Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, with reference to her Department's planned expenditure on staff costs for 2020-21 as listed on page 170 of her Department's Annual Report and Accounts 2019-20, HC 401, published on 30 June 2020, how many (a) full-time equivalent work coaches and (b) other staff her Department plans to employ for the year 2020-21 at (i) August and (ii) December 2020.

At the time of publication of the Department’s 2019-20 Annual Report and Accounts, projected spending on staff costs (as per the core tables on page 170) was around £3 billion for 2020-21; as per Spending Round 2019. This equates to approximately 68,900 FTE of which around 13,500 are work coaches (as of May 2020). These numbers would have remained relatively static over the year.

Since publication of the Annual report and Accounts the Government set out in its Summer Economic Statement, on 8 July, a labour market package that included significant investment to enhance work search support in response to the current pandemic by doubling the number of work coaches before the end of 2020/21 - this equates to an additional 13,500 work coaches to be recruited over the remainder of this financial year.

We know that the short term unemployed are more likely to be able to move into work either on their own or with just Jobcentre core support. Given the economic situation, we plan, for a period, to bolster the support provided through Jobcentres by using contracted providers to offer additional help. We will expand the Work and Health Programme and provide a bespoke offer to the more recently unemployed, activating their jobsearch and engagement with the labour market.

For other staffing the Department is continually assessing the service being offered to customers. In addition, as part of our monitoring of the impact of Covid-19 on the labour market we will continue to actively keep staff numbers and broader provision under review in order to ensure that we can provide the most effective support to those who have lost work.