'They want to work' | Salvation Army warns employment aid reforms risk pushing vulnerable people further from jobs

The Salvation Army has called on the Government for more clarity about long-term funding for the specialist employment services that are essential to help people who are long-term unemployed find and maintain work. 

In its recent Spending Review, the Government confirmed that the UK Shared Prosperity Fund (UKSPF), which has supported vital specialist employment services like the Salvation Army’s Employment Plus scheme, will be phased out and replaced with new local growth funds.

However they are not a like-for-like replacement. Unlike UKSPF, there is no allocation in local growth funds for ‘people and skills’, only for infrastructure, building projects, and physical assets to boost local economies in the long term. 

The Government has shifted the responsibility for reaching and supporting those previously served by specialist services onto DWP, through the new combined Jobcentre and National Careers Services.