Home
Local News
Parliament
Articles
Speeches
Richard
Media
South Norfolk
Contact

RSS

Over a quarter of people who leave benefits and enter work are back on to Jobseeker’s Allowance within 13 weeks, and 40 per cent return to benefits within six months

South Norfolk MP Richard Bacon has said that training can break the cycle of jobseekers moving from benefits to employment and back again, as a new report finds that boosting the skills of disadvantaged workers could save over half a billion pounds. Mr Bacon said: “Many hard-to-employ people need to improve their basic literacy and numeracy if they are to find and keep a job.  This would break the cycle of jobseekers moving on and off benefits and could save taxpayers half a billion pounds.

“However, those needing to boost their skills can find it hard to access help or to get training from their employers.  If the government is to realise these savings, disadvantaged workers must get the advice and support they need, and convince employers of the value of training their staff”.

“The new Skills Accounts sound like a good idea, but then so did the Individual Learning Accounts and just look at what happened there.  ILAs were an open goal for fraudsters, who conned taxpayers out of millions of pounds and left would-be-learners without the training they needed”. 

“The government says it has now learned the lessons of the ILA fiasco.  I certainly hope so, but as the new Skills Accounts scheme has not yet been risk-tested against fraud, the early signs are not encouraging”. 

Mr Bacon, MP for South Norfolk, was speaking as the Commons public accounts committee published its report on sustainable employment today (Thursday 28 February 2008).  Over a fifth of people who leave benefits and enter work return to Jobseeker’s Allowance within 13 weeks, and 40 per cent are back on benefits within six months.  People increasingly need better skills and qualifications to compete in today’s labour market, but the report finds that disadvantaged workers, such as those with poor numeracy or literacy, can encounter difficulties in accessing sound advice on local learning opportunities and how these will increase their employability.

The report also that finds people with the lowest skills are the least likely to be trained by their employers.  Gaining vocational qualifications in the work place can improve the earnings and productivity of low skilled adults but depends on the willingness of employers to support such training.  

The new Skills Accounts programme will allow adult learners to use public money to purchase relevant learning at an accredited provider of their choice.  The scheme aims to build on the lessons of the Individual Learning Accounts (ILA) programme, which closed in 2001 following evidence of abuse. However, the report finds that the new scheme has not yet been risk-tested against malpractice. 

28 February 2008

See also:
PAC REPORT: Supporting people to stay in work and advance
PARLIAMENT: Break the benefits cycle, urges MP
PARLIAMENT: MP calls for clearer benefit leaflets - Jan '06
PARLIAMENT: MP calls for clearer benefit leaflets - Jan '07

---

Printable Version

Go to Top

Back to Parliament

---