Flexible New Deal Provider Information & Flexible New Deal Scandal

Flexible New Deal: Millions stranded in No Man's Land

Posted on January 14th, 2010.

Post Categories: DWP • Flexible New Deal • Flexible New Deal complaints • jobcentre Plus • uk government • unemployment
Tags: Adviser Discretionary Fund, Flexible New Deal, Jobcentre Plus Schemes, Jobgrant, Recruitment Subsidy Voucher, Recruitment Voucher, Self-Employment Credit, Travel to Interview Scheme

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We start off with two quotes from the Jobcentre Plus website:

Customers

New Deal

Find out about New Deal, including the ‘Flexible New Deal’ programme. Jobcentre Plus offers a number of New Deal programmes to help unemployed people, particularly those who have been unemployed for a long time, people with disabilities and anyone in need of extra help to find work

(http://www.jobcentreplus.gov.uk/JCP/Customers/outofworkhelplookingforwork/Getting_job_ready/Programmes_to_get_you_ready/New_Deal/index.html)

and

Customers

Flexible New Deal

Flexible New Deal aims to help you find a job, or get training or work experience to help you find a job. It is delivered for Jobcentre Plus by other organisations, called ‘providers’. Find out more information including who is eligible to take part.

(http://www.jobcentreplus.gov.uk/JCP/Customers/outofworkhelplookingforwork/Getting_job_ready/Programmes_to_get_you_ready/New_Deal/Dev_016411.xml.html)

At the end of Flexible New Deal Stage 3 your Adviser will refer you to a Flexible New Deal Provider that you have been allocated to. They will tell you that they will contact you within 2 weeks. As soon as you have been placed on Flexible New Deal Stage 4 (regardless if you have been contacted or not; before your first meeting) you no longer are a customer of Jobcentre Plus but belong to the Flexible New Deal Provider.

This means you lose all support from Jobcentre Plus including (but not limited to):

• Adviser Discretionary Fund (ADF)
• Jobgrant
• Recruitment Voucher / Recruitment Subsidy Voucher
• Self-Employment Credit
• Travel to Interview Scheme
• Work Trial

This means there is abolutely no support for those who:

• Want to be self-employed but need initial financial support
• Have an interview but not suitable clothing or the money for travel to get there

Some “schemes” apparently are available to those through their Flexible New Deal Provider although no details are provided and its unlikely the above schemes are available directly by the third party company (unless of course they just act as the middleman to Jobcentre Plus).

Some people have been waiting up to 8 weeks for their Flexible New Deal provider to contact them. This is 2 months of being in No Man’s Land without any support whatsoever and that period increases until when the provider delivers the service, obviously excluding the Jobcentre Plus Schemes (if you know different let us know!)

I have been told of a couple of peoples experiences which were up to a 6 week wait to be contacted. This is normally followed by 1-2 weeks wait for an appointment. Followed by a further wait until the next possible appointment.

We always had no doubt that Flexible New Deal was a bad deal for the jobseeker but it wasn’t expected that Jobcentre Plus services would be unavailable to jobseekers especially when (unlike New Deal) you still have to sign on every 2 weeks.

These schemes will only initially be unavailable whilst in No Man’s Land – simply put: whilst you are not formally signed up to Flexible New Deal – similar support schemes should be available to those on Flexible New Deal in regular contact with a provider subject to provider discretion.

What if you get a job interview whilst in No Man’s Land? Simple, you are unable to claim ADF, Recruitment Voucher or travel costs. A lot of jobseekers might not be requiring them especially those who have regular interviews. The £2500 Recruitment “golden handshake” Subsidy scheme is not available to those on Flexible New Deal so fastracked “customers” are not able to take advantage of the scheme.

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