Written evidence presented by the Institute of Welfare on the impact of the Government’s New Deal policies was included in a report of the House of Commons Education and Employment Committee published in March 2001. Here, we summarise the main points of two IW submissions, one on the role and accreditation of personal advisers and the other on the results of a survey conducted by the Institute in Somerset and Bristol.

From the experience of the Institute of Welfare, a number of critical observations can be made about the role and performance of personal advisers of the Employment Service under the Government’s New Deal programme. These include:

• a lack of face to face contact;
  

• indifferent inter-personal skills;
  

• the need for more training and competence;
  

• social issues not being identified;
  

• little or no on-going support for clients at the workplace;
  

• an absence of ‘joined up’ government.

Need for Welfare at Work

Comments of this kind are representative of our own clients who have been on the New Deal programme. The fact that they are referred to us, as occupational welfare officers, for support and advice once they have started or resumed work verifies the premise that Welfare to Work should be complemented by Welfare at Work.

Recognising the efforts of staff

It is the view of the Institute of Welfare that the achievement of Investor in People awards should be supplemented by recognition of the efforts of staff engaged in delivering the New Deal and ONE. In particular, this relates to the important function of personal advisers operating within the Employment Service and Benefits Agency.

Ensuring that such recognition is forthcoming can best be achieved through continuing professional development of the individuals concerned. The Institute of Welfare’s professional accreditation programme is the only scheme currently available in the country to meet the government’s requirements for an accredited welfare work qualification in the care services.

Career development opportunity

Personal advisers should be encouraged, though not compelled, to attain professional status as offered by the Institute of Welfare, through a process of assessing the value of existing work-based learning and/or applying appropriate academic rigour (i.e., at NVQ levels 3 and 4). This would serve as a significant career development opportunity and provide a tangible reward for administering new and demanding duties.

Moreover, the Employment Service would gain public credibility by virtue of having the extra ‘high profile’ responsibilities of some of its staff subjected to scrutiny by an external professional body concerned for ethical and professional excellence in the delivery of welfare and support services. Competency and integrity can only be enhanced by such an approach.

Best practice in ‘joined up’ government

Personal advisers should also be encouraged to exercise best practice in ‘joined up’ government by referring vulnerable clients, where possible, to occupational welfare practitioners, who can ensure continuity of support.

Clients’ long-standing personal, social, health and debt issues can then be addressed by welfare officers who are multi-skilled in the areas of advocacy, mediation and counselling.

Emphasis on remaining in work

We, in the Institute of Welfare, believe that official recognition of our accreditation scheme, and the unique role of our members, will help put into the place the last, and vital, piece of the New Deal programme – to ensure that clients remain in work rather than return to benefit dependency.

The main finding of our research, carried out in Somerset and Bristol between 23rd September and 16th October 2000, revealed the importance of New Deal placements attached to occupational welfare. Nearly 94 per cent of respondents considered that such provision would assist them in their work and serve as a natural extension to the support provided by personal advisers from the Employment Service.

We have consistently highlighted the need for policy makers to consider the value of not only Welfare to Work but also Welfare at Work. A failure to fully concentrate on the varying individual needs of both young and older New Deal participants is a matter that should be addressed.

In the absence of meaningful, sustained and credible support, such vulnerable people remain exposed to the danger of losing their hard won employment status and reverting back to the culture of state benefit dependency.

Industrial Society report

A number of points advanced by the Institute of Welfare have formed the basis of key findings in a major policy paper published by the Industrial Society – A Good Deal Better, Reforming the New Deal. This highlighted three issues which have been regularly raised by the Institute of Welfare since the inception of the programme:

• The skills of personal advisers are undervalued.

• The lack of confidence which many of the long-term unemployed suffer from can be marked and easily conceal their potential.

• A substantial minority of New Deal recruits have significant social and emotional problems.

Core public service profession

The Institute of Welfare agrees with the central recommendation of the Industrial Society’s report that the role of Employment Service personal advisers should become a core public service profession. Higher calibre recruits can only be attracted by conferring higher professional status. This needs to be done through an external (i.e., non-civil service) process, complete with an academic element, to ensure relevance, credibility and public confidence.

Professional accreditation programme

The Institute of Welfare is well placed to fulfil this role through our professional accreditation programme, which is officially recognised by the Qualifications and Curriculum Authority at NVQ Levels 3 and 4.

If the evaluation exercise of the New Deal results in the acceptance of professional status for personal advisers, the Institute of Welfare offers itself as the most appropriate independent provider.