A new bill forcing benefit claimants into preparing to find work has been broadly welcomed.

The welfare reform bill, expected to be published in January, will ensure that people on incapacity benefit would be expected to attend job interviews or risk losing payments with those people unemployed for a year expected to do four weeks’ full-time activity, while private firms would be paid to get people back to work.

Amanda McIntyre, director of ERSA (the Employment Related Services Association) which represents the independent providers of welfare-to-work services, says: “A key reason for engaging independent providers of welfare-to-work services is their ability to offer more personalised and accessible support to those further from the labour market.  But too often, they and Jobcentre Plus advisers have been held back by standard welfare programme rules and the inability to adapt national initiatives to address local circumstances.”  

John Atkinson, associate director at the Institute for Employment Studies, describes the proposals as “sensible” but claimed that implementing them in a recession would be tough.

“In the current downturn, this is going to be a much harder task. Some of the groups targeted in the White Paper are a considerable distance from the labour market as they lack the right skills or recent experience; they are inherently hard and expensive to help. It is not at all clear, even with greater inputs from the private sector, that sufficient capacity and expertise can be mobilised by Jobcentre Plus, to provide all that will be needed.”

Susan Scott-Parker, chief executive at the Employers’ Forum on Disability broadly welcomes the government’s plans for welfare reform, and calls for the right support for employers and jobseekers to help realise the talents of disabled people.

“Disabled jobseekers have a responsibility to take steps towards getting a job, but training and support must be provided through disability competent services,” says Scott-Parker. “For example, back-to-work training needs to be delivered using IT systems that are accessible for people with visual impairments.

“Employers also need to understand the business case for hiring employees with disabilities. Around 900,000 disabled people in the want to work but have limited access to the labour market.”