Jobcentre Plus or Minus?Exploring the performance of Jobcentre Plus for nonjobseekers

Since April 2002 Jobcentre Plus has started to operate nationwide in the UKproviding fully integrated benefit claiming and work placement/job-seekingactivities for people of working age. This new organisation put an explicitwork-focus in the delivery of the benefit system. Along with Jobseeker’sAllowance (JSA) claimants who traditionally have been the focus of relevantwork-focused policies, Jobcentre Plus targets a much wider group of clientsincluding lone parents, disabled people and carers. Although the work-focus ofthe new organisation could be beneficial for clients who themselves have anexplicit work orientation, its effect on clients for whom work is not a feasibleoption are far less clear. This paper explores whether the changes in the deliveryof the benefit system introduced by Jobcentre Plus have been beneficial forclaimants who are not jobseekers and assesses which aspects of the neworganisation work well and which could be improved in order to address moreeffectively the needs of non-job-oriented clients.[...]