Jobseekers required to do more to find work
Simply ‘signing-on’ for benefits will be a thing of the past from today, meaning jobseekers will have to do more to find work.
Employment Minister Esther McVey says the new rules will help put to an end to the system where people start claiming Jobseeker’s Allowance (JSA) by just signing-on without first taking steps to make themselves attractive to employers.
To prepare for their first interview with a Jobcentre Plus adviser, jobseekers will be asked to do things like preparing a CV, setting up an email address and registering for the government’s new jobs website.
People who need it will also have more regular meetings with their Jobcentre Plus adviser – weekly rather than fortnightly – to ensure they are doing everything they can to look for work and to identify any gaps in their work search.
These new measures are being introduced as figures show:
The number of people claiming Jobseeker’s Allowance fell by over 363,000 on the year, which is the largest annual fall since 1998. The number of young people claiming JSA has been falling for the last 21 months.
The employment rate has hit a 5-year high and a record 30.19 million people are now in jobs.
The number of job vacancies increased in the last 3 months by 23,000 to 588,000.
The number of people who are unemployed fell by 63,000 in the last 3 months, with the number of people who have been unemployed for over a year falling by 38,000.
The number of unemployed young people also fell by 29,000 and has been falling now for the last 6 months.
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