The Restart Scheme for long-term unemployed people
Public Accounts Committee
Closed
Inquiry
Restart is one of a range of measures introduced by the Department for Work & Pensions (DWP) to support people to get and keep a job in the wake of the impact of COVID-19 on the UK’s labour market. Restart went live in July 2021 and operates across England and …
Read more
8
Recommendations
18
Conclusions
1
Report
1
Oral session
1
Letter
1
Event
Activity timeline 5 events
27 Jun
2023
2023
22 Mar
2023
2023
23 Jan
2023
2023
12 Dec
2022
2022
Oral evidence
12 Dec
2022
2022
Formal meeting (oral evidence session) · The Grimond Room, Portcullis House
Oral evidence sessions 1 session
12 Dec 2022
View on parliament.uk
The Restart Scheme for long-term unemployed people
Angus Gray · Department for Work & Pensions
Mark Leigh · Department for Energy Security and Net Zero
Peter Schofield · Department for Work and Pensions
Preeta Ramachandran · Department for Work & Pensions
Reports 1 report · click to expand
| Title | HC No. | Published | Items | Response |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Forty-Second Report - The Restart Scheme for long-term unemploye… | HC 733 | 22 Mar 2023 | 26 | Responded |
Recommendations & Conclusions
26 results
2
Recommendation
Accepted
Forty-Second Report - The Restart …
The Department has ended up paying more per Restart participant than for previous similar schemes,...
The Department has ended up paying more per Restart participant than for previous similar schemes, because it had to pay providers to rapidly build up capacity from a standing start and then did not need all that capacity. From 2010–11, …
Read more
Government Response
The department agrees it is important to have a mix of provision available in order to ensure it can effectively pivot to tackle emerging issues, will further assess the standing capacity and capability of the market in line with government priorities and its commitment to achieving value for money as part of future Spending Review decisions and as part of regular fiscal event updates.
HM Treasury
View details
3
Recommendation
Accepted
Forty-Second Report - The Restart …
The Department and providers are not working together and sharing information as effectively as they...
The Department and providers are not working together and sharing information as effectively as they might to support participants into work. Both the Department and providers aim to provide coaching support to help participants into work. While it would have …
Read more
Government Response
The department intends to test reducing the current frequency of contact for participants on the Restart scheme and review the impact of doing so.
HM Treasury
View details
4
Recommendation
Acknowledged
Forty-Second Report - The Restart …
The Department did not know enough about its claimants to understand what support they needed...
The Department did not know enough about its claimants to understand what support they needed and how many eligible claimants would go on to participate in Restart. The Department’s work coaches know a lot about their claimants, but much of …
Read more
Government Response
The government acknowledges the value of testing assumptions prior to procurement but notes that trials can take up to two years to complete. The department will need to assess and balance the risks and opportunities when determining the right approach.
HM Treasury
View details
5
Recommendation
Accepted
Forty-Second Report - The Restart …
The Department does not understand how well each of the individual 77 providers are delivering...
The Department does not understand how well each of the individual 77 providers are delivering Restart compared to their peers. The Restart scheme is delivered by a complex network of prime contractors and their subcontractors across 12 different contract areas …
Read more
Government Response
Prime providers will report on a simple return, the subcontractor each participant is assigned to. The department will produce relevant MI centrally and circulate subcontractor MI for each CPA to all prime providers monthly for complete transparency. Subcontractor MI will be shared with the evaluation team to be used as part of their process.
HM Treasury
View details
6
Recommendation
Accepted
Forty-Second Report - The Restart …
Many claimants have complex barriers that prevent them from finding work, and some of these...
Many claimants have complex barriers that prevent them from finding work, and some of these barriers may be better addressed through other means than an employment support scheme such as Restart. The Department’s work coaches must decide whether people from …
Read more
Government Response
The government set out its plan to improve support to those with complex barriers relating to health and disability in the White Paper Transforming Support: The Health and Disability White Paper published on 15 March 2023. The department also works across government to build support for claimants facing other complex needs.
HM Treasury
View details
1
Conclusion
Accepted
Forty-Second Report - The Restart …
On the basis of a report by the Comptroller and Auditor General, we took evidence...
On the basis of a report by the Comptroller and Auditor General, we took evidence from the Department of Work & Pensions (the Department) about the Restart Scheme.1
Government Response
The Department for Work and Pensions (the department) released an ad hoc publication on the Restart Scheme in December 2022 and is now publishing regular six- monthly statistics, which started in June 2023 and evaluation of the Restart Scheme is underway.
HM Treasury
View details
7
Conclusion
Forty-Second Report - The Restart …
In the remaining 43% of instances a claimant was not referred, this is because the...
