Jobcentre Plus
This article needs additional citations for verification. (October 2012) |
Executive Agency overview | |
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Formed | 2002 |
Preceding Executive Agency |
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Dissolved | 4 October 2011 |
Superseding agency | |
Jurisdiction | United Kingdom |
Headquarters | Leeds, United Kingdom |
Minister responsible |
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Parent department | Department for Work and Pensions |
Website | http://gov.uk |
Jobcentre Plus (
From 2002 to 2011, Jobcentre Plus was an
Role of Jobcentre Plus
Jobcentre Plus was an executive agency[2] of the Department for Work and Pensions of the government of the United Kingdom between 2002 and 2011.[3] The functions of Jobcentre Plus were subsequently provided directly through the Department for Work and Pensions. The agency provided services primarily to those attempting to find employment and to those requiring the issuing of a financial provision due to, in the first case, lack of employment, of an allowance to assist with the living costs and expenditure intrinsic to the effort to achieve employment,[2] or in all other cases the provision of social-security benefit as the result of a person without an income from employment due to illness-incapacity including drug addiction.[2][4] The organisation acted from within the government's agenda for community and social welfare.[5][6] Services were provided in the first instance via job advisers, both in-house and on the telephone.[7] An information technology system known as the Labour Market System (LMS) contained the personal details of job seekers[8] and advertised job vacancies for employers within each of the public offices.
Between 2012 and 2018 a government website named Universal Jobmatch was used whereby jobseekers could search for employment and employers could upload and manage their own vacancies whilst searching for prospective employees.
Claims may be made for the working-age benefit Universal Credit. Previously claims for Jobseeker's Allowance, Incapacity Benefit, Employment and Support Allowance and Income Support could be made.
History
The forerunners of the Jobcentre Plus were the state-run
In 1908, Beveridge was commissioned to devise a scheme which would combine labour exchanges with a new government-funded
The National Insurance Act was passed in 1911 and the first payments were made at exchanges in January 1913. Initially this covered only elected trades, such as building, engineering and shipbuilding. Weekly contributions were paid by workers, employers and the state in the form of stamps which were affixed to an Unemployment Book (later called the National Insurance card). When no work was available, benefit was payable.
The basic rules and administration regarding claims and the disallowance of benefit remain unaltered today. From 1918, payments were also made to unemployed ex-soldiers and their dependants, as well as to civilians who found themselves unemployed due to the decline of war production industries. The out-of-work donation scheme (the original "
As
Initially, benefits were paid weekly in cash, at the employment exchange. From 1973, the-then
The first 56 Jobcentre Plus Pathfinder offices were brought into existence during October 2001.[10]
As part of the Efficiency Savings Programme of 2004, changes were made to the structure and management of Jobcentre Plus as part of the governmental review headed by Sir Peter Gershon and Sir Michael Lyons to increase departmental efficiency amounting to £960,000,000; a target considered achievable in the period 2007-08. This initial plan was implemented within the Jobcentre structure as the Delivering our Vision Programme. Between 2005 and 2008, directors of the board were to be reduced in number from eight to six, the number of districts from seventy to fifty, the number of management and support staff employed were reduced by 5% and, amongst other things, the number of locations specifically employed to process claims would be reduced from 650 to 77.[11] [12]
In the 1990s, the Jobcentre reinforced a dress code which required male members of staff to wear ties. The code was later held to be in breach of the Sex Discrimination Act 1975.[13]
Organisation
According to figures obtained by the Work and Pensions Select Committee during 2005–2006, the number of employees within the organisation amounted to 71,000. The amount of money released by the Department for Work and Pensions to people in work-related benefit amounted to £100 million.[14]
The 2000 Makinson Report, written by John Makinson, led to the introduction of a team-based incentive scheme, created in order to improve staff efficiency. The scheme takes as a measure of this efficiency for the allocation of bonuses for teams meeting specific targets[15] (known as a performance-related pay-system)[16] the relative successes in each team of the factors:[15]
- of a rating by point-system based on criteria of the priority of each person to have been guided back into work (Job entry)
- the relative results of assessment of customer Service
- the specifics of whether the vacancy was filled at all, and if so, then the time taken for the advertised employment to be met (a measure of the satisfaction of the employer (Employer Outcome)
- the delivery of service professionally and with regards to the effectiveness (accuracy) of the entire organisation as a business targets (Business Delivery)
- a measure of the cost of levels of error by staff and customers, and of the reduction of fraud by customers.[15]
As of 2010[update], Jobcentre Plus had 750 offices and about 78,000 employees.[17]
Statistics
According to the Work and Pensions Select Committee the organisation caused directly or indirectly 700,000 people to return to work between the months of April 2005 and January 2006.[14]
According to The Guardian newspaper, the total number of jobseekers in May 2012 was 1,590,708.[18]
Changes to the service
Jobsearch facilities are available to anyone via the Universal Jobmatch website – the UK's most visited recruitment website with over a million visitors each week. Jobcentre Plus also offered services to employers and employment agencies, who can register their vacancies online through the online service or by calling Employer Direct. Vacancies are available immediately online.
