Responding to Work and Pensions Secretary Liz Kendall’s Blueprint

In her speech, Liz spoke about:

• The Government’s ambition to reach an 80% employment rate.
• Empowering local leaders and areas to tackle economic inactivity.
• The new work, health, and skills plans for the economically inactive.
• The establishment of the Labour Market Advisory Board.
• A new national jobs and career service to help get more people into work.
• A youth guarantee for all people aged between 18 and 21.

The Forward Trust supports the solutions the Work and Pensions Secretary set out in her speech. We believe that providers should be at the forefront of the design and delivery of these solutions.

The Government’s ambition to reach an 80% employment rate is laudable. The Learning and Work Institute, in its 2022 report, states that “this would help boost our economy by £23 billion, improve the public finances by £8 billion, and raise household incomes by £830 per year.”

The Learning and Work Institute also highlights that reducing employment gaps could contribute to this employment rate. In previous blogs, we said that addiction and mental health issues, along with insecure work, zero-hour contracts, low pay, and inflexible jobs, could trap people in a cycle of dependency on Universal Credit.

We believe there are clear solutions to this, evidenced by our delivery:

• A positive working relationship, along with intensive support, produces better outcomes.

At Forward, our Advisors base their work on the Wheel of Change, forging effective working relationships that give aspiration and hope and produce better outcomes. A report by the Learning and Work Institute and Ipsos for the Department for Work and Pensions found that “participants who had a positive relationship with the Employment Advisor were more likely to accept their advice and to attribute positive employment outcomes to the Restart Scheme.” 

Our work on Restart and other skills and employability programmes has shown that regular, intensive support can also lead to someone sustaining employment. For example, on our Restart programme, many 19–24-year-olds had low aspiration levels and narrow career goals. We ran ‘Seeing is Believing’ workshops which were facilitated by role models (former participants now in work) and those from our Forward Connect programme. They spoke about their experiences and how they succeeded in getting a job. Our workshops aim to foster a more open view of careers in various sectors. They also encourage participants to consider skills programmes to get their desired jobs.

• Linking careers, job services, and adult learning together.

A new national jobs and careers service is welcomed. However, career services need better funding and must include more face-to-face support. Those providing employability support must promote the benefits of undertaking Adult Skills training or other vocational training to improve the chances of getting a better job and an improved salary. For example, our recent numeracy programme, Multiply, had great results. It got 40% of learners to move on to our Adult Skills programmes, which included Functional Maths and other vocational courses.

We need to go wider than the Job Centre Plus network and encourage people to receive career advice and employability support through other ventures. For example, Forward works with social landlords, local community organisations, and probation services.

• The Youth Guarantee must be more than an agreement based on good intentions.

The proposed Youth Guarantee must go beyond a rehash of Kickstart, the Future Jobs Fund, or a watered-down voluntary agreement that encourages employers to hire young people.

The Youth Guarantee needs to ensure there is access to:

• Comprehensive and aspirational career advice.
• Pathways into Adult Skills courses (for those aged 19+), programmes for 16-19-year-olds, or a new type of traineeship with paid work experience.
• A focus on skills and behaviours, including communication, collaboration, problem-solving, organising, and creative thinking.
• A guarantee to interviews and work to the Good Work Standard from Employers.
• Intensive in-work support, role modelling, and mentoring.
• Opportunities for further training and progression while at work.

The Forward Trust has recently relaunched its Opportunities Escalator, which provides paid 12-month Trainee jobs (at the Real Living Wage) for former clients.  If we can do this, why can’t other employers in the private, public, and charitable sectors implement similar initiatives?

• Employers need guidance and encouragement to do the right thing.

Employers still struggle to find people with the right skills and behaviours to succeed in new jobs. Many employers are now committed to the Good Work Standards. They must provide a Real Living Wage and change how they recruit and interview. Other employers are revisiting their job design to include flexible working, the level of experience an employee needs, and the use of inclusive language in job adverts. We collaborate with many employers who commit to an inclusive approach to recruitment and who also partner with us to assist their employees in accessing available support.

• Providers need to be funded properly.

We require stable funding that enables us to invest in our provisions. Payment by results can incentivise better performance but can also encourage the wrong behaviours to get paid. Payment models must consider that charities and small providers will have tighter cash flow. This is especially true if learner or client volumes are lower than expected. More disadvantaged learners or clients are often harder to engage, so it takes more resources to help them remain on programmes and progress into jobs.

• Providers require the right type of compliance to generate better quality and value for money.

The recent Department for Work and Pensions Restart evaluation stated that “the advisor-participant relationship was central to whether outcomes were achieved.” However, we remain driven by narrow funding rules and service standards. This is instead of measuring the impact of the strong relationships staff have with clients. Providers need more autonomy from the Government to be able to pull the right levers to generate better outcomes for clients.  With autonomy comes accountability, but we need the Government to trust us more.

Has this blog resonated with you or someone you know?

The Forward Trust offers a range of services to support individuals in overcoming barriers to employment. This includes our Adult Education Budget programme, which offers tailored educational opportunities to help adults gain new qualifications and skills and enhance their employability and career prospects. We also run a Restart Scheme, which provides intensive employability support to help unemployed people in Thanet. Alongside these services, our new Individual Placement Support in Medway provides tailored employment support to people who have issues with drugs and/or alcohol.