Future Commissioning of Employability Services: What can we expect?
The new Labour Government has been in power for just over a month and there is already a sense of urgency to translate their high-level manifesto promises into firm policy commitments. This will require strategic decisions about the future of legacy flagship policies and programmes which were agreed under the former Conservative Government, such as the CAERHS framework (due to expire in Mid-2025) and Universal Support (scheduled to start in October 20024).
The Future Employability Landscape
Liz Kendall provided a snapshot of the future employability landscape at the launch of the Barnsley Pathways to Work report, which aims to address rising economic inactivity in the area.
Long standing members of the employability community will remember Pathways to Work as a programme previously commissioned by DWP in the mid-2000s. There are strong synergies between the Pathways to Work model and current proposals, especially around the need for greater joined up working and collaboration with local health services. This reflects an ongoing theme which national and local Government have been grappling with over the last twenty years.
Labour have demonstrated an unwavering policy commitment to greater devolution to Combined/Local Authorities. This will mean mayors and local areas will have greater powers to develop localised health and skills plans to address rising economic inactivity.
The employability sector needs to be ready to embrace these upcoming policy challenges and opportunities to support local areas who are shaping what future provision will look like.
Next Steps
A proposed high-level timetable of Labour Government plans was embedded within the conclusions of the Barnsley Pathways to Work report. This timeline describes three main activities which will impact the employability sector:
· Outlines proposed activities (e.g. cohort-based approaches to economic inactivity and reforming the Work Capability Assessment);
· Recommends delaying the implementation of Universal Support (or a rebranded successor programme);
· Suggests a new replacement for the CAERHS framework.
Future commissioning of employment services is unlikely to happen over the next twelve to eighteen months until the Labour government agree and implement final strategies. This means future business planning should start now to adapt to the more complex devolved employability landscape, which can see distinct strategies and approaches operating across different areas.
We’ll also be posting more blogs that provide practical advice and insight that will help providers navigate through the future employability landscape.
We welcome your feedback and thoughts. Please feel free to get in touch.
David MacDougall
Managing Consultant
david@50-degrees.com