to Remploy their intentions and the opportunity to market this business and its 27 contracts as a going concern. If the business can be sold it may result in potential TUPE transfers.  In the event that it cannot be sold compulsory redundancies will be made and all employees in the CCTV business are therefore at risk of redundancy.
 
In addition to Automotive Textiles, 3 other Remploy businesses are not commercially viable or have little realistic prospect of being sold as going concerns. These are E-Cycle (based at Porth and Heywood), Frontline Textiles (based at Dundee, Stirling and Clydebank) and Packaging (based at Norwich, Portsmouth, Burnley and Sunderland). These factories are now proposed for closure with all the staff working there and at the associated Business Offices at risk of redundancy
 
As a means of reducing the number of potential job losses Remploy will, from today commence a commercial process and invite expressions of interest from any individuals or organisations who would like to buy all or parts of these businesses or sites proposed for closure. They will also be inviting expressions of interest for the assets associated with these sites, although “going concern” business sales will take precedent over asset sales.
 
As a result of these proposals a total 875 employees including 682 disabled employees in the Automotive Textiles, E-Cycle, Frontline Textiles, Furniture, Marine textiles, Packaging and CCTV businesses are being placed at risk of compulsory redundancy.
 
If a successful sale or transfer of ownership is possible and such sale or transfer falls within the provisions of the Transfer of Undertakings (Protection of Employment) Regulations 2006 (TUPE), employees employed in or assigned to the relevant businesses will transfer to the new owner under TUPE. However, if TUPE does not apply, the number of employees who may transfer to the new business cannot be guaranteed as this will be a matter of negotiation between the bidder and Remploy.
 
It is important to note that no final decisions have been made about the factory closures or about redundancies in Stage 2 factories or businesses at this time.
 
I expect the process for exits or closures to have been completed by October 2013.
 
To encourage bids that maximise the continued employment of disabled people, the Department for Work and Pensions will offer a three year tapering wage subsidy totalling £6,400 for each eligible disabled member of staff. In addition Remploy will also fund professional advice and support worth up to £10,000 for employee led bids. This is in line with the offer of support in Stage 1.
 
Remploy’s Automotive business will continue to operate business as usual. There is no proposal to close this business at this stage.
 
Remploy Employment Services business will also continue to operate business as usual.
 
The Government has made £8 million available for 18 months to fund the delivery of a People Help and Support Package across the UK for any disabled individuals who are made redundant.  This tailored support from the People Help and Support Package includes access to a Personal Case Worker to help individuals with their future choices and a personal budget for additional support.
 
We will use the expertise of Remploy’s Employment Services which, despite difficult economic times over the last two years, has found jobs for around 50,000 disabled and disadvantaged people.
 
We are working with Remploy Employment Services, local and national employers, and the Business Disability Forum (BDF) to offer targeted work opportunities for disabled people. This could include guaranteed interviews, work trials, industry sector specific training, pre-application training (including mock interviews), on the job training and employer training in how to make adjustments for particular impairments.
 
We have also set up a Community Support Fund to provide grants to local voluntary sector and user-led organisations to run a variety of projects to support disabled Remploy employees and their families.
 
Of the 1,349 disabled people affected by the factory closures, 875 have expressed an interest in returning to work and are actively using the support package, so the latest results mean that just under 15% of those are now in work. It is one of our top priorities to maximise employment opportunities for the Remploy factory leavers.
 
This is an ongoing process, and as it develops, I commit to keeping this House updated on the status of the business plans going through to the next stage. I will provide a further update on progress in the New Year.

 

Labour’s motion for our Opposition Day Debate today on ‘Jobs and Social Security’

This House notes that only just over two in every hundred people referred to the Work Programme in its first year have gone into work; further notes that it has delivered a worse outcome than no programme at all; recognises long term unemployment is soaring and that the welfare bill is projected to be £20 billion higher than planned; notes with concern that the government is cutting £14 billion from tax credits and is taking £6.7 billion from disability benefits to pay for this cost of failures; and calls on the Government to implement a bank bonus tax to fund a Real Jobs Guarantee for young people and commission a cumulative impact assessment of disability benefit changes.