Alongside these changes, Jobcentre Plus has also changed the way in which claims to benefits are processed. In the past, claimants contacted their local benefits office, were asked to manually complete the appropriate forms, and then booked an interview with an adviser in order to discuss work related issues (as appropriate) and submit the benefits claim for processing. The new system instead asks individuals to call a Jobcentre Plus call centre, where claim details are taken over the phone and entered directly to the computer system by the call agent. From summer 2012 new claimants with Internet access are strongly encouraged to make their claim online, and interview details were then sent to the claimant by text message. Customers are then asked to attend an interview at their local jobcentre to discuss work issues with an adviser, and finalise their claim, provide relevant signatures and proof of ID and address.
The processing of benefits claims has also changed, so that they are processed at a smaller number of larger Benefit Centres rather than local benefit offices and jobcentres.
During 2003, the DWP commenced the use of Post Office accounts for the payment of benefits, a process fully operational at the beginning of the financial year in 2005.
In 2012, the DWP announced a "trailblazer" scheme under which all new job seekers on
. The changeover commenced in October 2013.The Work Programme was introduced in 2011, and is mandatory for all jobseekers from nine months onwards. Unlike the previous New Deal scheme which offered the choices of: training, help in setting up a business, unpaid work placement in a field appropriate to the jobseeker, the work program requires that jobseekers must take unpaid work experience in a discount shop or similar big business retail.[citation needed] This has led to much controversy regarding the inflexibility and lack of choices in the scheme.
From 19 October 2012, all claimants applying for Jobseeker's Allowance were expected to look for work online, using the new
On 14 May 2018, the Universal Jobmatch was replaced by the Find a Job service, accessible via the government portal and powered by Adzuna. The Universal Jobmatch service closed down on 17 June 2018.
Popular culture
The Jobcentre Plus service (and its forerunners the Social Security office, Unemployment Benefit office and Jobcentre/Labour Exchange) have featured in all forms of popular culture, often depicted in a general way to suggest poverty or unemployment. In the 1980s in particular, the Social Security office was frequently used as shorthand for the British recession.
Dramatic representations have included the
In the black comedy series The League of Gentlemen, a recurring character is Pauline Campbell-Jones (played by Steve Pemberton), the demented leader of a Restart course for a group of unemployed people.
The ITV sitcom
Love on the Dole is a novel by Walter Greenwood, about working class poverty in 1930s northern England. It has been made into both a play and film.
British reggae band UB40 are named after the paper form with the same name (Unemployment Benefit, form 40) that was used to apply for unemployment benefit.
Winding-up of Jobcentre Plus
Jobcentre Plus as an executive agency ceased to exist as of 4 October 2011. Services offered by Jobcentre Plus are now offered directly by the Department for Work and Pensions. Although the Jobcentre Plus corporate brand remains in place at the present time, it functions only as a public brand of the Department, rather than a separate entity.[1]
See also
References
- ^ a b "Government announces organisational changes to Jobcentre Plus and the Pension, Disability and Carers Service". Department for Work and Pensions. 12 September 2011. Archived from the original on 8 March 2016. Retrieved 4 March 2016.
- ^ a b c R Riley, S Kirby, P Meadows, J van de Ven and R Barrell- National Institute of Economic and Social Research (commissioned by the Dept. of Works and Pensions). "Evaluation of the macroeconomic impact of Jobcentre Plus and Jobseeker's Allowance New Deals: a feasibility study". Archived from the original on 5 December 2012. Retrieved 31 May 2012.
