A report by a government taskforce examined the social impacts of previous recessions. Despite steeper falls in national income during the latest recession, labour market effects had been less severe than in the past. It set out what a 'Total Place' approach to worklessness and the social impacts of the recession would look like.
Source: Learning from the Past: Tackling worklessness and the social impacts of the recession, Social Exclusion Task Force/Cabinet Office
Links: Report | Evidence pack | Cabinet Office press release
Date: 2009-Dec
The government published a White Paper setting out how it planned to combat the effects of the economic recession on jobs, and continue on the path to its ambition of an 80 per cent employment rate. It said that its aim was not just to get people into jobs: it was also to help people stay in work, progress in work, and find employment that was satisfying and fitted with the rest of their lives. It announced a review of the 'Pathways to Work' programme for people on incapacity benefits.
Source: Building Britain's Recovery: Achieving Full Employment, Cm 7751, Department for Work and Pensions/TSO
Links: White Paper | TUC press release | CBI press release | NIACE press release | REC press release | Children & Young People Now report | New Start report | Personnel Today report
Date: 2009-Dec
A report by a committee of MPs said that low-carbon industries provided significant employment opportunities and presented sustainable business options in global markets and growing sectors. The government needed to act quickly to give the United Kingdom an advantage against its competitors in these areas.
Source: Green Jobs and Skills, Second Report (Session 2009-10), HC 159, House of Commons Environmental Audit Select Committee/TSO
Links: Report | People Management report
Date: 2009-Dec
A think-tank report said that unemployment might take up to 10 years to return to pre-recession levels. It urged the government to focus on minimizing the damage of youth unemployment and take measures to restrict the numbers of new claimants coming on to the employment register – proposing a short-time working scheme, a one-off expansion of higher education provision in 2010, and changes to the job guarantee scheme.
Source: David Coats, Ian Brinkley, Naomi Clayton and Sebastian Hung, The Road to Recovery: Getting Britain back to work, Work Foundation (0870 165 6700)
Links: Report
Date: 2009-Nov
The opposition Conservative Party announced plans to reform the welfare-to-work system and boost employment. It said that it would replace existing schemes (including the Flexible New Deal, which began on 5 October 2009) with a single programme for everyone on out-of-work benefits: the new 'Work Programme' would include 2.6 million incapacity benefit claimants, who would be moved on to jobseeker's allowance if deemed medically fit to work. It would offer greater support to young unemployed people by referring them on to the Work Programme after 6 months of unemployment. It would pay providers by results, with a focus on 'truly sustainable' outcomes and bigger rewards for getting the hardest-to-help people into a job.
Source: Get Britain Working: Conservative proposals to tackle unemployment and reform welfare, Conservative Party (020 7222 9000)
Links: Plan | Conservative Party press release | DWP press release | CBI press release | CPAG press release | Church Action on Poverty press release | Mental Health Foundation press release | PCS press release | BBC report | Guardian report (1) | Guardian report (2) | Personnel Today report | New Start report | Inside Housing report | Community Care report
Date: 2009-Oct
A business organization called on the government to adopt an 'alternative to redundancy' scheme in order to stem job losses in the wake of the economic recession. Staff placed on the scheme by their employer would not work for up to six months and would be paid a weekly allowance of double the jobseeker's allowance, co-funded by government and employers.
Source: Jobs for the Future: The business vision for sustainable employment in the UK, Confederation of British Industry (020 7395 8247)
Links: CBI press release | TUC press release | FT report | Personnel Today report | Guardian report | People Management report | New Start report
Date: 2009-Jul
A think-tank report examined how the government could support the transition to a stronger and more balanced labour force. Action was needed in six areas: improving access to finance for business innovation; investing more in skills and training to encourage life-long learning; encouraging investment in research and business start-ups; supporting infrastructure costs through the creation of an infrastructure bank; giving regions and city-regions more control over their own economies; and building a financial services sector to work with and support business, especially in the low-carbon sector.
Source: Jonathan Clifton, Tony Dolphin and Rachel Reeves, Building a Better Balanced UK Economy: Where will jobs be created in the next economic cycle?, Institute for Public Policy Research (020 7470 6100)
Links: Report | New Start report
Date: 2009-Jul
A report said that long-term youth unemployment would almost treble by the end of 2011. The Future Jobs Fund announced in the 2009 Budget was a short-term 'sticking plaster' initiative, and should therefore take a segmented, targeted approach – focusing on unemployed young people who were most 'workready' and closest to the labour market, and on those cities that had seen the sharpest recent increase in unemployment.
