Dan Jarvis – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Dan Jarvis on 2014-04-28.

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what estimate his Department has made of the average change in the number of days people will spend claiming benefits as a result of the help-to-work scheme.

Esther McVey

We have a strong evidence base which shows that Help to Work has a positive impact in terms of reducing the number of days claimants spend on benefit.

Over almost two years, claimants who took part in a trailblazer for Community Work Placement (CWP) and Mandatory Intervention Regime (MIR) spent on average 21 (CWP) and 26 (MIR) fewer days on benefits than an equivalent group of JSA claimants.

They also spent more time in work than the control group: 9 days for CWP and 11 days for MIR participants.