The newly merged, Help the Aged and Age Concern charity is calling on Yvette Cooper, the new Work and Pensions Secretary, to delay – and rethink - the Government’s Welfare Reform Plans.

The charity says that imposing benefit sanctions on those who fail to find work within a certain time frame – one of the provisions in the Welfare Reform Bill currently going through Parliament - is wrong when new research they’ve commissioned has shown that older jobseekers are being let down JobCentre Plus (JC+). 

According to the report, despite the Government’s additional £1.3 billion investment in JC+, there are a number of serious failings in its services which are hindering the efforts of older jobseekers (those aged 50+) in getting back into work. The failings identified by their research include:

• Basic support such as CV writing training and interview techniques are not routinely offered by Job CentrePlus, despite many older people being unfamiliar with modern job search methods.
• Schemes set up to specifically help older people back into employment such as New Deal 50+ were not systematically offered and the assistance available was not explained.
• Advisors can lack appreciation of older workers experience, skills or qualifications and instead can push them towards low paid and low skilled jobs.
• Respondents feel their age means training and the opportunity to update their skills are not offered.
• Computerised systems and short one-to-one interviews prevent advisors taking a personal approach to helping people into suitable jobs and then only straightforward job searches are carried out.

The Charity says that in addition to these barriers, ageist attitudes still remain a huge hurdle for older workers to jump. Many older people still feel the chance of finding new employment is limited because employers simply don’t want to take on someone in their 50s. 

As a result of the report and other evidence, the charity is highlighting serious concerns about the impact of the reforms on 50 plus job-seekers – and it is calling for an exemption from sanctions for this group until the Government produces further evidence on exactly how they will impact on older workers and strengthens the support available to them.