Routes out of poverty through improving participation in the labour market

First is the view that work remains the best way out of poverty for most people. 

This has been the driver behind both the incentives deployed by the Government, such as the establishment of the minimum wage and tax credits for working families, and the disciplines deployed, such as mandatory participation in employability programmes and the crack down on benefit fraud.  The original Green Papers on welfare reform ‘A new Deal on Welfare: empowering people to work’ (2006) and ‘In work, better off’ (2007) both combine a range of new commitments and incentives with a stronger line on the responsibility to participate. 

The Government recognises that the aspirations articulated in these policy documents, an 80% employment rate and significant reductions in those on certain benefits (especially IB and lone parents), are challenging.  One reason for this is that many of those who are easy to reach or easy to help have already made a transition into the labour market and that the majority of those remaining have either significant, complex or multiple obstacles to getting and retaining jobs.  In addition, Government also recognises that they cannot be achieved without changes to funding and, more importantly, without an effective delivery infrastructure.

The point about the delivery infrastructure is crucial because any policy is only as effective as those organisations that deliver it and one of the central issues around effectiveness in the future will be in the ability of organisations to engage with both difficult to reach and difficult to help groups.