A think-tank has argued that the Government should transfer £6bn to local government in a bid to tackle economic inactivity.
The proposal to bring employment support and adult educational services closer to potential users comes from the Social Justice Commission, a cross-party group set up by the Centre for Social Justice (CSJ).
Greater Manchester mayor Andy Burnham, who is part of the Commission, said: ‘If we want economic growth that benefits people and places, we can start by shifting power out of an overheated centre and back into the hands of local communities.
‘The current system simply doesn’t work for people, and often leaves them feeling worse, damaging confidence and self-esteem.’
A new CSJ report, Going Dutch, argues for devolving employment support and associated services based on the approach in the Netherlands, and says this could get 700,000 currently economically inactive people into work.
The report says that since 2011, the Netherlands has ‘pushed both finance and governance down to local layers of administration with great effect’, as part of a model that largely splits employment support and welfare.
It states: ‘Early government announcements around devolving employment support are absolutely the right direction of travel and this paper makes the case for almost £6bn to be devolved to the lowest level possible, so that locally embedded communities can commission the right support for the right people, from the right organisations.’
