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Sunday 13 September 2009

Rising unemployment blamed for 'New Deal' pull outs

By John Plummer, Third Sector, 8 September 2009

Job cuts at major charities including the RNID

Several large charities have withdrawn from key government welfare-to-work programmes because they are not proving financially viable.

The RNID has pulled out of eight New Deal for Disabled People programmes and three Pathways to Work programmes, worth £500,000, following a review of sustainability. Fourteen staff have been laid off.

The Department for Work and Pensions established the initiatives to help people on incapacity and disability benefits find work. But rising unemployment has made targets difficult, the charities said.

Michael Adamson, executive director of individual services at the RNID, which had subcontracted work from prime providers, said the problem was compounded for charities because they dealt with the most hard-to-reach groups.

"We could not sustain the contracts at the prices available," said Adamson. "We need to get a fair price for what we do and recognition of the distance from the labour market of some of our clients."

Action for Blind People shed nine staff last week after ending Pathways subcontracts with private providers A4e and Work Directions and employment charity the Shaw Trust.

Elizabeth Percy, acting head of regional services at Action for Blind People, said the contracts could have generated £121,000, but the recession and the complex needs of its beneficiaries left it with no choice.

"It's a fair blow," she said. "It's income that we rely on but it just wasn't achievable."

The RNIB, which passed on Pathways contracts in England to Action when the two charities formed an associate agreement, has abandoned one Pathways subcontract in Wales.

Last month the Shaw Trust, the largest voluntary sector provider of employment services for disabled people, blamed the DWP funding structure for its £2.8m annual loss.

Employment minister Jim Knight said prime providers were responsible for managing subcontractors.

"Providers may have underestimated challenges and set high targets but we are working to improve performance," he said. "Many of the contracts run for three years and, due to start-up costs, providers would not be expected to make a profit immediately."

5 comments:

  1. NEW DEAL BECOMES - FLEXIBLE NEW DEAL

    Regards

    Jeremy





    Remploy puts flexible new deal (FND) in the cloud with Bond
    07/09/2009




    Gadgets powered by Google

    Remploy, the UK’s leading provider of specialist services for people experiencing multiple barriers to employment, has signed a new contract for a ‘Cloud-based’ Software as a Service (SaaS) deployed recruitment system with London stock-market listed Bond International Software.

    This is the first phase in a contract for Bond that is worth at least £750,000 in the first year and is potentially valued at over £5 million over the year agreement.

    The Bond Adapt Recruitment software will be used by Remploy to start deployment of the Government’s Department for Work and Pensions ‘Flexible New Deal’ programme – stage four of its new employment programme.

    The implementation of the enhanced Jobseeker’s Allowance (JSA) regime and the Flexible New Deal (fND) is an integral part of the Government’s welfare reform and skills agenda, including reforms for lone parents, disabled people and older people who have been out of work for more than 12 months.

    http://www.onrec.com/newsstories/25637.asp

    ReplyDelete
  2. Blog - Watching A4e
    Keeping an eye on a company whose business is government contracts.

    Regards

    Jeremy


    http://watchinga4e.blogspot.com/

    ReplyDelete
  3. P.S. Jeremy, Can't help wondering how many disabled people have found sustainable employment through these schemes. I am sure there are plenty who have made a quick buck out of it (those without disabilities managing things).

    Ho hum!

    ReplyDelete
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