Job Centres: Armed Forces

(asked on 6th December 2021) - View Source

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether she plans to fund more than 100 Armed Forces Champions posts in job centres to support former service personnel to find work.


Answered by
Mims Davies Portrait
Mims Davies
Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
This question was answered on 9th December 2021

DWP is determined to provide veterans and other members of the armed forces community with the help and support they need and deserve. Our support to help veterans into jobs is unwavering with 84% gaining employment within 6 months of discharge – higher than the employment rate of the wider population.

To help deliver a better service, and to respond to feedback we had had from armed forces charities and other organisations, we introduced a new Armed Forces Champions model in April 2021. It provides for 50 Armed Forces Champions alongside 11 Group Leads at managerial level.

At least one Armed Forces Champion will be allocated to each Jobcentre Plus District. Their appointments mean for the first time jobcentres are providing help directly to veterans and others where additional support to access and progress in work is needed. Resources in the new network are targeted where there are particularly high levels of demand, for example in garrison towns, and where work linked to the armed forces will form a significant part of that done in individual jobcentres.

Officials in the Department have discussed the new model with a number of armed forces stakeholders and overall feedback has been positive. We continue to monitor and evaluate our new approach but have no plans to increase the number of champions.

In addition to the Armed Forces Champions roles, all DWP Work Coaches are trained to provide veterans and others with the help and support they need.

Reticulating Splines