Two new contracts

With a general election not much more that 2 months away, the government is pressing ahead with new contracts in the "welfare-to-work" area. The DWP has announced the shortlisted bidders for two contracts, and A4e are on both shortlists. The first is for round 2 of the Community Task Force, which is responsible for work experience placements under the Young Person's Guarantee. 43 organisations have their hats in the ring for this one. The second contract is for the Personalised Employment Programme. The DWP describes this as follows: "The Personalised Employment Programme will combine provision for JSA claimants, ESA claimants and parents with younger children in a single, integrated, flexible employment programme. Through this multi-client group contracting approach the pilot will test a radical new way of tailoring support to individual needs and helping those with multiple barriers to employment back to work. The pilots will also trial the conditionality framework recommended in the Gregg Review and we are exploring the feasibility of testing an innovative ‘accelerator’ funding model in the Personalised Employment Programme pilot areas."

There is a fuller description at the tendersdirect site. The shortlists have been announced for two contract areas, in a pilot for a scheme to replace existing New Deal and other provisions. Whether a new government will press ahead with this remains to be seen.

The Young People's Guarantee

The Young People's Guarantee scheme comes into operation today, and there's plenty of hype surrounding it. Just what it will amount to is more doubtful. The Channel 4 news site has a succinct piece on it but anyone familiar with the welfare-to-work scene will be cautious. "Every young person who has been unemployed for at least six months will be guaranteed an offer of a job, training or work experience. The Government said the move will offer up to 470,000 opportunities over the next 15 months, benefiting almost 100,000 youngsters straight away." Notice that "training or work experience". It goes on: "The guarantee offers the chance of work through the £1 billion Future Jobs Fund, work-focused training, a place on a community task force, help with self-employment and internships." The Conservatives' Theresa May says it's very little different from the current New Deal for young people.

So what's new? The Future Jobs Fund provides money for temporary jobs only. While that will be an excellent opportunity for some, if a temporary job results in nothing more than an entry on one's CV, it will be a huge let-down. As for the rest - is it just bringing young people into the system earlier, and pushing them into unpaid work? There's a great deal of controversy around internships at the moment. And does "work-focused training" mean genuine skills training leading to qualifications?

Already there is some fudging going on. Another Channel 4 piece is headed "BT offers jobs for 3,000 youngsters" - but it goes on to say, "The firm said it will offer work placements to 3,000 youngsters to give them an insight into the world of work." Work placements (presumably unpaid) have become jobs. We can expect more of this sort of thing. What it will mean for private contractors has yet to become clear.