The Restart Scheme for long-term unemployed people

Public Accounts Committee Closed Inquiry
Opened: 31 Oct 2022 Closed: 27 Jun 2023 Parliament page
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
Report published
22 Mar
2023
Report published
23 Jan
2023
Correspondence
12 Dec
2022
Oral evidence
12 Dec
2022
Formal meeting (oral evidence session) · The Grimond Room, Portcullis House
Oral evidence sessions 1 session
12 Dec 2022
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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
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
9 results
Clear
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
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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
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Government Response AI assessment · 18 of 8 classified
Accepted 16
Acknowledged 1
Not Addressed 1
Total 8 recs + 18 conclusions
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
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