'"Park and Skim" still proving a nice little earner for Work Programme Prime Providers'

says House of Commons Select Committee on Work and Pensions 'but that aside, it isn't really delivering much".

Commenting on the report, Dame Anne Begg MP, Chair of the Work and Pensions Committee, said:

"The performance of the Work Programme in its first 14 months was poor. There are signs that it is now improving significantly for mainstream jobseekers. We hope the next job outcome statistics to be published in June will bear this out – we will be very concerned if they don’t."

or: it is quite good at placing those people who would have found themselves a job anyway in work of some sort, as further clarified by Dame Anne who goes on to say

"However, the Work Programme has proved much less successful to date in addressing the problems faced by jobseekers who face more serious obstacles to finding a job – people with disabilities, homeless people, and those with a history of drug or alcohol abuse.

It is clear that the differential pricing structure is not a panacea for tackling creaming and parking. The Government must do more to ensure that the Work Programme provides effective support for all jobseekers, not just the ones who are easiest to help."

The Committee concludes that the Work Programme’s differential pricing structure, which is designed to financially incentivise contracted providers to support those with more challenging barriers to employment, is not having its intended impact on providers’ behaviour.

The hardest to help jobseekers remain at risk of being “parked”—given little or no support by providers who assess them as being unlikely to find sustained work.

or: maybe have a go at removing or toning down the "money for old rope" aspects and get these so called experts actually doing something to try and justify having the programme at all.