The Minister of State, Department for Work and Pensions (Chris Grayling)
I am delighted to announce that the Work programme is now fully operational across Great Britain. The Government’s vision of a high-quality, personalised employment programme for those benefit claimants who need more intensive support is now a reality. Many individuals are already actively engaged and receiving the support they need to find work.
Last week I visited our providers in the north-west and was impressed by their commitment and drive to deliver. I will be visiting all Work programme providers through the course of the year. I look forward to seeing the real differences to people’s lives they are achieving and how the investment we are making will have long-term impacts to achieve sustained job outcomes.
As you know we are giving providers more freedom than ever before to work with those that have become long-term unemployed or who are at risk of becoming so. By having longer contracts and allowing providers to work with customers for two years, providers have the space and time to work innovatively and creatively to really make a difference. The flagship payment by results funding model sends the message that we want hard outcomes, and by paying more for those who face greater challenges we are saying to providers that we will reward them for hard work.
I am confident we have given the Work programme every chance of making a real difference to long-term worklessness. We expect to see substantial indications of the success of the programme from spring 2013.