---

Welfare Reform Bill

I am very suspicious of the contracting-out model with this sort of work. I understand that the final decision to sanction, reduce or cancel benefits would remain with civil servants, but there can be no question that if private contractors have targets that they are expected to fulfil, the sense of pressure on the claimant will be of a different order altogether. That is one of my major concerns, but it also reduces the job satisfaction for civil servants in that position. They will have lost all the job satisfaction of working closely with people, in getting to know and understand them. They will be left with the unpleasant task of ticking the box which eliminates somebody’s benefits. There are major implications for the Jobcentre Plus staff and major implications for claimants. I understand that there will be targets for the private sector people, and there is a risk that some clients will simply not get a service at all because their chances of success will be much less. That is yet another risk. I am sure that there are others, too. The idea of companies making profits out of these processes of testing somebody’s willingness to undertake all sorts of work-related activities and so on feels somewhat immoral. I have difficulty with it as an approach to this sensitive work with members of the public.