Saturday 22 December 2012

A4e's year

2012 has been an eventful year for A4e.
 
There have been changes at boardroom level.  Roy Newey went early in the year; he was the director who travelled round the world selling the company's services.  He remains an advisor to the group board, and a small shareholder in the company.  Also gone is Jo Blundell, the director who was, briefly, the face of A4e for Flexible New Deal.  She has formed something called "futurepublic" (capital letters for proper nouns are unfashionable), advising outsourcing companies.  Matt Stevens came in as Chief Financial Officer.  David Blunkett MP ceased to be an advisor at the end of October.  The biggest change, of course, was the departure of Emma Harrison as Chair of the company.  She still owns 85.1% of the shares, but her role on the Board has been filled by Sir Robin Young as Non Executive Chairman.  Mark Lovell is Executive Chairman (and owns 6.5% of the shares) and Andrew Dutton is CEO.  Jonty Olliff-Cooper is Director of Policy and Strategy but not a board member.
The year seemed to start well, with Harrison riding high as the government's "families champion", rolling out her scheme to pilot local authorities and put forward by Cameron as the solution to all our social problems.  That all came crashing down with the revelation that she had received £8.6m in dividends in the previous year.  When the Daily Mail in particular got its teeth into that, tearing into her for days on end, she was forced to stand down from her government role and from the Chairmanship of A4e.  Drawn into all this terrible publicity were the allegations of fraudulent activity along with persistent failure to meet targets.  A4e's reputation could hardly get any worse.  Expensive PR consultants were brought in to repair the damage.
It didn't help when A4e was told by the Advertising Standards Authority that it could not describe itself as a "social purpose company" since this could mislead people into thinking that it was not a profit-making business.  The response was somewhat petulant.
The focus for the media was always on the Work Programme and its predecessors.  A leak of A4e's performance data to Channel 4 News showed that, after about 8 months, the results were terrible.  Another leak of the full first year figures confirmed the worst, but the leak was also the occasion of Emma Harrison's re-emergence for what was to prove a disastrous interview, for her and for the company.  It was a set-back for the rehabilitation process.
What about business?  It has been a lean year for new contracts.  The OLASS prison contract was delayed by concerns over A4e's record but started in November.  And that's it.  International business seems to have shrunk.  There was a point when A4e bragged about operating in 11 countries.  Now it's 5, not counting the UK, and of those one, Spain, hasn't actually yielded any contracts yet.  We will have to wait a long time to see how all this has impacted on profits.  The Work Programme hasn't contributed anything to profits in its first 14 months, but doesn't appear to have caused losses.
Perhaps it's a sign of wanting to create a new image, but A4e has a new website.  It's a lot cleaner and less fussy than the old one.  The slogan - "Improving people's lives" - is still there, but less stridently.  All those blogs are gone, and the grammar is a lot better.  Maybe it's an indication that A4e will become just another outsourcing company in 2013.  Personally, I'd like to see the whole business of outsourcing shrink drastically.
 
My thanks to all those who have followed this blog in 2012 and contributed to the debate.  I wish everyone, whatever their circumstances, a good Christmas.

12 comments:

  1. I know I mentioned A4E in Spain before, this is what their new website says about them

    "Spain
    A4e has been present in Spain for a number of years – actively seeking to contribute to developments in welfare service provision both nationally and across a number of regions. We are committed to bringing our expertise in welfare-to-work and training services to the Spanish market.
    We are also registered as an ADC (Agencia de Colocacion) meaning we have the necessary registrations to deliver job placement and welfare to work services. We are currently engaged in developing a wide range of relationships, partnerships and opportunities to bid or support bids for welfare pilots and employability training programmes in several regions of Spain."

    which I'd read as A4E have spent several years trying and failing to get the Spanish government to hire them to do things. "Seeking to contribute to" is not "contributing to", and it says they are only "engaged in developing" their bids rather than that they "have developed". How many years have they been trying to do this? Perhaps they only mean one year but don't want to say so.

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  2. Also gone - Executive Director for Welfare Nigel Lemmon....one month shy of the Work Programme's first birthday.

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  3. Just to be off topic. Wishing all contributors here a VERY Merry Christmas and an equally Happy New Year!

    Whatever peoples circumstances, I sincerely hope that 2013 onwards will prove more fruitful than 2012!

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  4. Something i just recently discovered A4E (AUSTRALIA) Ladyship pace for Harness racing. Very Surreal

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  5. Merry Christmas to all and to all lest us not give up the fight,wishing all a better New Year.

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  6. Horrible year ahead for the unemployed. Firstly, as the economy worsens, we will see the jobless and long term unemployment totals rise in the Spring. This, along with the failures of the Work Programme, will see pressure applied by Job Centre and WP advisors to sanction clients. As the claiment count continues to rise, despite sanctions, the Tories will then introduce Workfare.

    It's ironic really, as it becomes HARDER to find work the Tories actually INCREASE the sanctions.

    Hopefully, the British middle classes will get wise to the ultimate goal of Workfare i.e. to drive DOWN the cost of labour/wages

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  7. I wish all contributors and Historian a happier 2013. 2012 was a bad one but brightened by a few victories over A4e and the WP. The fight goes on, keep spreading the word.

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  8. Well so far my experience of A4e has been less than positive. I am due to be with them, I had a letter dated 19th arrive 24th Dec saying ring them to make an appointment. Every time I ring they are closed. Today (31st Dec)I had another letter from them dated 21st Dec, saying to ring them by 31st Dec to make an appointment or I lose my benefit.
    Well they have been closed all day so far.

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    Replies
    1. Keep all correspondence, including the envelopes if they have dated postmarks on them. Log every action you take - phone calls etc.

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  9. Does anyone know what happened to a4e in Peterborough ? there offices are now closed.

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    1. Did they close? That's odd. Pathway College aka Peterborough Regional College provide the BTEC Level I employability training course to A4e. Ideally, you'd think the unemployed locals might benefit from the direct course at the college which runs for a fortnight although I am told in my case I shouldn't expect to be there quite so long. I don't think I have ever seen so many manifestly depressed faces. These people face the prospect of being forced into what amounts to a complete waste of taxpayers money that benefits no-one except the college coffers and the seemingly self-employed lightweights who rush you through it and then take the cheques. How much does this pointless course cost the taxpayer per person? Out of the 20 odd folk there I would say 3 seem to be actually enjoying it. It was day 2 for me and not one person slipped up on the very first 'Numeracy Aptitude' test which prompted the first trick question: 2+2=? If the question hadn't have been so profoundly philosophical, I would have been tempted to launch into an entire essay on the merits of combinatorics and the problem with music theory. I can add my BTEC Level I to my CV though. I really do need it apparently. Where's the gun?

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  10. I missed an A4E appointment as I had a job interview which I informed them of in late December, I recieved a letter from the DWP on 3rd Jan stating that my JSA could be stopped as I didn't attend an appointment. Clearly my continued unemployment keeps the idiots in job.

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