27.11.12
Welfare to work could miss 5% target
The Government’s welfare to work programme is expected to miss its target, official figures are expected to show.
The first figures from the scheme, launched last June, are expected to show that less than 5% of jobseekers on the programme have been helped into “sustainable” work.
The welfare to work programme sees firms and charities paid to help the long-term unemployed find work. Participants are eligible if they are over 25 and have been out of work for over a year, or under 25 and out of work for over nine months.
The Employment Related Services Association has stated that 20,000 jobseekers are helped each month and over 200,000 have found employment since the launch of the scheme. However, these figures do not show how many people have remained in a job for six months.
Employment minister Mark Hoban said: “The Work Programme has already helped more than 200,000 of the hardest-to-help unemployed people into jobs. This is great news. It’s still early days, but it’s a welcome sign that one year in providers are getting more and more people into sustained jobs.”
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