Flexible New Deal Search of watchinga4e.blogspot.com for jobcentre plus

2009 Jobcentre Plus Support contract winners The winners of the JCP Support contracts have been announced. These are to support what the Jobcentres do for people who are newly unemployed or threatened with redundancy. Or if you prefer, they are to do what Jobcentres should be doing if they had enough staff. Of the 24 contract areas, A4e has won 6, more than any other provider. Next is JHP Group with 4 areas, and then Ingeus (formerly Work Directions) with

Connecting Communities Plus and A4e You may never have heard of "Connecting Communities Plus". An official document tells us that " Connecting Communities Plus, Community Grants (CCPlus) were announced and launched by the Home Office in October 2005. They formed part of the Government’s agenda for community cohesion outlined in Improving Opportunity, Strengthening Society (IOSS) (Home Office, 2005). The funding was designed for local community groups and aimed to

is even greater. Jobcentre Plus has been overwhelmed by the numbers of newly unemployed, and have had to take on more staff. But this is a temporary measure. On the basis of public-sector-bad, private-sector-good, JCP Support contracts are in place, with private companies offering the kind of support to claimants that they would once have expected from the Jobcentre itself. The Conservatives promise an even smaller role for Jobcentre Plus. Their "Work Programme" will see

and can be read on the Jobcentre Plus website. It "was developed by ERSA, the representative body for independent providers of publicly funded welfare-to-work programmes and is supported by the Department for Work and Pensions, including Jobcentre Plus, the Association of Learning Providers (ALP) and the British Association for Supported Employment (BASE)" and was launched by Jim Knight MP. All the providers, including A4e, have signed up to it. "It includes commitments from

professional to the Jobcentre. Here, it picked up the fact that most of the local job vacancies advertised are either not local at all or are entirely spurious. Figures for vacancies are being fiddled with "speculative" jobs. Zero hours jobs are still being advertised in disguised form, although outlawed. It was said that many employers will not advertise vacancies through the Jobcentres because they are seen as serving the bottom end of the skills market; and private recruitment

called " Plymouth Works Plus " which has an interesting website homepage. Under "Who we are" they say, "Plymouth Works Plus is a European Social Fund (ESF) and Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) funded project. The organisations working together to provide this support are A4E, The Neighbourhood Learning Consortium, Pluss and RITE Associates Ltd. Our Team consists of trained advisors, consultants, employment engagement advisors and trainers." Fine. But the next paragraph, "What

impacted upon the role of Jobcentre Plus and both provider and customer experience of outsourced employment programmes? • Will the customer charter proposed by DWP ensure that customers, Jobcentre Plus and contractors know what they can expect of employment programmes? • Will contract management in the prime contractor model be transparent and effective in monitoring quality throughout the supply chain, and in maintaining a role for sub-contractors? If anyone wants to

Businesses, called "The Jobcentre is not working" . Again, there is absolutely nothing about New Deal and the private companies. All the burden of expectation is on Jobcentre Plus, despite the fact that the government is spending vast amounts of money on private companies like A4e to take on much of JCP's role. This is a curious situation, to say the least. PS. The One Show tonight had a piece about youth unemployment, from Hull which has the highest incidence, and has for

is even greater. Jobcentre Plus has been overwhelmed by the numbers of newly unemployed, and have had to take on more staff. But this is a temporary measure. On the basis of public-sector-bad, private-sector-good, JCP Support contracts are in place, with private companies offering the kind of support to claimants that they would once have expected from the Jobcentre itself. The Conservatives promise an even smaller role for Jobcentre Plus. Their "Work Programme" will see

be the contracting-out of Jobcentre Plus. The JCP Support contracts would seem to pave the way for that. Any thoughts? Posted by historian at 08:49 Labels: JCP Support 2 comments: Ex-Civil Servant said... If Jobcentre Plus are contracted out to the private sector what will happen to the permanent Jobcentre staff who are enrolled in the Civil Service final salary pension scheme? If they were to choose

said... Ignore what Jobcentre Plus says. You will never get a choice to which one you want to choose. You CAN however, request a change of provider (just like you could change your New Deal provision type at anytime on New Deal - although the Jobcentre refuses to allow this in most cases - as I learnt). 13 January 2010 08:04 Milly Tant said... Thanks Historian for the research and explaining, in detail, why provider choice will not be available to

Businesses, called "The Jobcentre is not working" . Again, there is absolutely nothing about New Deal and the private companies. All the burden of expectation is on Jobcentre Plus, despite the fact that the government is spending vast amounts of money on private companies like A4e to take on much of JCP's role. This is a curious situation, to say the least. PS. The One Show tonight had a piece about youth unemployment, from Hull which has the highest incidence, and has for

impacted upon the role of Jobcentre Plus and both provider and customer experience of outsourced employment programmes? • Will the customer charter proposed by DWP ensure that customers, Jobcentre Plus and contractors know what they can expect of employment programmes? • Will contract management in the prime contractor model be transparent and effective in monitoring quality throughout the supply chain, and in maintaining a role for sub-contractors? If anyone wants to

professional to the Jobcentre. Here, it picked up the fact that most of the local job vacancies advertised are either not local at all or are entirely spurious. Figures for vacancies are being fiddled with "speculative" jobs. Zero hours jobs are still being advertised in disguised form, although outlawed. It was said that many employers will not advertise vacancies through the Jobcentres because they are seen as serving the bottom end of the skills market; and private recruitment

contracts. They were run by Jobcentre Plus on a regional basis, and A4e was one of many providers that worked to JCP's direction. Was it in 2006 when Blunkett, then Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, privatised the organisation of New Deal, and A4e got a large number of regional contracts? Those contracts weren't exactly a roaring success - hardly any skills training, loads of resentful clients and half the expected job outcomes. So perhaps A4e led the reform which resulted in

