WIDER POLICIES
Work-Related Policy
Overview
This section provides a review of work policies which are relevant to homeless people, in England, Scotland and Wales.
Homelessness and Work
Most homeless people do not have paid work. For example, around 90% of people living in hostels do not have paid work.
Finding or retaining work is often critical both to preventing and to resolving homelessness. Clearly, one reason for this is the income that comes from paid work. But work also gives a person a sense of purpose and self-respect which can be at least as important.
It follows that other kinds of meaningful activity can often have a similar effect on homelessness.
UK Work Policy
Policies concerned with helping people into work are essentially the responsibility of the UK Government (the Department of Work and Pensions). In addition, there is also a clear agenda in the Scottish Executive and relevant activity in the Welsh Assembly.
Over the last few years, the Government has introduced a number of initiatives to help homeless people into work. The main relevant policies are:
- Pathways to Work: The Pathways to Work programme provides support tp help those claiming Incapacity Benefit (IB) back into work. This policy is relevant to homeless people as research estimates that up to 70% of homeless people claim IB. It was announced that the programme will be rolled out nationwide, alongside the launch of the Welfare Reform Bill in July 2006, which outlined the Governments commitment to reduce the number of claimants on IB by 1 million. The national roll out of will begin in October 2006, with the final phase of roll out in April 2008.
- The New Deal and Building on the New Deal: local solutions meeting individual needs: The New Deal programme offers counselling and guidance to job seekers, provision of education and training to the unskilled, and provision of work experience. In April 2004, the New Deal was adapted to make it more suitable for homeless people. However, eligibility is restricted to those who have been claiming JobSeekers' Allowance for at least 6 months consecutively (if aged 25 or under) or at least 18 months consecutively (if aged over 25). This may make it unsuitable for many homeless people whose itinerant and chaotic lifestyles often mean that there have been gaps in the claiming of benefits.
- Jobcentre Plus: In April 2006 Jobcentre Plus opened a specialist centre in London which specifically works with homeless people, to help them move into employment. At the same time, nationally, Jobcentre Plus has increased the priority given to moving homeless people into work.
- Progress to Work/Progrss to Work Link Up: Progress to Work' (P2W) is a tailor-made employment support programme linked into Jobcentre Plus programmes, which is designed specifically to help drug mis-users back into work. P2W Link Up is the same programme, but expanded to cover others with support needs, including homeless people, ex-offenders, and alcohol mis-users. The current Government commitment is limited in terms of both its scale (it operates in 24 of the 90 Job Centre Plus Districts, aiming to help 1,750 people into work over two years) and its duration (currently only funded for the next two to three years). One concern here is whether the model will be able to establish itself fully over the three year period and thus demonstrate its value before the committed funding runs out.
- 2003 ODPM policy briefing on homelessness and employment: This briefing stated that local authority homelessness strategies are the main and most effective way in which employment opportunities can be improved for homeless people. It does, however, provide little guidance on what the strategies should say on the subject.
Scotland Specific Work Policy
- Employability Framework provides the overall context within which employability initiatives among homeless people fit.
- New Futures Fund: this is the main initiative of the Employability Framework, a pre-New Deal pilot programme to involve chaotic service users and those for whom Job Centre Plus initiatives are too structured and difficult to access.
- The Scottish Homelessness and Employability Network (SHEN): set up in 2004 to improve employment opportunities and promote employability for homeless people in Scotland, particularly to ensure the mainstreaming of provision piloted under the New Futures Fund.
Wales Specific Work Policy
- The National Homelessness Strategy: one of the main objectives of this strategy is to encourage development of people's confidence and ability to live more independently, by helping them into training, employment and other meaningful activities.
- Jobcentre Plus Wales is trying to increase the level of awareness, support and information available to personal advisers regarding the problems homeless people may face in moving into work, and Jobcentre Plus personal advisers can now award Community Care Grants to homeless people (rather than directing them to Social Fund loans as in England).
- The Skills and Employment Action Plan recognises homeless people as a group requiring sustained help into employment.
Commentary on Work Policy
The general issue with current initiatives to help homeless people into work is whether they are sufficiently driven by the specific needs of homeless people rather than taking existing policies and focusing them on particular groups of homeless people. Specific areas of concern include removing 'soft barriers' to work, extending the focus beyond paid work to other forms of meaningful activity, and ensuring that all groups of homeless people are included in initiatives.
Page last modified on 06/07/2007 at 08:26
