JobCentre Plus fails to work with centres

By Cathy Wallace Wednesday, 12 March 2008

Employment minister Stephen Timms has admitted the government needs to do more to get JobCentre Plus to work with children's centres.

JobCentre Plus sign. Credit: DWP

During last week's Department for Children, Schools and Families' conference for children's centre leaders, Timms was told by delegates that working with JobCentre Plus could be problematic.

Heads of centres said they sometimes struggled to develop relationships with the agency and that it did not seem to have been made clear that working with children's centres was required by law.

One centre manager said: "JobCentre Plus doesn't seem to be resourced to engage with children's centres."

Timms said: "It is early days but we are seeing some good examples of JobCentre Plus and children's centres working together. However, we need to do better and I expect to see staff visit children's centres and operating surgeries from them."

Sue Owen, director of wellbeing at the National Children's Bureau and former head of its early childhood unit, said the problem had come up in discussion with members.

"JobCentre Plus is statutory but it doesn't seem to have been given the weight or resources to make it work," she said. "In some places it does, but as far as consistency goes, it doesn't seem to be working that well."

Bernadette Duffy, manager of the Thomas Coram Children's Centre in Camden, London, said the problem was reminiscent of previous difficulties in engaging with health services.

"For our colleagues at JobCentre Plus, it hasn't been made clear that working with children's centres is equally important in getting parents back into work," she said.

"One of the key ways to get people back to work is by engaging with children's centres. The situation is a bit like it was with health work - however, that has turned the corner now so I'm optimistic the same will happen with JobCentre Plus as the benefits are very clear."

Timms also said he wanted to see more terminals listing job adverts in children's centres.

"Just like children's centres, JobCentre Plus has a lot of demands put on it," he said. "But there is scope for a higher degree of working together than we have achieved so far."