From 2002 to 2011, Jobcentre Plus was an executive agency which reported directly to the Minister of State for Employment. It was formed by the amalgamation of two agencies, the Employment Service, which operated Jobcentres, and the Benefits Agency, which ran social security offices.
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.
The forerunners of the Jobcentre Plus were the state-run labour exchanges, originally the vision of Winston Churchill, President of the Board of Trade, and William Beveridge,[9] who had worked for a more efficient labour system in the early years of the twentieth century. This was intended to address the chaos of the labour market and the problems of casual employment.
In 1908, Beveridge was commissioned to devise a scheme which would combine labour exchanges with a new government-funded unemployment benefit. The Labour Exchanges Act 1909 was rushed through Parliament and was passed in September 1909 and, after months of planning and recruitment of clerks; 62 labour exchanges were opened on 1 February 1910. The number of offices rose to 430 within four years. At the suggestion of the Prime MinisterDavid Lloyd George, from January 1917, the labour exchanges came under the new Ministry of Labour and were renamed employment exchanges, so as to more accurately reflect their purpose and function.
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 "dole") was originally only a temporary measure.
As unemployment benefit was payable only for those with a contributions record, and even then for only twelve months for each claim, there remained a group on long-term low incomes, without access to benefit. That was relieved after the enactment of the National Assistance Act 1948 (11 & 12 Geo. 6. c. 29), when payments began to be made to jobseekers on low incomes regardless of contributions.
Initially, benefits were paid weekly in cash, at the employment exchange. From 1973, the-then Department of Employment began to open a new network of 'Jobcentres', with orange signage (re-branded 'Employment Service Jobcentre', with dark blue signage, from 1994 to 2002) that advertised jobs but did not process benefits. During this time, claimants were required to make claims and 'sign on' at separate unemployment benefit offices. With the introduction of the Employment Service in the mid-1990s, the unemployment benefit offices were integrated into Jobcentres. From the 1970s onwards, benefits were paid in the form of a girocheque, until the early-2000s, when payments would be made directly to the claimant's bank account.
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
Between 2012 and 2018, jobsearch facilities were available to anyone via the Universal Jobmatch website. This became 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.[19] The accounts are licensed and the electronic benefits transfer banking engine are provided by the company JP Morgan Europe.[20][21] Prior to these services the banking facility were provided by Citibank.[22] As of 2012, the payment system for benefits is being streamlined, and all payments will now be made into bank, building society or Post Office accounts, and the use of Girocheques was phased out by early 2013.[23]
In 2012, the DWP announced a "trailblazer" scheme under which all new job seekers on Merseyside would be required to claim benefits online rather than in person at a Jobcentre Plus branch.[24] This announcement was met with concern by Liverpool Wavertree MP Luciana Berger[25] as well as chiefs at the Public and Commercial Services union and a member of Liverpool Council's cabinet.[24] This was a partial pilot scheme for one part of the new Universal Credit benefit, which is replacing the income-based Jobseeker's Allowance and Employment Support Allowance, plus Child Tax Credit, Working Tax Credit, Income Support and Housing Benefit. 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 Universal Jobmatch, an online system accessible from the government portal and powered by Monster.com, either at their local Jobcentre or from their home computer. Those jobseekers who do not possess the necessary computer skills will be offered IT training. Jobseekers are expected to use 30 hours of their own time per week searching for jobs, on top of the mandatory Work Programme, or take part in community service.
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.
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.
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] In November 2024 plans were announced to merge the remaining 600 Jobcentre Plus locations with the National Careers Service to create a more centralised public service.[26]
Unemployment benefits, also called unemployment insurance, unemployment payment, unemployment compensation, or simply unemployment, are payments made by governmental bodies to unemployed people. Depending on the country and the status of the person, those sums may be small, covering only basic needs, or may compensate the lost time proportionally to the previous earned salary.
The New Deal was a workfare programme introduced in the United Kingdom by the first New Labour government in 1998, initially funded by a one-off £5 billion windfall tax on privatised utility companies. The stated purpose was to reduce unemployment by providing training, subsidised employment and voluntary work to the unemployed. Spending on the New Deal was £1.3 billion in 2001.
The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) is a ministerial department of the Government of the United Kingdom. It is responsible for welfare, pensions and child maintenance policy. As the UK's biggest public service department it administers the State Pension and a range of working age, disability and ill health benefits to around 20 million claimants and customers. It is the second-largest governmental department in terms of employees, and the second largest in terms of expenditure.
Jobseeker's Allowance (JSA) is an unemployment benefit paid by the Government of the United Kingdom to people who are unemployed and actively seeking work. It is part of the social security benefits system and is intended to cover living expenses while the claimant is out of work.
The Hartz concept, also known as Hartz reforms or the Hartz plan, is a set of recommendations submitted by a committee on reforms to the German labour market in 2002. Named after the head of the committee, Peter Hartz, these recommendations went on to become part of the German government's Agenda 2010 series of reforms, known as Hartz I – Hartz IV. The committee devised thirteen "innovation modules", which recommended changes to the German labour market system. These were then gradually put into practice: The measures of Hartz I – III were undertaken between 1 January 2003, and 2004, while Hartz IV was implemented on 1 January 2005.
