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11 June 2025 - Get Britain Working: Reforming Jobcentres - Oral evidence

Committee Work and Pensions Committee
Inquiry Get Britain Working: Reforming Jobcentres

Wednesday 11 June 2025

Start times: 9:00am (private) 9:30am (public)


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Minister to be questioned on Careers Service-Jobcentre merger

Employment Minister Alison McGovern will be questioned on the Government’s reforms of Jobcentres that could affect millions of service users.

Meeting details

At 9:30am: Oral evidence
Inquiry Get Britain Working: Reforming Jobcentres
Minister for Employment at Department for Work and Pensions
Director, Labour Market Strategy, Policy and Analysis at Department for Work and Pensions
Director, Jobs & Career’s Service at Department for Work and Pensions

Cross-party MPs on the Work and Pensions Committee will scrutinise proposals to merge the National Careers Service with Jobcentre Plus announced last year but little further detail has since been published. The aim is to refocus the Jobcentre more on its traditional task of finding people suitable and sustainable employment rather than monitoring claimants’ benefits conditionality and sanctioning people.

Recently, the Employment Minister outlined a fresh attitude to finding employment, stating that the service will no longer be pushing people into any job and would instead focus on building careers. However, elsewhere the Government has said that conditionality will remain part of the regime.

But how does the Government propose balancing the requirements of conditionality with the need for work coaches to focus more on work and training in the 10 minutes that they have with customers? The Committee will question the Minister on whether there will be any changes to the sanctions regime, the centrality of the principle of ‘good work’, and what the reforms will mean for claimants, work coaches, and prospective employers.

Location

Room 6, Palace of Westminster

How to attend