{{cite web}}
: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) - ^ webpage of the Department for Work and Pensions (jobcentre-plus) Archived 30 May 2012 at the Wayback Machine Retrieved 2012-05-31
- ^ (secondary supporting reference) A Cebulla,(National Centre for Social Research) N Smith and E Sutton Returning to Normality: Substance Users’ Work Histories and Perceptions of Work During and After Recovery Archived 10 July 2012 at archive.today British Journal of Social Work Vol. 34 No. 7 Retrieved 2012-05-31
- ^ webpage about the Department for Work and Pensions Archived 23 January 2011 at the Wayback Machine Retrieved 2012-05-31
- ^ Government Legal Service Archived 8 May 2012 at the Wayback Machine Retrieved 2012-05-31
- ISBN 9781847122315- Retrieved 2012-05-31
- ^ "Labour Market System". data.gov.uk. 12 December 2013.
- ^ "Welcome to nowhere". The Guardian. 7 April 2007. Retrieved 7 April 2021.
- ^ Lissenberg S, Marsh A, Hartfree Y, Sutton L, Kellard K, Nimmo J., Alos E., Davies V., Sumpton R., Taylor J., Rzymann I., Fidler Y., Wymer P Experiencing Jobcentre Plus Pathfinders: overview of early evaluation evidence (2003) Crown copyright for the Department for Work and Pensions -Retrieved 2012-05-31
- ^ Great Britain: Parliament: House of Commons: Work and Pensions Committee - The Efficiency Savings Programme in Jobcentre Plus: Second Report of Session 2005-06, Volume 1 The Stationery Office, 18 Mar 2006 Retrieved 2012-07-09
- ^ J Domokos - The Guardian newspaper 1 April 2011 Archived 1 October 2013 at the Wayback Machine Retrieved 2012-07-09
- ^ Laville, Sandra (12 March 2003). "Telling men to wear ties is sex discrimination". The Daily Telegraph. Archived from the original on 7 July 2018. Retrieved 2 April 2018.
- ^ ISBN 0215029259. Retrieved 4 March 2016.
- ^ a b c S.Burgess, C. Propper, M.Ratto, E.Tominey - University of Bristol 2004. "Evaluation of the Introduction of the Makinson Incentive Scheme in Jobcentre Plus". Retrieved 31 May 2012.
{{cite web}}
: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)[dead link] - ISBN 9780199573547(The London School of Economics and Political science)
- ^ "Are jobcentres still working?". The Guardian. 6 February 2010. Retrieved 7 April 2021.
- ^ Rogers, S.; Evans, L.; Sedghi, A. (20 June 2012). "Unemployment: the key UK data and benefit claimants for every constituency". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 9 January 2016. Retrieved 9 July 2012.
- ^ Select Committee on Trade and Industry Ninth Report 4 Post Office Card Account (POCA) 49 Archived 27 October 2016 at the Wayback Machine Retrieved 2012-06-07
- ^ Post Office Benefits and Pensions Archived 9 June 2012 at the Wayback Machine Retrieved 2012-06-07
- ^ ICM Research December 2009 - financial services group Beyond POCA: How to better meet the needs of consumers at the Post Office Retrieved 2012-06-07[dead link]
- ^ London-Gazette Archived 13 January 2013 at the Wayback Machine Retrieved 2012-06-07
- ^ What Do They Know? website [1] Archived 11 January 2014 at the Wayback Machine Retrieved 2012-10-26
- ^ a b Marc Waddington (9 November 2012). "Fears of Merseyside job centre chaos over switch to online job seekers claims only". liverpoolecho. Retrieved 4 March 2016.
- ^ Lucian Berger (9 November 2012). "Online Jobcentre move a major concern". lucianaberger.com. Archived from the original on 11 August 2014. Retrieved 4 March 2016.
External links
- BBC report into the Work and Pensions Select Committee report into job cuts and poor services at Jobcentre Plus
- March 2006 Select Committee report into Efficiency Savings Programme in Jobcentre Plus
- Written and Oral evidence submitted to the Work and Pensions Select Committee into the failure of the Efficiency Savings Programme in Jobcentre Plus
- Varney Report (Pre Budget 2006) - transforming the delivery of public services. The review looks at how the channels through which services are delivered can be made more efficient and responsive to the needs of citizens and businesses.
- Love on the Dole at IMDb