The Panel received a
presentation on Universal Credit, which was tabled at the meeting,
and introduced by Phylis Fealy, Haringey
Employment and Partnership Manager at the Department for Work and
Pensions and Ian Smith (DWP). Andy Briggs, AD for Corporate and
Customer Services and Jim Brady, Service Manager for Customer
Services were also present for this agenda item. The following
arose in discussion of the presentation:
- The Committee
sought assurances around the number of job vacancies that were
available to deaf and the disabled claimants. In response, the DWP
acknowledged that supporting access to the job market for disabled
residents was something that was part of the work undertaken by Job
Centres, including the provision of disability advisors. The DWP
agreed to come back to the Committee with the numbers of disabled
people that were being supported into work and information on which
areas they were getting jobs in. (Action: Phylis
Fealy).
- The Committee
queried whether any information was collected on the type of
industries people ended up getting jobs in and their ability to
focus on a particular area of employment. The example of graduates
being able to access jobs in creative industries was given. In
response, the DWP advised that they would support people to get
into specific areas of employment, particularly during their
initial interactions with the Job Centre. However, in order to
maintain eligibility for Universal Credit, service users would have
to give consideration to other areas of employment as time
progressed. The DWP assured the Committee that they did not seek to
put people in just any job as it was important to get them into
sustainable employment and to get them off Universal Credit all
together. The DWP also advised that they used in-work benefit
calculators to assess individual claimant’s circumstances.
The Committee was advised that it was difficult to produce hard
data showing the ability of claimants to focus on particular areas
of employment.
- The Committee
raised the example of some of the projects undertaken in Islington
to support people into employment once they had come out of prison
and the difficulties experienced by these people in transitioning
into the workplace. Previously, Islington had offered training,
housing and financial support for 12 months as part of a holistic
package of support measures and the Committee questioned whether
this was something that had been considered in Haringey. In
response, the DWP advised that they were not aware of anything like
this in Haringey but that work coaches did go into prisons and work
with offenders. The DWP agreed to come back to the Committee with a
written response to this question. (Action: Ian
Smith).
- In response
to a question around the extent to which the DWP were involved in
SEND programmes in the borough, the DWP advised that one area of
their community role was around supporting schools through their
school employment advisors. It was noted that the DWP went into
schools and raised awareness of apprenticeship schemes and other
employment opportunities. It was noted that the schools advisor had
been closely involved in SEND discussions in the borough and that
this was something that the DWP were definitely involved
with.
- The Committee
enquired whether the employment support schemes mentioned, such as
supporting graduates were orientated to benefit claimants, or
whether they were open to all. In response, the DWP advised that
these were mostly limited to benefit claimants, and these were the
customers in the Job Centres and that the DWP needed to prioritise
them. It was acknowledged that similar programmes had been in place
in the past.
- The Chair
requested further details, and the data behind the information
given in the last three slides of the presentation. In particular
the Chair was keen to understand how many people had been helped
through the co-funding and commissioning work. In response, the DWP
advised that the figures varied depending on the programme and also
according to the need and the staffing resources that were
available to put toward the programme. The Chair clarified that
this programme was co-funded by the Council and that in future she
would like to see more information on some of the numbers involved
in these schemes.
- The Committee
noted the project in place for supporting the Somali population and
questioned whether there were any specific projects aimed at
Ukrainian refugees. In response, the DWP advised that there was
nothing specific in place at present, but that this would likely
come forward as the events unfolded. It was not anticipated that
there would be any delays in rolling out a targeted programme such
as this, given past roll out of similar projects.
- The Chair
requested further information around the Domestic Violence
initiative as well as the Chad Gordon campus initiative supporting
people into the autism hub. (Action: Phylis
Fealy).