JOBCENTRE PLUS RESPONSE TO ECONOMIC DOWNTURN - SALFORD

Jobcentre Plus is focused on ensuring an effective service to the rising
number of unemployed people – processing their benefit claims promptly
and helping them quickly back to work.

The pre-budget report provided the funding to recruit significant numbers of
additional staff to deal with the larger number of customers. In Salford this
means that we are able to increase our adviser staffing levels by 10

We have also moved staff into frontline operations from elsewhere in the
business to help deal with the increase in claims we are likely to see in
January

Despite the increases we are seeing the core part of our role remains the
same. Our customers can expect
-
prompt assessment and payment of benefit
advice on finding a job
help to write a new CV and fill in job applications
help on retraining and skills advice
help with their rent and with their mortgage from 13 weeks of
unemployment
- access to the 10,000 new vacancies we record every working day

The numbers of people claiming JSA has steadily increased month on
month since May 2008 and now stands at 4966 in November 2008. An
increase of 1367 or 38% on the November 2007 figure.
JSA REGISTERS SALFORD LA FROM NOVEMBER 2007
6000
JSA REGISTER
5000
4000
3000
2000
1000
0
November December
2007
2007
JSA REGISTER
3599
3619
January
2008
February
2008
March
2008
3809
3881
3860
April 2008 May 2008 June 2008 July 2008
3923
3873
3879
4146
August
2008
4380
September October
2008
2008
4553
4634
November
2008
4966

Despite this increase our core service remains very effective. Nationally
some 225,000 people left JSA in November. In Salford this was equates to
1365 which is an increase on previous months. However the numbers
coming on to benefit are higher than the numbers leaving.
SALFORD LA - JSA ON FLOWS AND OFF FLOWS COMPARED FROM NOVEMBER 07
2000
1800
1600
VOLUMES OF FLOW
1400
1200
1000
800
600
400
200
0
November December January
2007
2007
2008

February
2008
March
2008
April 2008 May 2008 June 2008 July 2008
August
2008
Septembe October November
r 2008
2008
2008
JSA ON FLOW
924
1077
867
1352
946
914
942
1322
1218
1549
1285
1347
1734
JSA OFF FLOW
1016
1043
684
1278
971
850
984
1287
978
1268
1071
1259
1365
We have strengthened and expanded the Rapid Response Service which
has proved to be effective at supporting areas affected by significant
redundancies. The funding for this service has doubled in this financial year
(from £3m to £6m), and will double again in 2009/10 to £12m;
o The service will be offered to every employer with 20 or more
redundancies and also in any local communities who have been
disproportionately affected by multiple smaller scale redundancies.
o We will provide information about other jobs within the labour market,
match redundant workers to known vacancies, help them draw up
CVs, offer help with retraining and skills advice, improve their
jobsearch skills, and provide general information about benefits and
taking claims.

In Salford we have dealt with 22 redundancies since April 2008. At this point
in 2007/08 there were 5. This years redundancies affect a total of 1501
employees across the following sectors
-
Manufacturing
Construction
Contact Centre (Finance)
Public Sector
Wholesale
Retail
746
406
185
62
52
50

We will be extending the successful Local Employment Partnerships (LEPs)
to provide help for newly redundant people. Through LEPs we are already
working successfully with over 1250 employers, and have helped almost
1850 people into work. We intend to increase our engagement activity with
employers so that we can increase the number of LEP jobs opportunities
available to our customers

In order to provide early support to customers we have made some changes
to our contacted programmes. Our Programme Centre which provides help
with CV preparation and jobsearch skills is now available to all for day 1 of
their period of unemployment.

We have also made some process changes to streamline how we deal with
the expected influx of JSA claims. These include extending the rapid
reclaim period from 13 to 26 weeks meaning more claims will be simpler to
process and making greater use of group interview sessions.

Whilst the economic downturn presents a challenge to Jobcentre Plus it is
one we are well equipped to deal with. We have undergone a massive
programme of modernisation not just to our Jobcentres (see below) but also
our delivery channels. Over 50% of our transactional business is conducted
through telephony and on-line channels. 'Finding your way back to work' is
a theme of a new marketing campaign aimed at those who have lost their
job or fear they may be about to. The campaign directs people to out
website as the first place to look for help and advice - an important message
as people don't need to visit a Jobcentre to access our services.

Looking ahead we will continue to implement a range of Welfare reforms.
For example, a greater integration of employment and skills will be trialled
across Greater Manchester from February. This will provide our customers
with access to an early skills diagnosis to identify transferable skills and
gaps with access to training to enable them to access opportunities in the
local labour market.

In April Greater Manchester will introduce a new regime for Jobseekers
Allowance which includes the introduction a flexible New Deal in October
2009. The new regime offers flexible support which is tailored to customers'
individual needs and circumstances. Jobcentre Plus will remain at the heart
of the service but once customers have been unemployed for 12 months
they will be referred to a provider for specialist support. We expect a
'something for something' so in return for this support customers'
responsibilities will increase.