School job advice plans ‘confused'

One year after the government announced plans to place Jobcentre Plus advisers in schools, a pilot has been announced.

An unspecified number of schools in Birmingham will trial the programme from this month, before the scheme is extended across England by 2017.

The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) says the programme will advise pupils on routes into training and apprenticeships, what skills employers are looking for and “the realities of the labour market”.

It says the support will focus on young people who “may be at a disadvantage when it comes to finding a job”, including those with health conditions and from ethnic minority backgrounds.

However, details from the DWP and Department for Education on how the support is to be offered are thin on the ground.

Jan Ellis, chief executive of the Career Development Institute, says the DfE told her Jobcentre Plus staff will not be in direct contact with pupils, but will liaise only with teachers.

Meanwhile, Charles Law, industrial adviser at the Public and Commercial Services union, has doubts about how comprehensive the service will be. “Jobcentre Plus would need to get agreement of the school first – I don’t think it is something the minister could impose on all schools,” he says.

He adds there are limited numbers of advisers, which will inevitably make delivery “patchy”.

The different careers support already offered in schools makes this a “confusing” move from government, says Steve Steward, chief executive of Careers England.

“Schools are already confused about the large number of initiatives there are and what they can use, and which ones do and don’t apply to them,” he says.

“This has the potential to make people more confused. It doesn’t feel very thought throug