Do individual jobcentre know what Flexible New Deal is? I ask because in December an appointment for a "FND Stage 3 Subsequent Review" was made for this Friday at Leith jobcentre.Thus far they have not explained or given me anything in writing about FND, or of course, what happened to Stages 1-2.But come Friday, I will arrive with a list of questions in case they neglect to tell me more about FND.I have heard of this happening to others. Anyone else had the same

effectively mean the end of Jobcentre Plus, where bureaucrats design training programmes for the unemployed." Presumably Lord Freud thinks private companies can design better programmes than "bureaucrats" - and I did speculate recently that JCP would be next for privatisation. As the article says, this plan is based on the American model. People like Lord Freud are evangelical about the role of private profit in getting the jobless into work. Good news for A4e and all the other

and can be read on the Jobcentre Plus website. It "was developed by ERSA, the representative body for independent providers of publicly funded welfare-to-work programmes and is supported by the Department for Work and Pensions, including Jobcentre Plus, the Association of Learning Providers (ALP) and the British Association for Supported Employment (BASE)" and was launched by Jim Knight MP. All the providers, including A4e, have signed up to it. "It includes commitments from

if you don't do this the Jobcentre will know you've signed off. The only reasons to refuse to get the form signed are i) you don't want the provider to get the outcome payment or ii) you don't want the employer to know that you've been on a programme. 21 April 2010 11:19 Milly Tant said... Historian: Ingeus gave me the impression that they would not be informed by the Jobcentre when a client signs off when I queried that the Jobcentre

services provided by Jobcentre Plus and private contractors such as A4E after trying to hire staff." It describes the experience of "Richard Cook, director of London-based Champion Communications" who "said he had two vacancies and had approached A4E for help but had been left disillusioned by the experience." The A4e office was not prepared for that sort of enquiry, asked whether he could take on non-graduates, but didn't ask what his business did. "He does not know to this day

Jobcentre Plus Leicester Community Legal Advice Centre Blog Archive ► 2010 (44) ► March (18) New business and old What a good idea! Accountability File on Four More tweets The Good News and the Bad News New Deal on the BBC Tweeting about India What next? Famous, Rich and Jobless, Part

called " Plymouth Works Plus " which has an interesting website homepage. Under "Who we are" they say, "Plymouth Works Plus is a European Social Fund (ESF) and Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) funded project. The organisations working together to provide this support are A4E, The Neighbourhood Learning Consortium, Pluss and RITE Associates Ltd. Our Team consists of trained advisors, consultants, employment engagement advisors and trainers." Fine. But the next paragraph, "What

criticises the attitude of Jobcentre Plus; but is most scathing about A4e. "Dealing with A4e made me feel like Alice in Wonderland. Their glossy full-colour brochure promises positive thinking and cool break-out spaces; in reality, it is a chaotic, greyish office in Archway where no one seems to have a clue what's going on." She describes her experience: "My A4e coaches seemed nice enough. But the basic equation went like this: I would recount to them my efforts to find a job, and when I

a number of reasons. The Jobcentre Plus website says: " The help is tailored specifically for each person taking part in the programme." But instead what's happening is "creaming and parking". Inevitably, if you pay by results, i.e. job outcomes, contractors will cream off the clients most likely to get jobs and park the ones who have little motivation or who have serious problems. The economic situation has meant serious financial problems for the contractors. "As providers were

New Deal. " The New Deal 50 plus scheme, which is aimed specifically at older jobseekers, was replaced in many areas of the UK in October 2009 with the Flexible New Deal which caters for unemployed people of all ages. One of the differences between the two is that you can join New Deal 50 plus after six months of unemployment but most people cannot join the Flexible New Deal until they have been unemployed for 12 months. So some people over 50 are getting unemployment help sooner than

Jobcentre Plus Leicester Community Legal Advice Centre Blog Archive ► 2010 (44) ► March (18) New business and old What a good idea! Accountability File on Four More tweets The Good News and the Bad News New Deal on the BBC Tweeting about India What next? Famous, Rich and Jobless, Part

jobcentre plus on watchinga4e.blogspot.com

Watching A4e: Jobcentre Plus Support contract winners

Watching A4e: Connecting Communities Plus and A4e

Watching A4e: October 2009

Watching A4e: November 2009

Watching A4e: March 2010

Watching A4e: August 2009

Watching A4e: July 2009

Watching A4e: September 2009

Watching A4e: A Brief History of Welfare-to-Work

Watching A4e: The next privatisation?

Watching A4e: Flexible New Deal - no choice

Watching A4e: Don't mention New Deal

Watching A4e: Inquiry into contracted employment programmes

Watching A4e: File on Four

Watching A4e: January 2010

Watching A4e: Don't mention New Deal

Watching A4e: Good news from the Tories

Watching A4e: "Our Shared Promise on Customer Care"

Watching A4e: FND Results

Watching A4e: A disappointed customer

Watching A4e: Benefit Busters, episode 1

Watching A4e: Associating with success

Watching A4e: May 2010

Watching A4e: February 2010

Watching A4e: New Deal on the BBC

Watching A4e: Two Memoranda

Watching A4e: A4e's New Star

Watching A4e: Is FND finished?

Watching A4e: Education and A4e

Watching A4e: FND Phase 2