ePolitix.com Stakeholders comment on the news that the work and pensions secretary, James Purnell, has announced plans to offer bigger incentives to the private and voluntary sectors to help people on benefits back into work.

The minister said providers will be given greater freedom from Whitehall to use their specialist knowledge, and will be paid by results.

The announcement comes as part of a government drive to target hard-to-reach groups in their welfare to work programme.

Party response: Conservative Party

James Grayling, shadow secretary of state for work and pensions, said: "The problem with all of this is the government is paying lip service to reform without understanding the scale of change needed if we're to make a difference.

"Their plans don't include virtually all of the 2.6 million people on incapacity benefit and will still leave the long-term unemployed sitting at home doing nothing. We need independent medical checks for every incapacity benefit claimant now and mandatory community work programmes for the long-term unemployed."

Party response: Liberal Democrats

Danny Alexander, spokesman for work and pensions, said: "After 10 years of failure on welfare reform, this government is finally giving a bigger role to the private and voluntary sectors. However, these plans are still not going as far as we have proposed to help the 2.6 million people on incapacity benefit.

"Ministers need to be careful that this does not become a licence for foreign multinationals to overwhelm the market. The many highly effective local and voluntary organisations need to be able to compete on an equal footing for these contracts.

"These plans should be about providing new opportunities for people who have been out of work for a long time, not about stepping up harsh rhetoric against claimants. Ministers should focus on getting people into work rather than gaining lurid headlines."

Stakeholder response: Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development

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Dr John McGurk, skills adviser, said: "Welfare to work schemes should be based on what works in practice. If the private sector can deliver better outcomes for individuals and employers than Whitehall, then we should embrace that change.

"Existing New Deal providers are already working with the government and helping to get people back in to work. These organisations will increasingly take the burden, incentivised by the government to ensure that people fill the jobs that the economy generates.

"The focus, however, should be on getting people into work and there is nothing wrong with firms profiting from placing people in long term employment. We are glad to see that expansion will be sustainable. The danger of short-term 'fast buck' operators is something that government is alive to.

"This agenda is too important to be spoiled by the fraud which occurred in some earlier programmes. Overall, this new strategy can only help the government achieve its stated aim of getting 1.5 million back in to work."


Stakeholder response: Shaw Trust



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Ian Charlesworth, chief executive, said: "The UK is the world’s fourth largest economy and yet we still spend five times less than the average European country on getting people back into work, so greater investment is to be welcomed.

"But while we spend more on keeping people in day care and dependency, regardless of their aspirations, than we do on giving people the training, confidence and experience to get them back into work and blaming benefit recipients for their situation, then we are merely reinforcing the problem.

"It’s about time that Government started to invest in existing claimants as well as new claimants, and it’s important that employment providers have the right resources to ensure the right results for each individual client. We don’t want to see a two-tier welfare system. We want to raise aspirations and move people into fulfilling and sustainable employment.

"It’s all very well for Government to talk about people having a responsibility to work, but there are often complex reasons why people end up on benefit and find it so difficult to move of off it. We need to start building people’s confidence again, instilling a ‘can do’ attitude rather than berating them for their misfortunes in the national news. We know our clients are desperate to work. We all have to take responsibility for removing the barriers."