Social welfare has long been an important part of New Zealand society and a significant political issue. It is concerned with the provision by the state of benefits and services. Together with fiscal welfare and occupational welfare, it makes up the social policy of New Zealand. Social welfare is mostly funded through general taxation. Since the 1980s welfare has been provided on the basis of need; the exception is universal superannuation.
Social security, in Australia, refers to a system of social welfare payments provided by Australian Government to eligible Australian citizens, permanent residents, and limited international visitors. These payments are almost always administered by Centrelink, a program of Services Australia. In Australia, most payments are means tested.
Employment and Support Allowance (ESA) is a United Kingdom welfare payment for adults younger than the State Pension age who are having difficulty finding work because of their long-term medical condition or a disability. It is a basic income-replacement benefit paid in lieu of wages. It is currently being phased out and replaced with Universal Credit for claimants on low incomes, although the contribution-based element remains available.
Incapacity Benefit was a British social security benefit that was paid to people facing extra barriers to work because of their long-term illness or their disability. It replaced Invalidity Benefit in 1995. The government began to phase out Incapacity Benefit in 2008 by making it unavailable to new claimants, and later moved almost all the remaining long-term recipients onto Employment and Support Allowance.
A4e was a for-profit, welfare-to-work company based in the United Kingdom. The company began in Sheffield in 1991 with the objective to provide redundant steelworkers with the training required to obtain new jobs.
Unemployment in the United Kingdom is measured by the Office for National Statistics. As of February 2024, the U.K. unemployment rate is 3.8%, down from 3.9% in January.
R v Secretary of State for Work and Pensions [2013] UKSC 68 is a United Kingdom constitutional law and labour law case that found the conduct of the Department for Work and Pensions "workfare" policy was unlawful. Caitlin Reilly, an unemployed geology graduate, and Jamieson Wilson, an unemployed driver, challenged the Jobcentre policy of making the unemployed work for private companies to get unemployment income. The outcome of the case affects over 3,000 claimants and entails around £130m unpaid benefits.
Workfare in the United Kingdom is a system of welfare regulations put into effect by UK governments at various times. Individuals subject to workfare must undertake work in return for their welfare benefit payments or risk losing them. Workfare policies are politically controversial. Supporters claim that such policies help people move off welfare and into employment whereas critics argue that they are analogous to slavery or indentured servitude and counterproductive in decreasing unemployment.
The Work Programme (WP) was a UK government welfare-to-work programme introduced in Great Britain in June 2011. It was the flagship welfare-to-work scheme of the 2010–2015 UK coalition government. Under the Work Programme the task of getting the long-term unemployed into work was outsourced to a range of public sector, private sector and third sector organisations. The scheme replaced a range of schemes which existed under previous New Labour governments including Employment Zones, New Deal, Flexible New Deal and the now abolished Future Jobs Fund scheme which aimed to tackle youth unemployment. Despite being the flagship welfare-to-work scheme of the Conservative-led coalition government, and then the incumbent Conservative government from May 2015, the DWP announced, in November 2015, that it was replacing the Work Programme and Work Choice with a new Work and Health Programme for the longer-term unemployed and those with health conditions. The DWP also announced that it would not be renewing Mandatory Work Activity and Help to Work which included Community Work Placements.
The Welfare Reform Act 2012 is an Act of Parliament in the United Kingdom which makes changes to the rules concerning a number of benefits offered within the British social security system. It was enacted by the Parliament of the United Kingdom on 8 March 2012.
Universal Jobmatch was a British website for finding job vacancies. The site was developed in a collaboration between the Department for Work and Pensions and Monster.
The Jobseekers Act 2013 is an emergency Act of Parliament of the United Kingdom introduced to the House of Commons in March 2013. It retrospectively changed the law to make past actions of the government which the courts had found unlawful to be lawful. As of July 2014, the Act has been found to contravene Article 6 of the European Convention on Human Rights.
The Day One Support for Young People Trailblazer was a compulsory workfare scheme for young unemployed 18- to 24-year-olds, that was trialled in North and South London Jobcentre Plus districts, between 26 November 2012 and 26 July 2013. The workfare scheme whereby unemployed people must work in return for state unemployment benefits was introduced during a time of particularly high youth unemployed in the United Kingdom. As a mandatory scheme, claimants were sanctioned if they failed to meet the requirements of the scheme. The scheme differed from other workfare schemes which are generally aimed at the long term unemployed as claimants were forced onto the scheme immediately or soon after making a claim for Jobseeker's Allowance if they "had not previously completed six months of paid employment since leaving full time education". Claimants were mandated to complete 30 hours of work for 13 weeks and also had to continue to "sign on" during that period.
The Flexible Support Fund (FSF) is a fund in the United Kingdom to aid those in receipt of unemployment benefits to gain employment. It is administered by Job Centres and can be used by individual claimants for the cost of travel to interviews, childcare, tools and clothing and uniforms to start work. However, there is no exhaustive list of things that may be funded under the fund. A second part of the Flexible Support Fund allows District Managers to award funding to "partnership organisations" in order to address barriers to work.
The Minister of State for Employment is a mid-level position in the Department for Work and Pensions in the British government.
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