JobCentres branded ‘most unloved public service’ after being damaged by Tories

The Tories broke Jobcentres and made them Britain’s most unloved public service, the Employment Minister has warned.

In an interview with The Mirror, Alison McGovern said the new Labour government will “totally revolutionise” the system that is failing job seekers.

She said: “All of us need help from time to time. Any of us could be made redundant, any of us could become unwell and not be able to continue with the career we have been in. We need a system if we need a little bit of help to change jobs, to get back into work, it should be there for us if we need it.

“At the moment I don’t think people feel like they will get real help – it’s got to change”.

Comparing them to services such as the NHS and schools, she added: “Being completely honest, JobCentres are the most unloved bit of public service.”

Key reforms will be set out in the autumn but the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) minister hit out at the “tick box culture” at the centres. On a visit to the Laurieston JobCentre in Glasgow, she said work coaches are forced to spend just 10 minutes in a repetitive way before claimants are then “turned away”.

She said: “It also means that the experience our work coaches have is not shared with you. You do not get real help. That doesn’t mean there’s not lots of great things happening and work coaches doing their level best – despite the system.”

Aisla Gibson, 46, who joined Laurieston JobCentre as a work coach in 2020, told The Mirror the 10-minute appointments can be “very restricting”. She said: “Not everybody is the same. Somebody could have a really bad week, they could have all sorts going on, like they are homeless, or something major has happened.”

Ms Gibson said the typical work coach has between 20-26 appointments a day. She added: “It’s pretty fast paced, a lot of customers that they need to see. You’re trying to build up that trust to get the customer to open up, it can be pretty impossible sometimes.”

Ms McGovern also hinted local communities could be given greater control over the services – ending a “one-size fits all” approach. And the government is promising to merge Jobcentres and the National Career Service as part of the reforms being set out in a new employment white paper in the autumn.

Ms McGovern said: “What we need to do is think about how we get people better jobs because we’ve got too many people working too hard for their poverty.”

She added: “I think the Tories broke JobCentres and that makes me really sad. It’s alright if you’ve got loads of mates who have had fancy careers and you’ve got friends who can help support you.

“But if you’re someone who has got ambition but you don’t know how to get there, what do you do? Ok maybe you get a bit of help at school, but if school hasn’t worked out for you, well what do you do then? Well the JobCentre should be there for you and it makes me angry that that system has been ruined.”

Pressed on whether the benefit sanctions regime also needed to be overhauled, Ms McGovern said: “There’s a Universal Credit review in addition [to the employment white paper]. It will look at the whole system.”

Research last year by the New Economics Foundation found that 61% of people said the threat of sanctions made it harder for them to have a trusting and supportive relationship with the Jobcentre.

Ms McGovern added: “The first thing I will say is there will always be rules and conditions. Social security has rules, I think we all know that and it’s important. You pay in and there’s for you when you need it.

“But I think you only need to look at the results of the last 14 years to know what the Tories did, didn’t work. “We’ve ended up with a system that people don’t trust. We’re not getting people real help – from top to bottom it’s got to change.”

Ms McGovern’s comments came before reports emerged the Chancellor is considering cutting £3 billion from the welfare bill over four years by tightening access to sickness benefits. Rachel Reeves is said to want to commit to the previous Tory government’s plans to save the sum by reforming work capability rules.

Under Tory plans, welfare eligibility would have been tightened so that around 400,000 more people who are signed off long-term would be assessed as needing to prepare for work by 2028/29 – saving an estimated £3billion. At the time ex-Chancellor Jeremy Hunt announced the plans it was warned the changes would “instil a wave of fear” among vulnerable people.

Ms McGovern said the party would bring its “own reforms” to the benefits system when grilled on the plan by broadcasters on Friday. She said: “Like all departments, the Department for Work and Pensions has to make savings because we are in a terrible financial situation.

“To be clear, on that point we will bring forward our own reforms because the last 14 years have been a complete failure when it comes to employment.”