Data for the first 12 months of the . Work Programme showed the £5billion initiative secured lasting . employment for just one in every 50 people referred, at a cost of . £14,000 a job. The . scheme – personally championed by the Prime Minister – pays private . sector firms such as A4e and G4S to find jobs for the long-term . unemployed. But of the . 785,360 people referred to the Work Programme in its first year, just . 18,270 were found a lasting job – equal to just 2.3 per cent. Champion: The back-to-work scheme is a flagship programme for the . PM while Employment Minister Mark Hoban insisted it was still early days for . the £5billion scheme . Officials . at the Department for Work and Pensions had estimated that 5 per cent . would find jobs on their own if the scheme did not exist, and firms were . set a minimum target of getting 5.5 per cent of ‘clients’ into work in . the first year. Employment . minister Mark Hoban said last night it was ‘early days’, and pointed . out that the targets were set when economic growth forecasts were . better. He added that . more than 200,000 people had been found work  of some sort, although in . many cases this lasted only a few weeks or months. He said it was ‘clearly ridiculous’ to suggest that more people would have found jobs if the Work Programme had not existed. Only 3.5 per cent of people referred to the Work Programme in its first year stayed off benefits and in a job . Spending . on the programme so far totals £435million. Providers can earn between . £3,700 and £13,700 per person, depending how hard it is to help them, . with an initial payment of £400-£600. The . main payments are only made after someone has been in work for six . months – the Government’s definition of sustained employment. The figures reveal wide . variations in the performance of the companies involved, but Mr Hoban . said the worst had been warned they could be stripped of their contracts . unless they upped their game by next April. Labour . branded the scheme  a ‘miserable failure’, and shadow work and pensions . secretary Liam Byrne said the figures revealed it was ‘comprehensively . failing’. Over 50s are forced to become their own boss . Margaret Hodge, chairman of the Commons . public accounts committee, said the initiative was falling ‘woefully . short of expectations’. Woefully short of expectation: Chairman of the Commons public accounts committee, Margaret Hodge criticised the scheme . She added: ‘The success of this . programme will be measured on getting people off unemployment benefit . and into sustainable jobs who without the programme would not have found . work. ‘There is little value to the taxpayer or society in having people sitting on a scheme for over  two years.’ Individuals . are placed on the programme for two years, meaning a full assessment of . it will not be possible for another 12 months. Officials . said the most recent figures, covering the scheme’s first 14 months, . suggested it was starting to take off, with the jobs rate improving . slightly to 3.5 per cent. Public . concern over the programme erupted earlier this year when it emerged . that A4e boss Emma Harrison had paid herself £8.6million last year, . despite claims that the firm’s record in finding jobs for the unemployed . was ‘abysmal’. It also emerged that the firm was being investigated by the police over allegations of fraud. Mrs . Harrison was forced to resign as the company’s chairman and quit her . role as Mr Cameron’s ‘back to work’ tsar in the resulting row, although . she remains the main shareholder in A4e.
The Work Programme pays companies and charities if they get long-term unemployed into a job .
Officials thought 5% of people would find work on their own - more than the 3.5% helped by the scheme .
200,000 have been found some work but many last just a few weeks before going back on benefits .
Two in three workers over 50 plan to work beyond the state pension age – most of them women, a report reveals today.
The majority say they cannot afford to retire and on average expect to work an extra six years.
The .
report found 6.5million of the 9.9million workers over 50 do not plan .
to retire at the state pension age. Of these, 4.1million are women, .
compared with 2.4million men.
The .
study, by the retirement specialist LV, highlights the social impact of .
the pensions crisis as gold-plated schemes, which guarantee a .
comfortable retirement, have all but vanished.
Data for the first 12 months of the . Work Programme showed the £5billion initiative secured lasting . employment for just one in every 50 people referred, at a cost of . £14,000 a job. The . scheme – personally championed by the Prime Minister – pays private . sector firms such as A4e and G4S to find jobs for the long-term . unemployed. But of the . 785,360 people referred to the Work Programme in its first year, just . 18,270 were found a lasting job – equal to just 2.3 per cent. Champion: The back-to-work scheme is a flagship programme for the . PM while Employment Minister Mark Hoban insisted it was still early days for . the £5billion scheme . Officials . at the Department for Work and Pensions had estimated that 5 per cent . would find jobs on their own if the scheme did not exist, and firms were . set a minimum target of getting 5.5 per cent of ‘clients’ into work in . the first year. Employment . minister Mark Hoban said last night it was ‘early days’, and pointed . out that the targets were set when economic growth forecasts were . better. He added that . more than 200,000 people had been found work  of some sort, although in . many cases this lasted only a few weeks or months. He said it was ‘clearly ridiculous’ to suggest that more people would have found jobs if the Work Programme had not existed. Only 3.5 per cent of people referred to the Work Programme in its first year stayed off benefits and in a job . Spending . on the programme so far totals £435million. Providers can earn between . £3,700 and £13,700 per person, depending how hard it is to help them, . with an initial payment of £400-£600. The . main payments are only made after someone has been in work for six . months – the Government’s definition of sustained employment. The figures reveal wide . variations in the performance of the companies involved, but Mr Hoban . said the worst had been warned they could be stripped of their contracts . unless they upped their game by next April. Labour . branded the scheme  a ‘miserable failure’, and shadow work and pensions . secretary Liam Byrne said the figures revealed it was ‘comprehensively . failing’. Over 50s are forced to become their own boss . Margaret Hodge, chairman of the Commons . public accounts committee, said the initiative was falling ‘woefully . short of expectations’. Woefully short of expectation: Chairman of the Commons public accounts committee, Margaret Hodge criticised the scheme . She added: ‘The success of this . programme will be measured on getting people off unemployment benefit . and into sustainable jobs who without the programme would not have found . work. ‘There is little value to the taxpayer or society in having people sitting on a scheme for over  two years.’ Individuals . are placed on the programme for two years, meaning a full assessment of . it will not be possible for another 12 months. Officials . said the most recent figures, covering the scheme’s first 14 months, . suggested it was starting to take off, with the jobs rate improving . slightly to 3.5 per cent. Public . concern over the programme erupted earlier this year when it emerged . that A4e boss Emma Harrison had paid herself £8.6million last year, . despite claims that the firm’s record in finding jobs for the unemployed . was ‘abysmal’. It also emerged that the firm was being investigated by the police over allegations of fraud. Mrs . Harrison was forced to resign as the company’s chairman and quit her . role as Mr Cameron’s ‘back to work’ tsar in the resulting row, although . she remains the main shareholder in A4e.
lasting . employment for just one in every 50 The . scheme – personally championed by the Prime unemployed. But of the . 785,360 people referred Officials . at the Department for Work and find jobs on their own if the scheme did not more than 200,000 people had been found work  of some sort, although in . many cases this lasted only a few weeks or months. He said it was would have found jobs if the Work Programme had not existed. Only 3.5 per cent of people referred off benefits and in a job . Spending . on the depending how hard it is to help them, . with an six . months – the Government’s definition of variations in the performance of the companies failure’, and shadow work and pensions . people off unemployment benefit . and into on a scheme for over  two years.’ Individuals . are placed on the programme for two years, the most recent figures, covering the scheme’s quit her . role as Mr Cameron’s ‘back to work’