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Benefits: Work Programme

My right honourable friend the Minister of State for Work and Pensions (Chris Grayling) has made the following Written Ministerial Statement. The Government have previously announced their plans for radical reforms of the welfare-to-work system and the implementation of the work programme. Work to deliver the programme is progressing quickly and we are on track to deliver nationwide by the summer of 2011. Today we announce the providers who will be invited to bid to deliver the work programme and subsequent employment-related support initiatives. These providers have been named on our framework for employment-related support services, which is the commercial vehicle through which the work programme will be delivered. The list of suppliers will be released at 1 pm today, and can be found here: http://www.dwp.gov.uk/supplying-DWP/what-we-buy/welfare-to-work-services/work-programme We are delighted that we received so much interest in the framework and we had strong competition from the market. The providers that we have selected represent the very best of organisations from both the private and voluntary sectors. There is a good mix of existing suppliers and new entrants to the market, including innovative partnerships. The work programme is the Government’s flagship welfare-to-work programme and will be built around the needs of individuals: we will give providers longer to work with customers and greater freedom to decide the appropriate support for them. We will also offer stronger incentives for providers to work with harder-to-help customers and to get people into sustained jobs.