Job centres to pop up outside mosques as part of back to work drive

Alsharq Tribune- The UK News

Mobile job centres will pop up outside mosques as part of a drive to reduce worklessness.

New Jobcentre vans will also appear outside football matches and retail parks to provide support to get adults into work, the Government announced.

They will appear in areas of particularly high unemployment - Bolton, Flintshire, Denbighshire and Wrexham - as part of a pilot scheme.

The so-called “Jobcentre on Wheels” service pitched up at a Bolton Wanderers Football Club game last weekend to try and reach fans on match day. Almost one third of people in the town in Greater Manchester are currently economically inactive, according to the Department of Work and Pensions (DWP).

The mobile Jobcentres, which will complement current brick and mortar sites, will be staffed by work coaches who will provide support with job searching and training opportunities.

The Government said that the coaches will also be able to provide information to those with health conditions or disabilities, as well as those who need to access childcare.

It comes as part of the Government’s attempt to cut down Britain’s ballooning benefits bill. The number of people deemed unable to work owing to long-term sickness hit a record high of 2.8 million in early 2024, up from two million before the pandemic.

The increase, in part driven by an increasing number of people citing mental health illnesses, has put growing pressure on the Treasury’s revenues.

Liz Kendall, the Work and Pensions Secretary, said last week that there was “genuinely a problem” with people from the “Covid generation” saying they cannot face a proper day’s work.

She told ITV News that although 49 per cent of disability and sickness benefit claimants insist they could never work again, she believed that “more of these people could work”.

The Cabinet minister said that Britain will be spending an additional £20 billion on sickness and disability benefits in five years’ time unless cuts were made.

But it has since emerged that Ms Kendall has shelved plans to cut £3 billion from the welfare bill, by postponing a crackdown that would have made it more difficult to claim benefits for mental health conditions.

Ms Kendall was effectively forced to ditch the changes, which were introduced by the Tories, after a judge ruled the previous government had not properly consulted claimants.

She has also ditched Tory proposals to overhaul sick notes and allow work specialists rather than GPs to decide whether someone is fit for work.

Alison McGovern, the Employment Minister, said: “Under our major employment reforms, we want to see everyone, in every corner of the country, become better off.

“This mobile Jobcentre is a perfect example of an inclusive and accessible DWP solution that ensures no one misses out on the job support they deserve.

“Getting more people back into work is a key part of our Plan for Change to deliver economic growth, create better opportunities and put more money into the pockets of working people.”