Jobcentre

Plus

Jim McGonigle District Manager East & South East Scotland Lyndean House 199 Commercial Street Edinburgh EH6 6QP Telephone 0131 5558070 Fax 0131 5558005 Textphone 0845 601 6045 www.direct.gov.uk

Kezia Dugdale MSP The Scottish Parliament Holyrood Edinburgh EH991SP 15 December 2011 Dear Ms Dugdale Since my last letter in July there have been a number of significant developments we offer to people looking 'or work, claiming be, 8fits or pensions. in the support

DWP corporate structure review From 3 October 2011, the formal 'Agency' status of Jobcentre Plus and the Pension, Disability and Carers Service (PDCS) was removed and the day-to-day operations brought under the leadership of a single Chief Operating Officer, Terry Moran. These changes do not affect the way we handle our day-to-day business, including how we manage any enquiries you may have on behalf of your constituents. These changes form part of the corporate restructuring of DWP to streamline management and make the Department more efficient. Services under the brands of Jobcentre Plus, Pension Service, and the Disability & Carers Service will continue to be delivered to jobseekers, benefit claimants and pensioners as before, ahead of the introduction of Universal Credit in 2013. Ministerial accountability also remains unaffected. In my July letter, I said that we were reviewing our Jobcentre network. Following local consultation, DWP has announced the closure of 19 sites. We believe we can close these sites with no impact on the quality of service we offer to help people back to work. Nine of the sites provide services to employers, which can be supplied from nearby offices and nine have another Jobcentre within two miles from which we will continue to deliver our full range of services. At the remaining location Jobcentre Plus services will be delivered from a local authority building in the same town. We expect to redeploy all affected staff to nearby offices. We plan for the majority of sites to close by October 2012, with one site to remain open until early 2013. Our plans also retain sufficient capacity to manage fluctuations in demand. MPs in affected constituencies have already been informed. My letter to you of 28 October outlined plans for Edinburgh City Jobcentre; that a longer period of consultation was required and that we would review the position again next year. As part of our normal business management, we will continue to review our service delivery plans, exploring opportunities to reduce estate costs whilst maintaining a high standard of service. Additional youth employment support From 24 October, additional support for 16/17 year old JSA claimants became available. This includes additional advisory support, access to Work Experience and Work Clubs. Young people are already supported by Jobcentre Plus to make the transition into employment through personalised job searches, help with applying for vacancies, access to apprenticeships and access to work-focused training provision. Young people also have priority access to the Work Programme where providers have the freedom to innovate and do what works in their locality. See annex 1 for further information on youth support.

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Part of the Department for Work and Pensions
INVESTOR IN PEOP'U

Extra support to help lone parents into work From 31 October, lone parents on Income Support with a youngest child aged four and over, will receive extra support to begin their journey back to work. These lone parents will be asked to attend a 'Work Focussed Interview' four times a year to help them become work-ready. At the moment many lone parents only see an adviser every six months, which can leave them without the right level of support. Letters about the increase in Work Focused Interviews were sent on 14 October, to lone parents whose youngest child was born between 1 October 2005 and 31 December 2007. Benefit conditionality changes From 31 October, lone parents and partners of people claiming certain benefits, who have a child under one year old, no longer need to attend Work Focused Interviews, unless they volunteer to do so. In addition, lone parents with a child under the age of seven, no longer need to attend an initial Work Focused Interview in order to establish entitlement to Income Support on the grounds of lone parenthood. ESA - Time limit changes from April 2012 The Welfare Reform Bill includes a provision to limit to 12 months, the time that people who are in the Work Related Activity Group (WRAG) can claim contribution-based Employment and Support Allowance. Although the Bill has yet to receive Royal Assent, we have written to claimants to explain how their benefits may be affected by the proposed time limit. Should this change be confirmed, people moving off contribution-based Employment and Support Allowance may be entitled to income-related ESA. They will not have to make a new claim, but we may ask them for additional information. We will contact claimants before their benefit ends to advise them of any action they may need to take. At the moment, people do not need to do anything to continue receiving their current benefit(s). If legislation is passed, we will write to them again explaining this and how it affects them. ESA - Changes to participation in the Work programme Since October, ESA claimants who are in the Work Related Activity Group and have a 6 month prognosis of a sufficient improvement to their condition to enable them to return to work, will now be mandated to the Work Programme to help them prepare to return to work. Previously, mandation applied only to those with a 3 month prognosis. To encourage participation by claimants who are not mandated, we have introduced a Work Programme Information Session which allows Providers to discuss with claimants the types of support they can offer. Ending gang and youth violence - A cross-government report On 1 November, the Government published its 'Ending gang and youth violence' report. This sets out a cross-government plan to reduce youth violence and the damage done to young people themselves, their families and the communities in which they grow up. The report makes clear that the vast majority of young people are not involved in serious violence or gangs. However, the small number who are involved in serious violence, have a disproportionately large impact on the communities around them. Gangs create a culture of violence and criminality which can stretch beyond the gang itself. Jobcentre Plus advisers and partner organisations are already active in some of our most disadvantaged communities, helping excluded families to engage with training and employment opportunities. We are increasingly co-locating with voluntary and charitable organisations such as Shelter and the Prince's Trust to improve young people's access to broader support and to contribute to community life through volunteering. Prevention, enforcement and intervention activities with young people and their families will only have a real impact if they are coordinated effectively at the local level. The report encourages local authorities with a gang violence problem to provide strong leadership and to put in place a strong collaborative structure to identify those at risk, agree coordinated actions and manage individual interventions. This report can be seen at: www.homeoffice.gov.uk/crime/knife-gun-gang-youth-violence

