The Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD) has lent its support to pensions secretary Iain Duncan Smith’s plans for welfare reform and believes they will help thousands back into work.
CIPD senior public policy adviser Ben Willmott insisted that providing the long-term unemployed with greater assistance will make a huge difference in giving individuals the confidence to make their return to full-time jobs.
“This is part of the personalisation agenda which the government is pursuing,” he explained. “It is really looking to not just have a one-sided approach to getting people back to work.”
However, Mr Willmott acknowledged that the current weakness of Britain’s jobs market and the impending public sector redundancies still present major obstacles and called on the government to ensure that nobody is left behind.
His comments came after independent expert Professor Malcolm Harrington delivered his independent review, which recommended a nuanced approach to helping those who have suffered mental illness find employment.
Posted by Hayley Edwards
