Concerns remain over Tory welfare plans
Wednesday, 25 March 2009 12:00 AM
By Alex Stevenson
Conservative plans to cut the number of welfare-to-work contracts received a mixed reception at Theresa May's keynote speech on welfare reform this morning.
The Tories back large-scale contracts through the creation of 12 areas, about four times as large as the current JobCentre districts, which would manage welfare programmes.
But Debbie Scott, chief executive of national employment charity Tomorrow's People, warned that small-scale providers could suffer as a result.
She said after Ms May's speech: "It is a real issue and it would be a bad thing to the long-term unemployed in this country [if providers] are not there to do it because the terms of engagement are prohibitive."
David Freud, who was until recently the government's chief adviser on welfare issues but has now switched to the Tories, insisted that no one on the ground would get left behind in the "exploding" welfare sector.
"This sector is growing extremely rapidly for obvious reasons. Everyone who's got real experience will be dragooned into the system," he said.
Mr Freud added: "As you develop a market, people will work out who is achieving outcomes. The ones that will do it, I'm convinced, are those employed by the prime providers."
He argued the most successful consortia would be the largest, saying: "They will find they are the ones with the most successful outcomes."
Ms May stressed the government would seek to strike a balance between a smaller number of contracts and preserving links to local providers.
"We are very aware of the need to ensure small-scale local providers are part of this practice," she said.
Ms Scott remained concerned, however, by the roll-out of the government's flexible new deal and the Tories' enthusiasm for a smaller number of contracts.
"Time is of the essence," she warned.
Her comments followed Ms May's keynote speech on welfare reform, in which she accused the government of not having the "reforming zeal" needed to push ahead with welfare reform.
Ms May echoed Gordon Brown's criticisms of the Tory party by attacking the government's "do nothing" policy on welfare.
"It is my job to face up to this challenge and take on those who say that recession is a convenient excuse to do nothing," she said.
"Let's be absolutely clear. We cannot afford to do nothing. And let me be clear about this also. The next Conservative government will take on the challenge of welfare reform. We will do so because it is right for this country and because it is right for individuals and families as well."
Ms May said shadow chancellor George Osborne had agreed to a fundamental shift in the way welfare funding works.
Existing Treasury rules preventing benefit payments money from being transferred to programmes getting people into work will be scrapped if the Tories win the next election.
Newsletter sign up