LGA: Learn lessons from the work programme and devolve power to councils

Thousands of disadvantaged jobseekers and people with disabilities and health conditions would be supported into work if funding and responsibility for the new Work and Health Programme (WHP) was devolved to all areas, councils say today. The Local Government Association (LGA) is urging the Government to learn the lessons from the predecessor – the Work Programme - and make the necessary changes to the WHP, due to start in 2018, so that it can better fulfil the Government's commitment to reduce the disability employment gap. Under the Whitehall-run £600 million a year Work Programme, only one in five of the most disadvantaged Jobseekers Allowance (JSA) and Employment and Support Allowance (ESA) claimants secured a job after two years, which meant they were back to square one at the job centre. Council leaders fear that with only a fifth of the funding (£130 million) of its predecessor, either too few jobseekers will be supported by the WHP or they will receive insufficient support. This warning follows concerns by the Employment Related Services Association that investment reductions in the WHP will severely reduce the number of disabled people who will receive support.