Agenda item

5.1  Fergus Grant, the District Operation Manager for JobCentre Plus, presented an overview of the labour market situation in Southwark. 

 

5.2  The total population of Southwark is 287,000 and the working age population is 211,400, which is 73.7% of the population.  The overall employment rate is 68.9%.

 

5.3  In January 2012 the Jobseeker’s Allowance (JSA) count was 11,085 in Southwark..  This was a decrease of 15 (-0.1%) from December 2011 but an increase of 940 (9.3%) on the previous year.  The Jobseeker claimant count is 5.2% of the working age population. 

 

5.4  Fergus Grant said that it was not necessarily the case that claimants need to sign on in their own borough.  That some Southwark residents sign on at offices in Lambeth.  Other boroughs sometimes follow suit because of the convenience to its claimants.  Although there has been a rise in claims over the last year nationally, this has not been the case in Southwark.  Numbers have been steady since September 2011.

 

5.5  New claims (on-flow) in January 2012 was 785 a fall from the previous January in 2011 of 14.6%. Numbers coming off benefits (off-flow) this year was at 1,785 (0.8%) higher than a year ago, from January to January.  However it was noted by Members that those coming off benefits weren’t necessarily in employment. 

 

5.6  The JSA Claimant Count for 18 – 24 year olds is 2,420 for January 2012 which was a decrease on December 2011 of -2.6% (65).

 

5.7  The 18 – 24 on-flow in January 2012 was 555 which was a fall from a year ago by 13.3%.  The off-flow for January 2012 is 1.8% higher than a year ago. 

 

5.8  There are two elements to the amount paid as JSA.  The first is contributions–based, i.e. calculated on the amount of National Insurance contributions a claimant has made; the other is income based, i.e. means tested and, unlike the contribution based claims,  continues as long as an individual is seeking work. 

 

5.9  Jobseekers Allowance Claims by age and duration:

 

·  21.8% of claimants are 18 – 24 (2,415)

·  60.9% of claimants are 25 – 49 (6,755)

·  17.4% of claimants are aged 50 or more (1,930)

·  50.3% of claimants have been registered less than six months (5,580)

·  23.1% of claimants have been registered between six and twelve months (2,565)

·  26.7% of claimants have been registered for one year or more (2,955)

 

5.10  From April this year, the government will introduce  the Youth Contract, which is a specific scheme for those Not in Employment Education or Training (NEETS).  Jobcentre Plus will introduce advisors for that group. Further sector-based work academies will be set up, where young people on placements will be guaranteed an interview when a job becomes available.

 

5.11  The barriers to young people getting employment tended to be a lack of experience along with various skills gaps.  A significant number of young people remain unemployed for a duration of time and they usually need specialist help to get them started on the right course of action.

 

5.12  As of May 2011, 13,440 people were claiming Employment Support Allowance and Incapacity Benefit.  4,870 were claiming Income Support. 

 

5.13  In January 2012, 1,417 vacancies were notified.  This compares with 1,500 in December 2011 (down 5.5%) and 1,128 in January 2011 (up 25.6%).

 

5.14  Jobcentre Plus is under an obligation to match vacancies locally using online facilities.  This year, 2012, there will be a new website launched to enable those claiming benefits to access more opportunities without having to travel to the Jobcentre. 

 

5.15  The top ten notified vacancies by occupation in January 2012 include:

 

Occupation  Number of vacancies

 

·  Sales and related occupations  142

·  Sales representatives  126

·  Van drivers  118

·  Care assistants and home carers  96

·  Nurses  94

·  Typists  50

·  Sales and retail assistants  47

·  Security guards and related occupations  47

·  Waiters, waitresses  47

·  Collector salespersons and credit agents  46

 

5.16  Top ten sought occupations by JSA on flow in January 2012:

 

·  Sales and retail assistants  390

·  General office assistants/clerks  120

·  Customer care occupations  55

·  Cleaners, domestics  55

·  Van drivers  50

·  Other goods handling and storage occupations  50

·  Retail cashiers and check out operators  45

·  Kitchen and catering assistants  40

·  Security guards and related occupations  35

·  Labourers in building and wood working trades  30

 

5.17   JSA Claimant Count, Local Authority Comparison:

 