Tackling error in the benefit system In conjunction with our work to reduce benefit fraud, DWP is also committed to reducing both customer and official error and has introduced a series of initiatives to tackle them. These include: improvements to the way we share information within the Department. This has allowed us to identify more errors in individual claims and put them right. In 2010/11 we identified almost 22m in overpayments and 9m in underpayments by making better use of information we already hold on claimants enhancements to our IT .systems. This means that some types of incorrect claims are flagged up automatically to enable us to take quicker remedial action the introduction of Benefit Integrity Centres. These focus on reviews of high risk cases. This has enabled the Department to review those claims where there has been little or no contact with the claimant for some time changes to staff training to improve awareness and understanding of how errors occur and how to put them right introduction of a national Error Reduction team which plays a key role in getting messages to staff about the importance of reducing errors. A series of 'Error Reduction' weeks and a national conference has helped generate many ideas for tackling error

We will continue to make improvements to reduce error, and the next phase of activity will focus on staff training and the introduction of a national checking tier. This new checking function will examine around 44,000 claims each year to identify how and where in the process error occurs, so that we can design out the problems for the future. Amendment to the Pensions Bill The Government is to slow down the proposed increase in the State Pension age from 65 to 66. Plans to raise the State Pension age to 66 in 2020 will be slowed down by six months. This is to cap the maximum increase in women's State Pension age to 18 months, relative to the legislated timetable. Under proposals set out in the current Pensions Bill, the State Pension age for women was due to rise from 60 to 65 by November 2018 and then for men and women to 66 in April 2020. On 13 October, Ministers announced a change to these proposals to slow the rise in State Pension age for men and women from December 2018, so that it reaches 66 in October 2020 instead. These proposed changes to the timetable are not yet law and require the approval of Parliament. I hope that you have found this update useful. I have also included an appendix of local Jobcentre Plus initiatives, some of which include Partnership working, for your reference. Again, I hope that you find this useful. If you have any questions please do not hesitate to get in touch. I would also like to take this opportunity to remind you that I am happy to meet with you to discuss any of the above issues or anything else that is ongoing at present. If you would like to take up this offer please email or phone and we will arrange suitable times and places to meet.

Yours sincerely

J McGonigle
District Manager

Annex 1
Youth Unemployment The District is working closely with partners and employers to secure provIsion, work experience and job opportunities for our young people. Work Experience opportunities have been secured with both local and national companies e.g. ASDA, Next, Argos, NHS, Capital Hotels, Holland and Barrett and Poundland. We are also preparing young people to take part in various local initiatives. For example the Falkirk Jobs Programme plans to deliver 60 jobs by March 2012 for 18-24 year old customers .. West Lothian has established a hub system which effectively allows case conferencing on individuals between key public sector agencies (Skills Development Scotland currently hold group sessions (Career Essentials) for 16 -17 year olds in West Lothian schools). The scope to enhance these sessions through Jobcentre Plus attendance (on day 5) is subject to discussion at the moment Stirling Council has developed an Employability Programme for 75 young people, consisting of two weeks employability preparation followed by three weeks Work Experience with local employers The City of Edinburgh Council through the Edinburgh Guarantee, are seeking to increase the number of jobs, education and training opportunities being made available to young people. As part of the initiative the "Inspiring Young People" programme offers 16-18 year olds the opportunity of training and work experience to equip them for the future.

