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Jobcentre Plus: Telephone Services

Answer

The administration of Jobcentre Plus is the responsibility of the acting chief executive, Mel Groves. I have asked him to provide the hon. Member with the information requested.Letter from Mel Groves:"The Secretary of State has asked me to reply to your question asking if she will instruct Jobcentre Plus to permit its telephones to be used for calls made for the purpose of applying for a crisis loan. This is something which falls within the responsibilities delegated to me as Acting Chief Executive of Jobcentre Plus.""Our position on this issue was set out for the Work and Pensions Select Committee in Neil Couling's letter to Terry Rooney dated 9 July 2008. A copy of that letter is attached.""I hope this is helpful."Letter from Neil Couling:"Early in the New Year, I wrote to you outlining a pilot we were running to allow vulnerable customers to make applications for Social Fund Crisis Loans (SFCLs) using Customer Access Points (CAPs or 'warm phones') in Jobcentres. This follows the Committee's recommendation in its 2006-07 report. We worked with the Public and Commercial Services (PCS) Union to agree these arrangements. The small pilot ran from 7 January to 28 March this year and we have now completed the evaluation, which I have attached.""Our current procedures mean that, customers cannot use warm phones to make SFCL applications. This is because a customer could receive an adverse decision in an unscreened area and so, if aggrieved, could pose a risk to themselves, staff or other customers. This control measure is a key part of our agreement with the PCS on working in unscreened offices. The result is that, at present, some vulnerable customers—who use a face-to-face procedure instead of our normal channel of making a telephone claim from home—are referred to a screened office to receive their decision (be that favourable or adverse).""The main replacement control measures for the pilot, agreed with the PCS, meant that Floor Managers and Customer Care Officers were always aware of calls of this type, and—crucially—that the Decision Maker in the Benefit Delivery Centre would contact the Jobcentre on a dedicated telephone line if the application was about to be refused. This allows the Floor Manager and Customer Care Officers to be in place to offer any further assistance to the customer on receipt of an adverse decision. Given the potential risks, and PCS concerns to such an approach, we agreed to a small pilot which ran in five offices in Northumbria.""During the three month pilot seven customers used the service, compared to two using the existing face-to-face service in the preceding 14 months in the whole Northumbria District. Four were awarded a Crisis Loan and there were no incidents of unacceptable customer behaviour linked to any of these customers.""The qualitative evaluation revealed that Jobcentre staff locally were confident that this service was restricted to appropriately vulnerable customers; that they enjoyed the discretion and flexibility this service provided; and, that it was an improvement in access for those customers who are currently turned away or sent to a screened office for a face-to-face decision.""Whilst this pilot has been encouraging, we do not feel that it provides sufficiently strong evidence to roll out nationally—volumes were low and, as the evaluation report reveals, the effectiveness of the alternative control measures was not properly tested. To ensure that this is a safe and effective approach we intend to pilot the scheme again in London, with the option to roll out nationally if it is successful.""We will consult the Public and Commercial Services Union on this basis. We also need to develop the approach along side ""Accessing Jobcentre Customer Services (AJCS), which seeks to enhance services for vulnerable customers, and any changes to the Social Fund. Given these factors, and the full change agenda facing Jobcentre Plus—including the rollout of the Employment and Support Allowance—we are looking to run this large scale pilot as early as is practicable 2009.""I hope this is helpful and that you are encouraged, as we are, by these early findings. I will update you as the pilot progresses and am happy to answer any question that you or the Committee have in the meantime."

Secondary information

Type

Written question

Reference

496 c1304-5W; 282617

Session

2008-09

Subjects

Jobcentres Jobcentre Plus Telephone services

Link

View this Written question on www.publications.parliament.uk