Contracts and Amin

There is some confusion at the DWP over what to do about contracts which are in the pipeline. Yesterday it was announced that the publication of results of bidding for Work Choices has been delayed. (This is the programme which replaces Workstep, for those with support needs in employment.) But today the providers who have been successful at the PQQ stage of something called the "progress2work-LinkUP and Welfare Reform Drugs Recovery Pilot" have been published. What is that? There's a partial explanation on the DWP's website. The results here show that A4e have been shortlisted in 11 of the 19 contract areas. So while, as we reported on 19 February, the government is pressing ahead with pilot contracts for integrated "Personalised Employment Programmes" it is persisting, or perhaps not, with specialised provision for those with special needs.

Perhaps we should look to places like Israel to see the future here. An article in the Jerusalem Post describes A4e's success there (where the company is called Amin). Bearing in mind that this is probably a PR piece like those which the company gets into British local papers, it is an interesting description of the regime for the "chronically unemployed" (how long before that phrase appears over here?). And it points out that the Israel contract (won in controversial circumstances) "led it to expand to other countries, including France, Germany and South Africa, and even has the company looking toward expansion to India."

PS: I received a comment from someone who claimed to have taken part in the forthcoming "Famous Rich Jobless" programme. If that person will send me another comment (it won't be published) with some evidence, I'll consider it.

Learning from Israel?

In Israel A4e is known as Amin. A group of British Labour MPs has been in Jerusalem looking at how they run Israel's welfare-to-work programme, says the Jerusalem Post. You may recall that A4e got the contract in Israel despite the fact that it was against British government policy but with official help. Read the details here. Now A4e's Rob Murdoch (the guy who did such a dismal job of defending the company on the Radio 5 Live programme) has been showing off A4e-Amin as a model for Britain to follow. And, ironically, the MPs seemed proud of the fact that A4e is a British company. ' "It was fascinating to see how welfare-to-work programs are being carried out in such a diverse society as Israel," added Andrew Gwynne MP, parliamentary chairman of Labor Friends of Israel. "And it's all built on a number of the initiatives first implemented by the Labor government in the UK." In addition to Gwynne, the group included MPs David Cairns, Jane Kennedy, Anne McGuire, Meg Munn, Jamie Reed, Derek Twigg and Malcolm Wicks.' Perhaps we should explain to them what the "Wisconsin model" actually means - making welfare benefits time-limited, tieing them to job-seeking activities, then throwing people into the gutter to be picked up by charities. Is that what these MPs envisage for Britain?

A Socialist Reaction

You would expect the Socialist Party to be hostile to private sector involvement in welfare to work. And an article on their website, headed Private Companies Caught in Jobcentre Scam, sets out the antipathy that they, and the PCS union, feel about it. Particularly interesting is the reference to A4e's involvement in Israel. You may recall that A4e got its contracts in Israel in a welter of criticism in 2005 that they had been helped by the British government despite the fact that working in occupied territory was against the government's policy - see EI Exclusive: Britain's Double Game. Now well ensconced in Israel, A4e are known there as Amin. Those who have been clients of A4e in Britain may like to look at Amin's web page on the rights and requirements of a participant there.