| Former type | Government owned |
|---|---|
| Predecessor | Job Centre |
| Successor | 'Department for Work and Pensions |
| Founded | 1 February 1910 (as The Jobcentre) 1 April 2002 (as Jobcentre Plus) |
| Defunct | 4 October 2011 |
| Headquarters | London, United Kingdom |
| Area served | England, Northern Ireland, Scotland, Wales |
| Key people | Francis Maude and Danny Alexander (Chairmen) |
| Services | Employment |
| Owner(s) | HM Government |
| Parent | Directgov |
| Website | direct.gov.uk |
Jobcentre Plus was a government agency for working-age people in Great Britain. The agency was formed when the Employment Service, which operated Jobcentres, merged with the Benefits Agency, which ran social security offices, and was re-named Jobcentre Plus on 1 April 2002. It was an executive agency of the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) and reported directly to the Minister of State for Employment..
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Jobcentre Plus advertised job vacancies for employers by using a computer system called LMS (Labour Market System) which could be accessed by customers through Jobpoints (touch-screen computer terminals) and via the Jobcentre Plus website and the telephone service Jobseeker Direct (0845 60 60 234). It also administered claims for benefits such as Jobseeker's Allowance, Incapacity Benefit, Employment and Support Allowance and Income Support.
The forerunners of the Jobcentre Plus were the government-run Labour Exchanges, originally the vision of Winston Churchill, President of the Board of Trade and William Beveridge, who had worked for a more efficient labour system in the early years of the 20th century. This was intended to address the chaos of the labour market and the problems of casual employment.
In 1908 Beveridge was commissioned to devise a scheme which would combine labour exchanges with a new government-funded unemployment benefit. The Labour Exchanges Bill was rushed through Parliament and passed in September 1909 and, after months of planning and recruitment of clerks, 62 Labour Exchanges were opened on February 1, 1910. The number of offices rose to 430 within four years. At the suggestion of the Prime Minister David Lloyd-George, from January 1917 the Labour Exchanges came under the new Ministry of Labour and were renamed Employment Exchanges, so as to more accurately reflect their purpose and function.
The National Insurance Act was passed in 1911 and the first payments were made at Exchanges in January 1913. Initially this covered only elected trades, such as building, engineering and shipbuilding. Weekly contributions were paid by workers, employers and the State in the form of stamps which were affixed to an Unemployment Book (later called the National Insurance card). When no work was available, benefit was payable.
The basic rules and administration regarding claims and the disallowance of benefit remain unaltered today. From 1918, payments were also made to unemployed ex-soldiers and their dependants, as well as to civilians who found themselves unemployed due to the decline of war production industries. The out-of-work donation scheme (the original "dole") was originally only a temporary measure.
As unemployment benefit was payable only for those with a contributions record, and even then for only twelve months for each claim, there remained a group on long-term low incomes, without access to benefit. That was relieved after the enactment of the National Assistance Act 1946, when payments began to be made to jobseekers on low incomes regardless of contributions.
Initially benefits were paid weekly, in cash, at the Employment Exchange. From 1973, a new network of Jobcentres began to be opened throughout Britain.
In the 1990s, the Employment Service introduced a dress code which required male staff to wear ties. The code was later held to be in breach of the Sex Discrimination Act.[1]
Private organisations are now under contract with the government to provide services to benefit claimants through initiatives such as Employment Zones and Pathways to Work. Staff of the Department for Work and Pensions give help only to those in so-called "high priority groups", that is, those who are long-term claimants of Jobseekers Allowance, lone parents or those receiving other benefits such as Income Support or Incapacity Benefit.
However, jobsearch facilities are available to anyone via the Jobcentre Plus website, through touch screen interactive jobpoints in local Jobcentres and over the phone via Jobseeker Direct (0845 60 60 234). The Jobcentre Plus website is the UK's most visited recruitment website with over a million visitors each week. Vacancy information is also available through the UK government's direct.gov.uk portal. As of spring 2010, the Jobcentre Plus website no longer contains job posts itself, and redirects all jobseeker enquiries to run through the Directgov jobs portal, which lists job posts sourced from the JCP network.
Jobcentre Plus also offered services to employers and employment agencies - who can register their vacancies online through the online service or by calling Employer Direct. Vacancies are available immediately through the channels above - (online, phone, and interactive jobpoints).
Alongside these changes, Jobcentre Plus also changed the way in which claims to benefits are processed. In the past, claimants contacted their local benefits office, were asked to manually complete the appropriate forms, and then booked an interview with an adviser in order to discuss work related issues (as appropriate) and submit the benefits claim for processing. The new system instead asks individuals to call a Jobcentre Plus call centre, where claim details are taken over the phone and entered directly to the computer system by the call agent. Customers are then asked to attend an interview at their local jobcentre to discuss work issues with an adviser, and finalise their claim, provide relevant signatures and proof of ID and address.
In addition, the actual processing of claims to benefits is also changing, with benefits claims being processed at a smaller number of larger Benefit Centres rather than local benefit offices and jobcentres.
JSAPS (Jobseeker's Allowance Payment System) is a legacy computer system used by Jobcentre Plus to maintain and pay Jobseeker's Allowance, and more recently Employment and Support Allowance, benefit claims.
The Jobcentre Plus service (and its forerunners the Social Security office, Unemployment Benefit office and Jobcentre/Labour Exchange) have featured in all forms of popular culture, often depicted in a general way to suggest poverty or unemployment. In the 1980s in particular, the Social Security office was frequently used as shorthand for the British recession.
Dramatic representations have included the sitcoms Hancock's Half Hour, Some Mothers Do 'Ave 'Em, Shelley, Bread, Rab C. Nesbitt, the drama series Boys from the Blackstuff and the films Made in Britain and The Full Monty.
In the black comedy series The League of Gentlemen, a recurring character is Pauline Campbell-Jones (played by Steve Pemberton), the demented leader of a Restart course for a group of unemployed people.
Love on the Dole is a novel by Walter Greenwood, about working class poverty in 1930s northern England. It has been made into both a play and film.[3]
In music, the reggae group UB40 took their name from the form used to 'sign on' at the Unemployment Benefit office (the form is now designated ES40JP). The initials "DHSS" are recited several times by singer George Michael in Wham!'s 1983 hit single Wham Rap!, a tongue-in-cheek celebration of wilful unemployment. The first album by Half Man Half Biscuit was called Back in the DHSS, a play on The Beatles song "Back in the U.S.S.R.".
Jobcentre Plus as an executive agency ceased to exist as of 4th October 2011. Services offered by Jobcentre Plus are now offered directly by the Department for Work and Pensions. Although the Jobcentre Plus corporate brand remains in place at the present time, it functions just as a public brand of the Department rather than a separate entity.
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