DWP and next steps with “Potential Employment Provision for the Recently Unemployed”

In his Summer Statement last month, the Chancellor announced a commitment to working with the private recruitment sector to help those who lost their jobs because of the pandemic.

We were delighted.  We'd really pushed for this as we knew, from our experience of delivering a similar programme after the last recession, that our members could add value in helping get people back to work quickly.  We got a lot of feedback from REC members who were equally pleased to see we'd won this and were asking how to participate.

Since then, here at REC we've submitted a proposal to DWP to help define how we see the scheme working in practice, based on what we learnt from the 2009-12 scheme.  To this end, we have a meeting with the Employment Minister next week to discuss the proposals.

What we know is that there will be two parts to the Chancellor's announcement:

1.    A local programme between job centre and local recruiter

If you've ever participated in the rapid response work - when a leading business name has made mass redundancies - you'll know exactly how this works.  We send out a call to action and local REC recruiters respond. We then put you in touch with the job centre and you get going in partnership to help reskill and upskill people made redundant for new roles, as and when the opportunity arises.  The local, sectoral specific nature of the partnership allows for a quick approach - it is well documented that speed can be of the essence in getting people back into the labour market successfully. 

2.    A national, digital- only programme called Potential Employment Provision for the Recently Unemployed

This week, DWP held a briefing on the procurement process for this. We shared details of how to register via our LinkedIn post. In the briefing, they read out these powerpoint slides.

It Is clear they intend for this to be a digital offering, helping candidates to create a CV and a plan to find work.  The next step for interested suppliers is to register via the DWP Bravo Portal and submit an indicative plan for a unit cost, how many candidates you could support and your proposed timeframe. You need to do this by 5pm on 25 August.

There is a potential alternative way to get involved

We know that some REC members may be interested in bidding for this national scheme but feel their best approach would be in partnership with others.  If you want to discuss this, we need to hear from you urgently as the deadline is fast approaching. 

Further, one REC member, an SME, has approached us to explain they have a job search training resource they’re already selling to candidates and clients. It gives 7-8 hours of self-teach learning but needs 2-3 hours of one-to-one support. At present, that limits their capacity to helping 50-60 job seekers a week. They’re looking for around 500 other SME recruiters to partner with them and enable a serious joint SME pitch to government. They are offering the online resource free to serious recruiters. They already have over 50 involved but need more fast - their view is, this could save a lot of recruiters’ jobs too. 

If you would like to know more, please contact policy@rec.uk.com.