Jobcentre Plus and National Careers Service: Merger

Baroness Spielman Excerpts

Thursday 10th September 2026 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Sherlock (Lab)]

My Lords, I hope people would not just be turned away. We will always prioritise resources for those who need them most. One of the great things about the new service is that there are lots of different ways to get help. For example, those who are already in touch with the DWP because they are on benefits will have a work coach, but the work coach will now find it easier and more seamless in the journey for them to be referred on to help. We have also created the work hub, a brilliant new set of digital tools which allows people to use all kind of things—not only CV builders but AI tools to enable them to find a job, putting in their particular skills and challenges. But there are categories of people who at the moment are not covered by any of these things, and we will make sure they get the support they need. The aim is to make sure you can phone up a helpline or get help online. If you need particular kinds of help, you will get the help you need.

[Baroness Spielman (Con)]

My Lords, could the Minister address the part of the Question relating to the costs of completing this merger?

[Baroness Sherlock (Lab)]

I said in opening that the outsourced part of the current service, which is merging into the DWP, costs £40 million. As I explained, the final cost of that will depend on two things. We are in the middle of the process, where the staff who work for the various contractors at the moment are going through the TUPE process to work out whether they come over to us. The final cost will depend on how many of them do. It will also ultimately depend on how we choose to shape that service; we are not simply going to replicate what is there now. At the moment, for example, some careers advisers spend a lot of time helping customers to build up a CV. We have lots of tools available now which can do the CV building for you, so we really want people to use those skills to work more directly with people to find out what they need and what their aspirations and skills are, and to develop them. There should be savings in some aspects of efficiencies, but the aim in the end is a better service. What we need now is to get people into work, whatever their challenges are. This is part of that enterprise and we are going to do it.