Flexible Support Fund
(asked on 5th March 2018) - View Source
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how much of the Jobcentre Plus Flexible Support Fund budget was spent on (a) transport, (b) childcare, (c) training and (d) other costs in each of the last five years.
The requested information is detailed in the table below:
Category | 2012-13 | 2013-14 | 2014-15 | 2015-16 | 2016-17 |
Total Budget | £99.9 m | £127.6 m | £178.8 m | £76.8 m | £51.7 m |
- Transport | £13.4 m | £19.2 m | £20.2 m | £15.4 m | £13.5 m |
- Childcare | £1.6 m | £1.8 m | £1.5 m | £1.6 m | £1.2 m |
- Training | £15.5 m | £18.6 m | £10.6 m | £15.2 m | £8.4 m |
- Other | £84.5 m | £70.6 m | £59.2 m | £26.1 m | £27.8 m |
Total | £115.0 m | £110.1 m | £91.5 m | £58.4 m | £51.0 m |
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Underspend | (£15.2m) | £17.5 m | £87.3 m | £18.4 m | £0.7 m |
Underspend (%) | (15.2%) | 13.7% | 48.8% | 24.0% | 1.4% |
All figures have been rounded to the nearest £100,000, with negative values enclosed in brackets.
The budget for the Flexible Support Fund is subject to annual review and change based on claimant needs and volumes, and as new policies are agreed and old policies are withdrawn. As discretionary expenditure, it is also dependent upon overall Departmental affordability.
The level of expenditure reflects these changing policies and the level of claimant demand. In 2014/15 the Department received funding as part of the Spending Review 2013 in order to meet travel and childcare costs to facilitate additional support for claimants. However, the demand for this increased funding was limited.