In the remaining 43% of instances a claimant was not referred, this is because the claimant was no longer eligible by the time they were considered by the work coach. This could be, for example, because they had found work …
Read more
HM Treasury
View details
8
Recommendation
Accepted
Forty-Second Report - The Restart …
Work coaches use their knowledge of claimants to decide what support a claimant might benefit...
Work coaches use their knowledge of claimants to decide what support a claimant might benefit from and whether to refer people onto particular schemes. However, the Department is not able to use this information when planning the scale of support …
Read more
Government Response
The government claims to have already implemented improvements within the Universal Credit system in March 2023 to record more information on claimant's circumstances, but is unclear if aggregation would make programmes such as the Restart Scheme any more efficient.
HM Treasury
View details
9
Conclusion
Forty-Second Report - The Restart …
We asked the Department whether it could have had any better information or better data...
We asked the Department whether it could have had any better information or better data to predict demand, and it told us that it was keen to learn from its experience of Restart about how to predict demand, and later …
Read more
HM Treasury
View details
10
Recommendation
Accepted
Forty-Second Report - The Restart …
Many of the complex barriers that claimants face, which can mean that somebody is less...
Many of the complex barriers that claimants face, which can mean that somebody is less likely to be referred to Restart and that they might find it harder to move into work, are 9 Q 6; C&AG’s Report, figure 6 …
Read more
Government Response
The government agrees that complex barriers prevent people from finding work and has set out a plan to improve support in the White Paper published on 15 March 2023, including extending the Employment Advisers in NHS Talking Therapies services, working with the Ministry of Justice, Department for Education, and Department for Levelling Up Housing and Communities.
HM Treasury
View details
11
Conclusion
Not Addressed
Forty-Second Report - The Restart …
Discussing mental health, the Department did tell us about a number of initiatives arising from...
Discussing mental health, the Department did tell us about a number of initiatives arising from a joint Department for Work & Pensions and Department of Health & Social Care unit which looks to target some of the mental health challenges …
Read more
Government Response
The government agrees that complex barriers prevent people from finding work and has set out a plan to improve support in the White Paper published on 15 March 2023, including extending the Employment Advisers in NHS Talking Therapies services, working with the Ministry of Justice, Department for Education, and Department for Levelling Up Housing and Communities.
HM Treasury
View details
12
Conclusion
Accepted
Forty-Second Report - The Restart …
The Department also told us about some other cross government work it is involved in,...
The Department also told us about some other cross government work it is involved in, including working with the Department for Levelling up, Housing & Communities to avoid benefit recipients paying higher rents for poorer-quality accommodation in the private rented …
Read more
Government Response
The government agreed to improve support to those with complex barriers, as set out in the White Paper published on 15 March 2023, and will work across government with other departments to build support for claimants facing other complex needs.
HM Treasury
View details
13
Recommendation
Accepted
Forty-Second Report - The Restart …
Restart participants continue to attend a jobcentre to meet their work coach every two weeks...
Restart participants continue to attend a jobcentre to meet their work coach every two weeks while they are on the scheme. Participants also have fortnightly meetings with their Restart provider employment advisor, half of which are in person.21 Participants have …
Read more
Government Response
The government will test reducing the current frequency of jobcentre contact for Restart participants and review the impact, with a target implementation date of Spring 2024.
HM Treasury
View details
14
Conclusion
Accepted
Forty-Second Report - The Restart …
Shortly after starting on the Restart scheme, participants undertake a ‘diagnostic assessment’ with providers, to...
Shortly after starting on the Restart scheme, participants undertake a ‘diagnostic assessment’ with providers, to understand the extent to which things like the physical and emotional demands of work, travel, literacy, numeracy, debt, housing, criminal convictions, and family life challenges …
Read more
Government Response
The government agreed to ensure work coaches and Restart provider advisors always have access to key information about participants and their barriers to work. Information sharing is reviewed as part of continuous improvement, including Warm Handovers, and a communications framework has been developed.
HM Treasury
View details
15
Conclusion
Accepted
Forty-Second Report - The Restart …
The Department acknowledged that while an IT system that allows information to be shared between...
The Department acknowledged that while an IT system that allows information to be shared between provider employment advisors and Department work coaches would be “perfect” and is something it would think about for future programmes, it also told us that …
Read more
Government Response
The government agreed to ensure work coaches and Restart provider advisors always have access to key information about participants and their barriers to work. Information sharing is reviewed as part of continuous improvement, including Warm Handovers, and a communications framework has been developed.
HM Treasury
View details
16
Conclusion
Accepted
Forty-Second Report - The Restart …
We have repeatedly recommended that the Department be more transparent and publish more information about...
We have repeatedly recommended that the Department be more transparent and publish more information about the performance of its employment support schemes.28 However, until recently, the only information made available about Restart has been in response to Parliamentary Questions. While …
Read more
Government Response
The Department for Work and Pensions will publish regular six-monthly statistics on the Restart Scheme, and has commissioned evaluations of the scheme, with decisions around publication to be made in due course.
