EMPLOYMENT minister Mark Hoban explains why the Government's Work Programme has benefitted people's lives.

The Work Programme is changing people’s lives for the better. And figures published recently show the scheme is helping large numbers of people in Oxfordshire into a job.

They show that 690 people in the county have found lasting work, normally at least six months. This is a massive increase since the first year of the scheme. Far more people have started work but not reached the six-month point yet.

When we published the first batch of figures in November, there was much political point-scoring by people willing the scheme to fail.

We said it was too early to draw conclusions – the programme gives people two years of support to get them into work, so figures from the first year were never going to give the full picture.

That’s why it’s welcome that the figures show a significant improvement – the programme is working.

These are longer-term jobs than the temporary jobs of the previous government’s schemes. The programme is delivered by public, private, and voluntary and community sector providers, who are given the freedom to tailor the support they offer.

This is good for jobseekers, who get the individualised help they need over a two-year period to help them into work. It is good news for the taxpayer, because the Work Programme providers get paid when they get jobseekers into work, rather than getting vast sums up front regardless of success.

And the vast majority of contracts have significantly improved performance, with about half now exceeding the levels set out for their contracts for getting jobseekers into long-term work. In the first year none had met their contracted level.

Progress has been dramatic, but providers still face significant challenges supporting the hardest to help into work, such as those claiming Employment and Support Allowance or people who were claiming the old incapacity benefits and have been reassessed as being fit for work. Some people have been out of work on sickness benefits for more than 10 or 15 years. After this long it can be a real struggle to get back into work.

Skills people had might be out of date or they could lack the confidence to go back to work. This presents a huge challenge for those looking to get back into work and those providing support to help them get there. But the Work Programme is offering them more support than previous employment schemes, and it’s welcome that so many people on sickness benefits have now found lasting work.

I know we need to do more to help people who may have been on sickness benefits for a decade or more. Some providers are more successful than others at getting people with complex needs a job.

That’s why we have set up a best practice group to share ideas and give more people the chance to get back into work. Because everyone has the aspiration to look after themselves and their family and it’s vitally important that we do absolutely everything we can to help them achieve it.