The only news on the A4e sell-off came on Monday with a piece on the FE Week website speculating that Newcastle College Group could take over the company. But this only refers to the welfare-to-work part of the business.
That A4e is failing is shown by the release of the "adjusting referrals" list. This is where the DWP takes away referrals (new clients) from the WP provider which performs worse in an area and gives them to the better performer. Referrals mean potential profits, so this is meant to punish poor job outcome performance. A4e have contracts in 5 of the 18 areas; and in all 5 it's A4e which has lost. So the company is clearly struggling. On its website A4e comments on the latest statistics, but without mentioning at all the fact that it lost out. It talks about the huge increase in the proportion of ESA referrals but, for outcomes, talks in raw numbers rather than percentages, always a sign that people are hiding something.
As you say the reduction in future referrals directly effects future income and profits. In turn this lowers the current value of the company.
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Anyone feeling sorry for Emma?
How on earth can Newcastle College Group take over the 'welfare to work' arm of A4e, when it has already been stripped of a Work Programme contract in North East Yorkshire and Humber for poor performance?!
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Lots of people being shifted onto ESA as they do not count as unemployed because they are 'not actively seeking work'. I believe there are around one million people on ESA. It is worth reflecting on this. The official unemployment figure does mean the number of people out of work. It is the number of people out of work AND actively seeking work. As a consequence of this the official figure for unemployment is meaningless.
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