The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) has reduced the level of support it offers to claimants of universal credit because of a shortage of work coaches at its Jobcentres.

A report by the National Audit Office (NAO) found that, on average, 2,100 fewer work coaches were employed by DWP than it estimated was required for the first six months of 2024-25.

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More than half (57%) of Jobcentres reduced their support for universal credit claimants between September 2023 and November 2024 because work coach caseloads were too high.

The number of claimants in categories where DWP could require them to receive support from a work coach increased to 3 million in October 2024, up from 2.6 million a year before.

Work coaches liaise directly with claimants to identify their needs and provide support. But partly due to funding constraints, the NAO found that DWP has not had enough work coaches to meet the expected demand, with shortfalls in five of its seven regions in 2023-24. DWP also faced challenges recruiting and retaining work coaches.

It also found substantial variation in performance across DWP’s seven Jobcentre regions and 37 districts. At district level, Birmingham and Solihull had the lowest average monthly into-work rate (5.5%) while Northern Scotland had the highest (10.8%).

In November 2024, DWP unveiled the biggest reforms to employment support for a generation with the publication of its Get Britain Working white paper, as the government aims to achieve an 80% employment rate. Plans include creating a jobs and careers service, bringing together Jobcentres with the National Careers Service in England.

The NAO recommends that DWP assesses the impact of the shortfall in work coaches on Jobcentres’ ability to provide people with the intended level of support, and uses the findings to inform the design of its future operating model for employment support.

It said DWP should also set out the information it will use to monitor Jobcentres’ performance so that it can identify and share good practice from those that are doing well, as well as improve how it measures and reports outcomes, with metrics covering factors such as the sustainability and quality of employment.

Gareth Davies, head of the NAO, said: “Helping people move into and progress in work is crucial to boosting productivity and reducing economic inactivity.

“As it takes forward the government’s plans for reforming employment support, DWP should pay close attention to how it can make best use of its work coaches and ensure that people get the support they need.

“Given the key role jobcentres will play in supporting the government’s ambition to increase the employment rate, DWP should also be transparent about how effective they are and evaluate the impact of its changes on the system of employment support.”

The Joseph Rowntree Foundation said the shortfall “undermines the government’s promise to support disabled people into work, which it used to justify the biggest cuts to disability benefits in recent memory”.

Senior policy adviser, Iain Porter, said: “Moving away from box-ticking and compliance towards personalised, tailored support for people with long-term ill health or disability requires dedicated work coaches to build relationships of mutual trust and respect.

“But more than half of Jobcentres reduced their support for people looking for work at the end of last year because of rising caseloads. The government must urgently explain how it plans to support disabled people into work while these work coach shortages remain.”

A DWP spokesperson said: “Our Jobcentres are full of brilliant work coaches, but they are held back by a system that is too focused on ticking boxes and monitoring benefits instead of genuinely supporting people back into work.

“That is why we are redeploying 1,000 work coaches to help deliver intensive employment support to sick and disabled people, modernising Jobcentres with new digital tools, and improving access to free up work coaches’ time as we bring the network together with the National Careers Service.”

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