Source: Faiza Shaheen, Sticking Plaster or Stepping-Stone? Tackling urban youth unemployment, Centre for Cities (020 7803 4300)
Links: Report | Centre for Cities press release | Local Government Chronicle report | Guardian report | BBC report | Personnel Today report | New Start report
Date: 2009-Jun
A think-tank report said that Jobcentre Plus was constrained in its efforts to assist residents to find work by a system that was not wholly responsive to personal needs or to local contexts. The role of Jobcentre Plus in welfare administration undermined the opportunity to develop a trusting relationship with claimants. There was a need to consider developing a national benefits administrator and a separate sub-regional employment broker for all people out of work.
Source: Sarah Longlands, Matthew Jackson, Gareth Brown and Jessica Smith, Making It Work: Analysing different ways of tackling worklessness, Centre for Local Economic Strategies (0131 650 9166)
Links: Report | CLES press release
Date: 2009-Jun
The government published a plan for Britain's future, describing it as 'a radical vision for a fairer, stronger and more prosperous society'. From January 2010, everyone aged 18-25 who had been unemployed for a year would receive a guaranteed offer of a job, work experience place, or training: but they would be obliged to accept the offer or risk having their benefits cut. From September 2009 every young person aged 16-17 would receive an offer of a school or college place, training, or an apprenticeship.
Source: Building Britain's Future, Cm 7654, Prime Minister's Office, TSO (0870 600 5522)
Links: Report | Summary | Hansard | Cabinet Office press release | TUC press release | Conservative Party press release | Guardian report | Local Government Chronicle report | BBC report
Date: 2009-Jun
The Department for Work and Pensions published its annual report for 2008-09, showing progress against public service agreement targets. It said that, in contrast to previous recessions, it was determined to keep up an 'active regime' for those claiming out-of-work benefits.
Source: Departmental Report 2009, Cm 7594, Department for Work and Pensions, TSO (0870 600 5522)
Links: Report
Date: 2009-Jun
An article examined the thinking of the opposition Conservative Party in relation to four policy areas: urban and regional policy; housing policy; labour market and welfare policy; and the third sector. There was a 'remarkable degree of continuity' over the period 1979-1997, reflecting the shift in politics away from traditional left-right divisions and towards a neo-liberal orthodoxy.
Source: Richard Crisp, Rob Macmillan, David Robinson and Peter Wells, 'Continuity or change: what a future Conservative government might mean for regional, housing and welfare policies', People, Place & Policy, Volume 3 Issue 1
Links: Article
Date: 2009-May
The Department for Work and Pensions published a business plan for the period 2009-2012.
Source: Three Year Business Plan 2009-2012, Department for Work and Pensions (020 7962 8176)
Links: Plan
Date: 2009-May
The government launched the 'Future Jobs Fund' – a fund, promised in the 2009 Budget, of around £1 billion to support the creation of jobs for long-term unemployed young people and others who faced significant disadvantage in the labour market.
Source: Guide to the Future Jobs Fund, Department for Work and Pensions (020 7962 8176)
Links: Guide | Downing Street press release | Personnel Today report
Date: 2009-May
The government published a new industrial strategy, designed to promote a hi-tech, low-carbon economy and to secure more high-value jobs.
Source: Building Britain's Future: New Industry, New Jobs, Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform (0870 150 2500)
Links: Strategy | Guardian report
Date: 2009-Apr
The government announced (in the 2009 Budget) that an extra £1.7 billion would be made available to support the Jobcentre Plus network and the New Deal programmes, with the aim of protecting 500,000 jobs. A new scheme from January 2010 would guarantee anyone under aged 18-24 who had been out of work for 12 months the offer of a job or a place on a training scheme. A new funding package of over £1 billion would enable local councils, working with their local partners, to support innovative local schemes to create additional jobs for unemployed people. An additional £260 million would be provided to train young people needed for emerging industries. An additional £250 million was committed to creating new sixth-form places, with a further £400m in 2010-11.
Source: Budget 2009: Building Britain's future, HC 407, HM Treasury, TSO (0870 600 5522)
Links: Report | Hansard | HMT press release | DWP press release | DCLG press release | TUC press release | LGA press release | IES press release | REC press release | NIACE press release | CIPD press release | ALP press release | Skills for Life press release | NCVYS press release | Groundwork press release | Scope press release | St Mungos press release | Action for Children press release | New Start report | Guardian report | Telegraph report | Human Resources report
Date: 2009-Apr
The government announced a £500 million package of measures to help people who had been unemployed for more than six months. Firms would be funded to offer 'golden hellos' of up to £2,500.
Source: House of Commons Hansard, Written Ministerial Statement 12 January 2009, columns 2-4WS, TSO (0870 600 5522)
Links: Hansard | DWP press release | Downing Street press release | CBI press release | REC press release | CIPD press release | TUC press release | Conservative Party press release | Guardian report | Personnel Today report | People Management report | FT report
Date: 2009-Jan