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Written question asked by Jenny Willott (Liberal Democrat) on Wednesday, 14 October 2009, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Friday, 16 October 2009. It was answered by Lord Knight of Weymouth (Labour) on Tuesday, 10 November 2009 on behalf of the Department for Work and Pensions.

Jobcentre Plus: Manpower

Question
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what the ratio of personal advisers to jobseeker's allowance claimants in (a) the UK and (b) each region of England, (c) Wales, (d) Scotland and (e) Northern Ireland has been in each month since May 2009; and if she will make a statement.
Answer

Jobcentre Plus manages its work force in a way that makes direct comparison between headcount and work load difficult in each geographic region. For example, adviser functions will also include non-jobseeker's allowance customers like those in receipt of incapacity benefit, and employment and support allowance.Available information, for Great Britain only, is shown in the following table.Information regarding Northern Ireland is a matter for the Northern Ireland Office.

Ratio of personal advisers to jobseeker's allowance claimants by each region in England, Wales and Scotland in May, June and July 2009
Ratio of jobseeker's allowance claimants to staff
Government office region May 2009 June 2009 July 2009
East 177.2 156.9 146.5
East Midlands 174.8 155.2 144.9
London 139.0 132.4 128.7
North East 130.2 121.6 115.9
North West 135.6 127.1 120.6
Scotland 126.5 116.6 114.6
South East 167.5 160.8 156.5
South West 156.3 141.0 130.4
Wales 148.9 141.1 127.7
West Midlands 164.5 157.2 153.5
Yorkshire and the Humber 162.3 141.2 134.1
Notes:
1. Figures for Jobcentre Plus staff relate to Jobcentre Plus staff as a whole and not those deployed against jobseeker's allowance customers/claims.
2. Ratio of jobseeker's allowance claimants to staff are rounded to one decimal place.
Sources:
DWP WPLS 100 per cent. data and Jobcentre Plus Human Resources.

The table shows a level of variation across the country between personal advisers and jobseeker's allowance customers. This is to be expected and is due to variations in the Jobcentre Plus operating model. The level of use of external providers is an example. Variations in other adviser work loads not directly linked to the jobseeker's allowance claimant count will be another factor.

Secondary information

Type
Written question
Reference
499 c299-300W; 294033
Session
2008-09
Subjects
Jobcentres Jobcentre Plus Staff
Contains statistics
Yes
Link
View this Written question on www.publications.parliament.uk