Press Release

18th February 2003

EXPERIENCING JOBCENTRE PLUS PATHFINDERS: OVERVIEW OF
EARLY EVALUATION EVIDENCE

A new report, published today by the Department for Work and Pensions, examines evidence from the evaluation of the Jobcentre Plus Pathfinder offices during the first six months after they were launched. The report concentrates on the delivery of the Jobcentre Plus service in the Pathfinders and examines customers' and staffs' attitudes towards, and experiences of, the service. It also makes some comparisons with the findings from the evaluation of the ONE pilots.

The report presents findings from surveys of customers, and in-depth qualitative studies with customers and staff, carried out between November 2001 and May 2002. The main findings from the early evaluation of Jobcentre Plus Pathfinders were:

• Most customers were satisfied with the service they received from Jobcentre Plus and high levels of satisfaction were maintained for all elements of the service throughout the first six months. At each stage of the Jobcentre Plus process (First Contact, the Financial Assessor and the Personal Adviser), between eight in ten and nine in ten customers expressed satisfaction with the service they received.
• Most customers regarded First Contact, the Financial Assessor and the Personal Adviser meetings to be useful. However, the Personal Adviser was regarded by customers overall as the most useful part of the Jobcentre Plus service, and in particular by JSA customers (around two thirds of whom thought it was the most the most useful aspect of the service).
• Qualitative research identified a number of areas of good practice across the Jobcentre Plus network, particularly around knowledge sharing and staff development. For example, work to increase staff's understanding of each others' roles, improve understanding of customers circumstances, and increase awareness of services available for customers with complex problems.
• By the end of the first six months of Jobcentre Plus, most customers claiming JSA were receiving a work focused service at their first contact with the service and during their meeting with the Personal Adviser. The evaluation suggested that customers claiming benefits other than JSA were receiving a less consistently work focused service, both at First Contact and during the meeting with the Personal Adviser.
• Qualitative research with Personal Advisers suggested that the difficulty they experienced in raising the subject of work with some non-JSA customers (particularly sick and disabled customers and carers) arose from a desire to be sensitive to the needs of such customers, a perception that they would not be interested in work, and a lack of confidence in dealing with people who they perceived to have 'more complex' circumstances.
• Qualitative research conducted shortly after the launch of the Jobcentre Plus Pathfinders indicated that non-JSA customers were not being caseloaded in most cases, and were mostly encouraged to get back in contact with Jobcentre Plus when they felt they were in a position to look for work. In later qualitative research some Personal Advisers reported lacking confidence in how to caseload customers and others were not clear about the services caseloaded customers could use. However, the later research also identified that there had been increased awareness on the part of Personal Advisers of the importance of caseloading.

Notes for Editors
1. Experiencing Jobcentre Plus Pathfinders: overview of early evaluation evidence is published on 18 February 2003 in the Department for Work and Pensions in-house research series (Department for Work and Pensions In-house Series No. 111. ISBN 84388 1128).

2. The authors are Stephen Lissenburgh and Alan Marsh, of the Policy Studies Institute drawing on research by ECOTEC, the Centre for Research in Social Policy (University of Loughborough), GHK and the Policy Research Institute at Leeds Metropolitan University.

3. The report summarises the findings from two in depth qualitative studies with customers and staff in Jobcentre Plus Pathfinder offices (undertaken in November/ December 2001 and April/May 2002) and five waves of a customer exit survey (undertaken between December 2001 and April 2002).

4. The ONE service was introduced between June and November 1999 in 12 pilot areas in Great Britain. ONE was a new service for delivering benefits to people of working age. It brought together the Employment Service, the Benefits Agency and Local Authorities to deliver a more integrated service. Three different models for delivering ONE were piloted: a Basic Model, a Call Centre Model and a Private/Voluntary Sector Model (PVS). Since April 2001 all new and repeat claimants in the pilot areas have been required to participate in the ONE service.

5. From April 2002 the new Jobcentre Plus was introduced to provide a single integrated service to help jobless people into work and deal with benefit claims. It will gradually replace and combine the work of the Benefits Agency and the Employment Service, providing a work-focused entry to the benefit system. The first stage launched 56 Pathfinders in October 2001 and three ONE pilot migrated to Jobcentre Plus Pathfinders at that time. The second stage of national rollout has now begun, and the remaining ONE sites will migrate in line with the planned roll out schedule of Jobcentre Plus.

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