The Forward Trust on the Back to Work Plan

On November 16^th 2023 The Chancellor Jeremy Hunt and the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions Mel Stride have unveiled their Back to Work, as part of the Autumn Statement.

As an existing DWP Restart, Job Centre Plus DPS and skills provider working with the long term unemployed and disadvantaged groups, we welcome the Government’s expansion of employment support in relation to Restart, the Individual Placement and Support Scheme and Talking Therapies.  We also welcome the roll out of the WorkWell service across 15 areas across England.

Based on our experience of delivering employability programmes for often the most disadvantaged individuals in society we believe that the Back to Work Expansion must also focus on:

• Linking participants further away from the labour market to skills programmes that focus on improving employability behaviours as well as encouraging progression into Adult Education Budget and Multiply programmes.
• Promoting self-employment and business startup as a real alternative to employment, particularly given there is little Government funding for enterprise start interventions.
• Simplifying the amount of compliance and audit checks on providers and focusing more on the quality of the participants experience and improvements in their employability journey.
• Not using sanctions as an administrative exercise to close claims or to enforce stricter activity requirement. Instead to focus more on helping participants to deal with those barriers or issues in their lives that may prevent them from focusing on finding work, for example help to find stable accommodation.
• Encouraging other professionals i.e., social care, health staff to also talk to participants about education, skills and work as a suitable pathway for those ready to take this step with support.

The Forward Trust is a growing Employability Provider delivering DWP Restart and the JCP DPS programme as well as other education and skills programmes.  The Forward Trust are a finalist in the ERSA Frontline Advisor of the Year award at the Employment Related Services Association (ERSA) Awards 2023.