Get Britain Working initiatives in place to specifically tackle youth unemployment Community Jobs Scotland A new Scottish Council for Voluntary Organisations (SCVO) initiative, funded by Scottish Government, has opened up jobs within the Third Sector for 18-24 year old customers and also a limited number for customers aged 25 and over. In East & South East Scotland there have recently been 124 vacancies placed for 18-24 year olds and 10 placed for customers aged 25 and over. Mandatory Work Activity Mandatory Work Activity provides the opportunity for customers to gain experience by participating in a 4 week placement with a Third Sector organisation. This enables customers to gain new skills and experiences, helps to build relationships with local employers and helps the local community. We now have a steady flow of customers accessing a variety of placements across this District for example Fife Ecology Centre. New Enterprise Allowance New Enterprise Allowance provides a route way for customers who wish to pursue self employment. This provision has proved popular with customers with 348 people already being referred to a provider. 78 customers have started the provision and are working with a mentor to construct an effective business plan with a view to progressing into self employment. Work Experience Work Experience for 18 to 24 year old customers is proving particularly successful, for example in Edinburgh we are working with Barnardo's Networks to provide a combination of training followed by a supported placement. All of the 27 employers involved in the Barnardo's initiative offer jobs on successful completion of the programme. You may also be interested to know that we are now offering Work Experience within the majority of our own offices in this District and 5 young people have had the opportunity to take up a placement to date. Work Together Work Together is a nationwide initiative to encourage all unemployed people to consider volunteering, as a way of improving their employment prospects whilst they are looking for work. Our advisers link customers with the Volunteer Centre coordinators to ensure that the

most suitable volunteering option is available to them and that any additional support can be identified. Work Clubs I am pleased to say that we have a wide range of Get Britain Working activities ongoing within the district, including 43 Work Clubs (some specifically designed for young people and professionals), and continue to receive very positive feedback from customers using this seNice. Working with Skills Development Scotland (SDS) We continue to work closely with SOS to improve the customer experience and maximise our outcomes through intelligence sharing and joint planning. We are currently developing a joint approach to tackling youth unemployment through early inteNention by offering a seN.ice for customers from age 16 upwards. In order to increase the range of seNices available to employers and improve outcomes we are developing ways to integrate the offer we make to employers.

Other Jobcentre Plus Provision/Initiatives

Sector Based Work Academies Sector based work academies comprise training, work experience and a guaranteed inteNiew for unemployed people who would benefit from a job ready employer focused approach. Edinburgh is currently testing this new Get Britain Working activity which is expected to launch in Scotland in January 2012. The first academy commenced on 10 October 2011- providing 12 places for unemployed people who expressed a desire to work in hospitality. The trainees have received training which included industry relevant qualifications. They are currently on their work experience placements and will be guaranteed inteNiews at the end of the programme. Flexible Support Fund From April 2011 the Jobcentre Plus Flexible Support Fund was introduced as part of an approach to increase local flexibility with supporting people into work. Part of this funding has been made available to local organisations working in partnership to tackle persistent worklessness and complex challenges to employment. To date bids have been received from over 40 organisations across the district. We are currently working with a number of these organisations to finalise the terms of the bids and introduce new and innovative solutions for tackling the issues. Work Programme Since the launch of the Work Programme in June we continue to work closely with our prime contractors, Ingeus and Working Links, to manage a smooth transition to the programme for our customers. We have raised the profile of the programme by arranging awareness sessions for our staff and key stakeholders. We have published a short guide to the Work Programme which you may find useful, and it can be found here: http://www.dwp.gov.uk/docs/the-work-programme.pdf Jobcentre Plus are actively involved in influencing the development of local Work Programme provision to ensure it effectively responds to the needs of the community and individuals.