Local Authority	January 2011	January 2012	% Change
Barking and Dagenham	6,570	7,475	13.8%
Barnet	6,435	7,020	9.1%
Bexley	4335	4,810	11.0%
Brent	8,955	9,730	8.7%
Bromley	5,280	6,145	16.4%
Camden	5,390	5,565	3.2%
City of London	135	120	-11.1%
Croydon	9,540	10,920	14.5%
Ealing	8,305	9,125	9.9%
Enfield	9,315	10,535	13.1%
Greenwich	7,300	8,210	12.5%
Hackney	10,090	10,940	8.4%
Hammersmith and Fulham	5,025	5,105	1.6%
Haringey	9,895	10,410	5.2%
Harrow	3,905	4,245	8.7%
Havering	4,980	5,620	12.9%
Hillingdon	4,930	5,345	8.4%
Hounslow	4,910	5,220	6.3%
Islington	7,045	7,265	3.1%
Kensington and Chelsea	3,485	3,240	-7.0%
Kingston upon Thames	1,955	2,055	5.1%
Lambeth	11,110	1,2160	9.5%
Lewisham	9,470	10,765	13.7%
Merton	3,435	4,040	17.6%
Newham	10,355	11,595	12.0%
Redbridge	6,505	7,200	10.7%
Richmond upon Thames	2,005	2,020	0.7%
Southwark	10,145	11,085	9.3%
Sutton	3,270	3,660	11.9%
Tower Hamlets	10,090	11,120	10.2%
Waltham Forest	8,475	9,910	16.9%
Wandsworth	6,175	6,595	6.8%
Westminster	5,065	5,280	4.2%
Column Total	213,870	234,535	9.7%

 

 

5.18  Employment Support Allowance is the new benefit to be phased in to replace Incapacity Benefit.  This transformation is due to be completed by 2014.  Those who are assessed and registered as sick are to be assessed and encouraged to take part in support groups to help there back to work opportunities.  Those who are registered as terminally ill are to continue to receive benefits.  Others claimants are to continue to get allowances but the expectation would be that they would be trying to find work and would be assessed on the progress of their recovery.  The situation would be the same for those suffering mental health problems, who would be expected to look for work based on what they can reasonably do. 

 

5.19  Lone parents, tended to be on income support and they would carry on receiving income support until the youngest child became 5 years of age.  After that, the parent would be expected to go on to Jobseekers Allowance.  Consideration would be taken when assessing parental needs for more flexibility, so that they would be able to look after their children adequately during the searching for work process.  Consideration as to the types of work that would be suitable for each family’s needs would also be taken into account when processing claims for this particular group. 

 

5.20  There was a lot more emphasis nowadays on those in receipt of benefits being required to look for work. 

 

5.21  The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) Single Work Programme.

 

The work programme was to be geared towards those furthest from the labour market.  The expectation of Jobcentre Plus was that 90% of those claiming should be in work before they were required to attend the work programme for their receipt of benefits. 

 

5.22  Those under 25 years of age, who have been unemployed for more than 9 months, would be allowed to volunteer to go on the scheme.

 

5.23  Claimants who have been out of work for 22 weeks and over would be required to attend the scheme.  The most disadvantaged claimants such as ex-offenders would be required to attend the scheme after 3 months of unemployment.  The DWP would not interfere with the providers of work placements, once a claimant is with them.  However, the provider would hold the responsibility for keeping the claimant in work with whatever support they may need. 

 

5.24  Members said that he was aware that there had been controversy around the work programme. There were certain work placements where claimants were being given no choice in whether or not to go onto the programme.  Members felt that there was a danger that claimants could be placed in areas of work that would not necessarily suit them. There was also a possibility that organisations taking part in the work placement scheme might take advantage of claimants who would not have the right to refuse placements because of the risk that they may lose their benefits if they couldn’t or wouldn’t attend for any legitimate reason. 

 

5.25  Fergus Grant said that 30% of those doing work experience actually managed to go into employment long term.  He said that Southwark had been comfortable using work experience opportunities in the past and that the work programme had also been attempting to develop apprenticeship working.

 

5.26  The Jobcentre Plus employment service management remit was to get people off benefit and to take a long term view of people getting into and staying in work.  Universal credit would allow people to take part time work.  This would mean that people wouldn’t have to keep starting and stopping benefit claims but would receive a consistent level of payments taking into consideration their irregular work.

 

5.27  Claimants would have a permitted period of time where they would be allowed to look for the employment they most want and Jobcentre Plus consultants would help them investigate the realistic chances of them getting the type of work they were seeking.  Claimants would also be encouraged to travel to look for and to take up work, although it was acknowledged that this could be a potential challenge for some.

 

5.28  Fergus Grant made it clear that there was now a ‘conditionality regime’ to those on benefits and the change in culture meant that if claimants were not deemed to be actively seeking work they would lose their benefits. 

 

5.29  Both JSA and Income Support were both means tested methods, so there was not a significant difference in payments in real terms.

 

5.30  Fergus Grant stressed that unemployment figures measure those registered at the jobcentre but that not all workless people would be registered as unemployed, especially if they were not eligible for benefits.  An additional way to consider the true picture of unemployment figures might be to consult Census data, which would now be 11 years old.  Data from the 2011 census would be expected some time next year.