The Work and Pensions Committee is to begin an inquiry into Jobcentre Plus (JCP).
The inquiry will focus on the services JCP offers to benefit claimants, jobseekers and employers and its relationships with external providers and stakeholders such as local authorities, in the context of recent and ongoing welfare reforms, including the introduction of Universal Credit, and the resulting changes to JCP staff roles.
The Committee will consider the future of JCP as a public employment service, including its role as “gatekeeper” to contracted-out services such as the Work Programme and Work Choice. It will also assess the support which JCP currently provides to jobseekers in the early months of their unemployment benefit claim, before referral to external providers.
The inquiry will also assess whether the organisational changes in JCP since 2011 have produced efficiencies and streamlined management processes as intended.
http://www.parliament.uk/business/co...obcentre-plus/