Welfare to work providers look forward after marketshare shift
3 October 2013
Both winner and loser firms in a shake-up of the marketshare of the government’s Work Programme have played down the significance of the changes announced last Friday (27 September).
Thu, 3 Oct 2013Both winner and loser firms in a shake-up of the marketshare of the government’s Work Programme have played down the significance of the changes announced last Friday (27 September).
The changes saw lower-performing programme providers in 10 of the programme’s 18 different regions given 5% fewer referrals in specified payment groups, with these referrals diverted to the higher performances. However, as this is only for specific groups, it does not automatically mean an overall 5% cut or rise in jobseeker turnover for providers.
The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) says this punishment and reward system aims to “drive up performance” in a system is says is already “significantly improving” since its June 2011 launch.
Beleaguered A4e is one of the firms losing referrals in the marketshare shift, but tells recruiter.co.uk it comes in competitive regions “where we are narrowly behind our competitors”.
And A4e says that the changes actually represent “less than 1%” of the thousands of jobseekers it has referred on to it. The company adds that having “already taken practical steps to improve performance in these areas”, it is confident of reducing the gap between itself and competitors.
Sean Williams is the managing director of G4S Employment Support Services, which gained marketshare in three of the 10 regions. But his tone is pragmatic rather than jubilant, saying he expects the extra marketshare will “have only a marginal impact” on the suppliers to whom it outsources its Work Programme referrals, although he suggests they may be able to “increase the number of advisers” they employ.
Williams does, however, say that the move is “a welcome signal” that the DWP is “prepared to encourage effective competition and improve performance”.
Another one of the losers in the shake-up, Avanta, tells recruiter.co.uk that it operates in two of the top four highest-performing regions, and adds in a statement that it is “confident that we will build on our good performance, and the most recent job outcome figures released by DWP (to June 2013) already show an improvement in our results”.
It did not respond to recruiter.co.uk’s question of how significant the change in marketshare was for its business.
Perhaps similarly underwhelmed like Williams at G4S, Ingeus, which was the big winner having gained marketshare in four regions, did not respond to recruiter.co.uk’s request to comment on whether this was a big win for the firm.
The changes saw lower-performing programme providers in 10 of the programme’s 18 different regions given 5% fewer referrals in specified payment groups, with these referrals diverted to the higher performances. However, as this is only for specific groups, it does not automatically mean an overall 5% cut or rise in jobseeker turnover for providers.
The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) says this punishment and reward system aims to “drive up performance” in a system is says is already “significantly improving” since its June 2011 launch.
Beleaguered A4e is one of the firms losing referrals in the marketshare shift, but tells recruiter.co.uk it comes in competitive regions “where we are narrowly behind our competitors”.
And A4e says that the changes actually represent “less than 1%” of the thousands of jobseekers it has referred on to it. The company adds that having “already taken practical steps to improve performance in these areas”, it is confident of reducing the gap between itself and competitors.
Sean Williams is the managing director of G4S Employment Support Services, which gained marketshare in three of the 10 regions. But his tone is pragmatic rather than jubilant, saying he expects the extra marketshare will “have only a marginal impact” on the suppliers to whom it outsources its Work Programme referrals, although he suggests they may be able to “increase the number of advisers” they employ.
Williams does, however, say that the move is “a welcome signal” that the DWP is “prepared to encourage effective competition and improve performance”.
Another one of the losers in the shake-up, Avanta, tells recruiter.co.uk that it operates in two of the top four highest-performing regions, and adds in a statement that it is “confident that we will build on our good performance, and the most recent job outcome figures released by DWP (to June 2013) already show an improvement in our results”.
It did not respond to recruiter.co.uk’s question of how significant the change in marketshare was for its business.
Perhaps similarly underwhelmed like Williams at G4S, Ingeus, which was the big winner having gained marketshare in four regions, did not respond to recruiter.co.uk’s request to comment on whether this was a big win for the firm.
