Personalised Welfare: rethinking employment support and Jobcentres notes serious problems with JCP.  Only 29% of claimants say they are satisfied with their experience at Jobcentres.  In research for DWP, employers reported “very negative” experiences with “really inappropriate” candidates sent for interviews. JCP’s job search database is severely dysfunctional and JCPs advisers are hamstrung by poor use of information, which gives them only very basic information about the claimants they are trying to help.

The report says that an effective and personalised employment service rather than a benefits office would be of greater help to those looking for work. CommunityLink would be used to target this sort of support at those with the greatest needs from day one of a benefit claim, replicating the Australian model which focuses on making a detailed profile of claimants’ needs and underlying problems.

CommunityLink would be fully functional by 2017/2018 and the report calls for some short term reforms to enable the transition from JobCentre Plus to take place smoothly.