Influential labour market economists attributed this increase to cuts in frontline staffing, and to a relaxation of rules in the s which required unemployed people to register with jobcentres. From their introduction, jobcentres had treated support for long-term unemployed claimants as a low priority.
Subsequent reforms required jobcentres to focus their interventions on benefit claimants, as opposed to all jobseekers irrespective of their benefit status. At the same time, there was further integration of employment assistance with the administration of benefits.
The core of the new approach included regular mandatory contact with advisers, a focus on rapid job placement and referrals to more specialist and intensive employment services for the hardest to place.
A evaluation of the introduction of JCP concluded that it had helped reduce the number of people on all the main working-age benefits by an estimated 40, The report also found the new integrated service had increased the effective labour supply, and that the investment had actually raised the government money because it reduced the number of people claiming out-of-work benefits while increasing the revenue raised through taxation.
The modernised jobcentre network played a major role in enabling the DWP to respond quickly to the recession. It managed a sharp increase in benefit claims from people who lost their jobs, swiftly deployed additional resources, and maintained performance in helping claimants get jobs. The Job Centre, a bar in Deptford, south-east London, on the site of a former jobcentre.
Today, jobcentres continue to play an important role in helping employers fill vacancies and in local economic development. But since reforms introduced in by the Conservative-Liberal Democrat coalition, their primary responsibility — and the performance targets under which their staff are measured — concern moving people off benefits , with little follow-up of how many claimants get jobs, or how many keep them.
Jobcentres have now become responsible for enforcing the requirements needed to collect benefits, and imposing sanctions on those who fail to meet obligations to attend jobcentre appointments, search for a job or prepare to start work. These sanctions range from short-term deductions of up to 40 per cent in job seeker benefit, through to penalties that can last for three years.
All these reforms mean the jobcentre of today is a very different place to the jobcentre of What was a public employment service, providing assistance to all job seekers and employers, is now solely a claimant employment service tasked with reducing the number of people claiming benefits.
Preparing for Universal Credit Universal Credit attracted widespread support because it was originally designed to simplify the benefit system and improve work incentives, with a new cadre of frontline jobcentre work coaches assisting more claimants to prepare for and seek work.
In practice, benefit cuts have weakened work incentives and simplification , while more working age claimants are being pushed towards a smaller network of jobcentres. Between and , jobcentres experienced another redesign in an effort to change the way services are delivered and prepare for Universal Credit. Under the full digital service, claimants manage many of their interactions with the DWP through an online Universal Credit account where they report their income, any changes in circumstances and what they have done to look for work.
A digital advisory function allows work coaches to monitor individual job search activity, analyse CVs, identify skills or training gaps, as well as to search, save and send targeted vacancies directly to claimants. However, mandatory personal attendance at jobcentre interviews remains a core requirement of continuing to receive Universal Credit and most other working age benefits. This is especially the case for unemployed claimants who must currently attend their jobcentre at least weekly, or fortnightly if their travel time is less than one hour each way by public transport.
Where there is no public transport, they still have to attend every two weeks if they can walk to the jobcentre in under one hour or must walk no more than three miles each way. These rules may seem reasonable, but they pose significant difficulties for particular groups of claimants, especially those with mobility problems, caring responsibilities or those living in rural areas. In , most jobcentres were located in urban areas and half the 28 offices in rural areas were in Wales. An interactive online data tool , published by the National Audit Office, suggests that in urban areas 89 per cent of claimants were within 30 minutes of their nearest jobcentre by public transport.
In rural areas, only 35 per cent of claimants were within 30 minutes, 75 per cent of claimants were within 45 minutes and 90 per cent were within 60 minutes.
These nominal travel times do not take into account factors that complicate journeys, such as the frequency, reliability, and cost of services — all factors that will now be further exacerbated by the contraction of the jobcentre network.
Image: National Audit Office. Some do have less positive experiences, however, and these new communication channels cause problems for a significant minority of disadvantaged claimants, especially those with poor levels of literacy or digital skills.
That branch was closed in November DWP said when it unveiled the programme that the office closures would be made in consultation with staff, the majority of whom would be offered the chance to relocate or take on an alternative role.
But last July the department announced that people could expect to lose their jobs as a result of the reorganisation. The department also said last year that it planned to hire 2, new work coaches to support jobseekers.
Damian Hinds, the newly appointed secretary of state for education but minister for employment until last month, said the closures were necessary due to a shift online of benefits applications and advice.
These changes reflect the fact that more people access their benefits online resulting in many of our buildings being underused. Read the most recent articles written by Tamsin.
We also use cookies set by other sites to help us deliver content from their services. You can change your cookie settings at any time. This page lists the locations of temporary jobcentres to deal with increased demand. DWP is setting up temporary jobcentres during to deal with increased demand.
The new jobcentres will provide services across the country where they are needed. They will increase capacity to provide tailored face-to-face support in a COVID-secure environment and help support more people back into work and progress into new roles. DWP will review the need for these temporary jobcentres as the economy recovers.
Find out how to contact Jobcentre Plus. Corrected addresses of temporary jobcentres in Hastings, Lincoln and London Clapham. Corrected the postcode for the temporary jobcentre in Eastbourne. It added that "the vast bulk of the interviews now expected to be done face-to-face can still be carried out remotely". General Secretary Mark Serwotka said: "This reckless move by ministers is wholly unnecessary and risks putting both claimants and job centre staff in harm's way.
Mr Serwotka called it "counterproductive and arrogant for ministers to risk staff and the wider public's health by resuming normal jobcentre opening hours before the vaccine is fully rolled out".
The government hopes that all adults in Britain will be offered a first jab by the end of July. Job centre opening hours returned to 9am to 5pm, Monday to Friday, at the start of this week.
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