DWP Reduces Support For Universal Credit Claimants Due To Work Coach Shortage

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The Department for Work & Pensions (DWP) has reduced the level of support it offers to Universal Credit (UC) claimants due to a shortage of available work coaches at jobcentres, amid government plans to get more people into work and progressing in their careers, highlights a new National Audit Office (NAO) report.

The NAO says that: “Work coaches play a critical role working directly with claimants to identify their needs and provide support. But partly due to funding constraints, DWP has not had enough work coaches to meet the expected demand for jobcentre support,with shortfalls in five of its seven regions in 2023-24. DWP has also faced challenges in recruiting and retaining work coaches.”

Its new report outlines that:

The number of UC claimants in categories where the DWP could require them to receive support from a work coach increased from 2.6 million in October 2023 to 3 million in October 2024.
2,100 fewer work coaches employed on average by DWP than it estimated it needed in the first six months of 2024-25.
57% of jobcentres reduced their support for claimants between September 2023 and November 2024 when work coach caseloads were too high.
The proportion of UC claimants in lowest earning category who move into work each month has declined in the past two years to below pre-pandemic levels.

The DWP has also set out measures that jobcentres can implement if work coaches’ caseloads are too high - from September 2023 to November 2024, 57% of jobcentres used these flexibilities to reduce the support they provide for claimants.

In November 2024, the government published a white paper that set out its plans for reforming employment support. The plans include creating a jobs and careers service, bringing together jobcentres with the National Careers Service in England.

The NAO recommends that the DWP assesses the impact of the shortfall in work coaches on jobcentre’s ability to provide people with the intended level of support and uses the findings to inform the design of its future operating model for employment support.

It should also set out the information it will use to monitor jobcentre’s performance so that it can identify and share good practice from those that are doing well, as well as improve how it measures and reports outcomes, with metrics covering factors such as the sustainability and quality of employment.

Gareth Davies the Head of the NAO said: “As it takes forward the government’s plans for reforming employment support, DWP should pay close attention to how it can make best use of its work coaches and ensure that people get the support they need.

“Given the key role jobcentres will play in supporting the government’s ambition to increase the employment rate, DWP should also be transparent about how effective they are and evaluate the impact of its changes on the system of employment support.”

The NAO report Supporting people to work through jobcentres is available from nao.org.uk.

Ken Butler DR UK’s Welfare Rights and Policy Adviser said: “The Government has said that it will be introducing an and provide an additional £1 billion employment health and skills support package to help Disabled people stay in and gain employment.

“This is far less than billions of disability benefit savings proposed in its Green Paper.

“It’s clear any jobcentre support will be starting from a very low ebb.

In addition, the Government has no evidence that employment will increase by its Green Paper reforms.

The Office for Budgetary Responsibility (OBR) said that it could provide no employment impact report to accompany the Green Paper as it had they neither had enough policy detail nor enough evidence about impact from the DWP.