HOW TO: Jobcentre Plus Programme Provisions

So you are unemployed and fed up of attending the detention centre that is Dencora House and wondering how hard is it to run the New Deal course? YMCA has acknowledged that the New Deal contracts are the most complex they have ever seen. Below I will quote some of the New Deal course requirements and you can compare between the guidelines and the actual delivery by YMCA Training into whether they are even following the contract.

There are a number of features and requirements that are common to almost all elements of Jobcentre Plus provision. They are:
• Tailoring to meet individual participant needs
• Training/ Action plans
• Learning/ Qualifications
• Induction
• Job search
• Regular attendance and good time keeping (see paragraphs 86-104);
• Appropriate behaviour (see paragraphs 105-108).

Are all requirements apart from Job search and induction being met?

It continues….

It is your responsibility to ensure the effective operation of those features and requirements given the aims of helping people get and keep jobs through provision that delivers a work-like experience to participants.

Without any work placements surely can’t deliver “a work-like experience” to course participants.

Jobcentre Plus provision will engage participants in learning related activities, whether for the acquisition of vocational skills, developing attitudes to employment or improving Basic Skills. Learning activities, like other aspects of provision, must be tailored to meet individual needs.

Learn anything other than ultimate survival from a premature death caused by the effects of boredom?

The guidelines on Induction:

The length of induction may vary depending upon individual needs and overall length and type of provision. Induction is important in establishing a positive atmosphere. It should concentrate on building confidence, breaking down initial barriers to participation and generating enthusiasm.

I guess it can build confidence and generate enthusiasm… enjoy the weekend as come Monday everything has gone out of the window! A week induction is unnecessary – a day would have been adequate.

Job search is an important part of the course and should be between 4 hours and a day a week and should conform to the below:

Action must focus on helping participants to apply for jobs and finding work, you should help customers to market themselves to potential employers.

Job search support must be provided in the right environment with appropriate equipment.

Is over-populated rooms the “right environment”?

You will need to ensure there are appropriate numbers of suitably qualified job search tutors/leaders available and that they are well supported from an administrative point of view to do their job effectively.

A broken requirement: unsupervised job search sessions…

The DWP are well aware of the cheap labour issue to which the training providers is accountable for:

There are employers who become involved in the delivery of provision as a way of getting cheap labour or of getting someone in to help out during a busy period. This is not acceptable. You must do everything you can to avoid this happening.

Reviews are not done to the specified criteria as they should be done in privacy (small room) and not in the breakout areas where a) people can hear from inside other rooms and b) where people constantly walk past:

You will also need to provide areas where participants can work without distraction and areas that afford the privacy needed for one to one discussion given that, on occasion, you will be dealing with issues of a sensitive and/or confidential nature.

Dismissals

The correct procedure to dismiss someone is as follows:

Complete the SL2JP and return to the Jobcentre Plus office.
Take action to claim output related funding

Call the participant for interview and take appropriate action. Re-referral likely.

Instead it is phone up Jobcentre Plus, get benefit stopped, fill in and send off paperwork when can be bothered and then send out letter to participant letting them know of the situation. The correct procedure by DWP allows the participant a face-2-face interview to have a say before any benefit gets stopped and prior to a ND11 dismissal form being filled in, instead … doors are shut, zero communication, no appeals… YMCA Training always get their way.