‘Targets came from the top’

INSTITUTIONAL pressure to cut people’s benefits and meet government targets is endemic within Jobcentre Plus, according to a former employee.

According to the anonymous Oldham resident, who worked at Jobcentre Plus for eight years until 2004, malpractice revealed in the Chronicle on December 10 is just the tip of the iceberg.

Staff are under constant pressure to meet targets at the expense of the interests of the jobseeker - with clients treated like “stock in a cattle market.”

Chairs have been thrown at exposed members of staff and one disgruntled client returned to the office and fired an air rifle after being told his benefits would be cut.

The former employee said targets are imposed from above, depending on the aims of the acting Government. She laughed off claims from Ian Duncan Smith that those at the top are unaware of these practices.

She said: “The targets came directly from the top, with letters arriving from the Department for Work and Pensions and even letters signed by the Prime Minister’s office.

“I still know a lot of people who work at Jobcentre Plus now and they tell me nothing has changed since I was there. So when I hear Ian Duncan Smith saying he is unaware, it makes me laugh, because I know the instructions come from his department.

“Everything was dictated by targets and when new job figures were published they would make us sign people off benefits so they didn’t count but then two weeks later they would be claiming again.

“It was all to massage the figures and improve the Government’s image, people were treated as numbers not humans.

“We were told off for spending too much time with clients and anyone who wasn’t prepared to follow instructions was made to feel very uncomfortable which is why we had a constant merry-go-round of staff.

This latest outburst follows Oldham East and Saddleworth MP Debbie Abrahams questioning work and pensions minister Ian Duncan Smith and a commons select committee meeting on December 9.

Speaking at the meeting Mr Duncan Smith denied any knowledge of enforced targets or pressure to cut benefits at Jobcentre Plus.

And Mrs Abrahams has again praised the bravery of whistle-blowing staff who put themselves at risk to expose institutional malpractice.