HM Treasury
View details
17
Conclusion
Forty-Second Report - The Restart …
The Department used its experience of delivering and evaluating the Work Programme, a similar previous...
The Department used its experience of delivering and evaluating the Work Programme, a similar previous scheme which ran between 2011 and 2017, to help it to design and set up Restart.31 The Department’s evaluation of the Work Programme showed that, …
Read more
HM Treasury
View details
18
Conclusion
Forty-Second Report - The Restart …
So far more Restart participants have moved into sustained jobs than the Department had expected,...
So far more Restart participants have moved into sustained jobs than the Department had expected, but this is in the context of historically low unemployment and high vacancies. The Department will not know the impact of Restart in increasing the …
Read more
HM Treasury
View details
19
Conclusion
Forty-Second Report - The Restart …
From 2010–11, when it was responding to the last economic crash, to 2020–21, the Department...
From 2010–11, when it was responding to the last economic crash, to 2020–21, the Department reduced its expenditure on employment support from £2.9 bn to £300 million per year.35 The Department told us that when it was designing Restart, it …
Read more
HM Treasury
View details
20
Conclusion
Forty-Second Report - The Restart …
However, shortly after launching Restart, the Department realised that had it had significantly overestimated the...
However, shortly after launching Restart, the Department realised that had it had significantly overestimated the demand, partly because it expected there to be more eligible participants, and partly because it expected more of those eligible participants to be found suitable …
Read more
HM Treasury
View details
21
Conclusion
Accepted
Forty-Second Report - The Restart …
The Department used the forecasts from the Office for Budget Responsibility to build its expectations...
The Department used the forecasts from the Office for Budget Responsibility to build its expectations about how much demand there would be for the Restart scheme, but acknowledges that it did not consider volumes falling as far as they did.41 …
Read more
Government Response
The Department acknowledges the need to better expand and reduce capacity for employment support and to have a mix of provision available in order to effectively pivot to tackle emerging issues, and will further assess the market and value for money as part of future Spending Review decisions and fiscal event updates.
HM Treasury
View details
22
Conclusion
Accepted
Forty-Second Report - The Restart …
The Department explained to us that the reduction in volumes meant providers had prepared for...
The Department explained to us that the reduction in volumes meant providers had prepared for a “different scale of service”, and had committed to costs such as staff and building leases that reflected the scale of the programme they had …
Read more
Government Response
The government agrees with the recommendation and will collate robust Management Information (MI) to assess how providers are performing at Contract Package Area (CPA) level, to increase transparency and competition and share best practice.
HM Treasury
View details
23
Conclusion
Forty-Second Report - The Restart …
The Department set out in the Restart business case that it expected to pay around...
The Department set out in the Restart business case that it expected to pay around £1,800 per participant but, following the renegotiations, it now expects to pay around £2,429 per participant. The Work Programme, which ran from 2011 to 2017, …
Read more
HM Treasury
View details
24
Conclusion
Forty-Second Report - The Restart …
Although the Department signed contracts with eight prime providers to deliver Restart across 12 contract...
Although the Department signed contracts with eight prime providers to deliver Restart across 12 contract areas in England and Wales the prime providers can, and do, subcontract much of the scheme delivery to other providers.48 In total, there are 77 …
Read more
HM Treasury
View details
25
Conclusion
Accepted
Forty-Second Report - The Restart …
However, the Department’s routinely collected management information only shows the performance in each of the...
However, the Department’s routinely collected management information only shows the performance in each of the 12 contract package areas, rather than detailing the performance of individual providers. Its management information shows how many people are moving into work in contract …
Read more
Government Response
The department will enhance the assessment of provider performance by requiring prime providers to report on the subcontractor each participant is assigned to and will produce relevant MI centrally, starting in Autumn 2024, to be shared with prime providers and the evaluation team.
HM Treasury
View details
26
Conclusion
Accepted
Forty-Second Report - The Restart …
Several of the Restart subcontractors work in multiple contract areas, and half of the prime...
Several of the Restart subcontractors work in multiple contract areas, and half of the prime contractors also work as subcontractors in areas where they are not the prime. This has helped to facilitate the sharing of best practice, but it …
Read more
Government Response
The government will enhance its processes by having prime providers report on subcontractor assignments, producing MI centrally, circulating subcontractor MI monthly for transparency, and sharing subcontractor MI with the evaluation team, with a target implementation date of Autumn 2024.
HM Treasury
View details
Correspondence 1 letter
23 Jan 2023
Correspondence from Peter Schofield CB, Permanent Secretary, Department for Work and Pensions, re Public Accounts Committee Oral Evidence on 12 December 2022 The Restart Scheme for Long-Term Unemployed People Transcript Correction, dated 17 January 2023
Parliament page