It seems that the much maligned government initiative "The Work Programme" is unfortunately in the wrong hands! Whatever criteria were employed to engage the various "Prime" contractors, there appears to be little or no control of how the provision is devolved within the confines of the Framework that was originally submitted to secure the contracts. Main and sub-contractors are given free rein to get the results (people off JSA and into employment) whatever it takes to achieve.
The latest derisory action coming from the ranks of the Providers is to advertise for "voluntary" Mentors for clients on the Work Programme who enter into Business Start-up. The New Enterprise Allowance underpins upto six months of "managed" provision, whereby Providers who have secured this part of the WP are required to provide a FULL Mentoring Service in order to promote the self-employment ethic. New businesses are chaperoned until they are deemed to be able to trade unsupervised and then the client is finally released from Benefit claims.
Now, I'm not sure which part of their Service-Level Agreements they are adhering to - but I would have thought that the Paymasters (Government, DWP, Contract-host & Taxpayers) would expect a little more investment in this than to cut corners by 'recruiting' VOLUNTARY mentors?!! This must surely be challenged at the highest level?!! It is little wonder that criticism is mounting towards this provision, when it is hosted and devolved by unscrupulous Providers who clearly think more about their P&L accounts than the future of their clients!!
