We outlined a number of commitments in the White Paper ‘Raising expectations and increasing support’. I have set these out in the following table.
Milestones/commitments 2008 New benefit rules to help lone parents back into work. STAR rating results for employment zone contacts. ESA introduced. IES trials go live 2009 Housing benefit external review consultation to take place. Extension of ‘Better off in work credit’ if it proves successful. Right to bid, bidding process opened. Pilot personal health budgets. Employment advisers as a core component of the Increasing Access to Psychological Therapies programme. 2009, April Drug co-ordinators introduced. ESA rate alignment commences. Income support and housing benefit extended to 21 for young persons in non-advanced full-time education by April 09. 2009, October Phase one, FND launched. 2010 Work for your benefit introduced. Level one devolution by 2010, then fully embedded by 2010. Employ ability campaign widened by 2009-10. A 26 week minimum contribution period to national insurance in order to qualify for new ESA and JSA claimants. Progression to Work pathfinders for new ESA claims and lone parents with young children. Some level 2 activities with sub-regional partnerships operation by 2010 (joint-funded contracts with DWP retaining management of commissioning and contracts) in order to implement the ‘multi-area agreement’. Skills screening fully operational. Pilot of the new regime for problem drug users implemented. 2010, April Full child maintenance disregard in all income related benefits. 2010, October New Specialist Disability Employment programme begins. Late 2010 Work-focused interviews extended to the two year point of the claim for new ESA claimants. 2010-13 Migration of existing incapacity benefits recipients to ESA. JSA joint claims for couples with a youngest child aged who do not have a child under age seven or over, where both members are capable of work. As customers are migrated those under 50 will receive a Pathways to Work style approach and those under 50 will have a less intensive regime plus pilots to seek further evidence on what works best for this group. Skills health checks for lone parents. 2011 Right to control, personal budgets to be fully operational. Universal information, advice and advocacy service for both people who need services and for their carers, for those who need support to articulate their needs and utilise their budget. 2011, March Invest to save pilots pathfinders are planned to go live. This will enable us to test out recommendations in the Gregg review, including progression to work conditionality. Personalised employment programmes go live. We will explore whether proposals for lone parents with children aged three to six can also be tested in this programme. We will also explore the feasibility of using the Accelerator funding model. These pilots will enable us to trial the conditionality framework recommended in the Gregg review, alongside his central recommendation that support should be personalised depending on need rather than the benefit someone receives 2012-13 JSA joint claims for couples with a youngest child aged seven or over. Income related support payable in respect of couples with at least one individual capable of work, will be paid via JSA only. Migration of existing IB recipients to ESA. As customers are migrated those under 50 will receive a Pathways to Work style approach and those under 50 will have a less intensive regime plus pilots to seek further evidence on what works best for this group. 2015 An expectation that where this makes good sense (i.e. will deliver more outcomes) some areas will be operating successfully City regions operating successfully at devolution level 3. 2020 Eradication of child poverty.