Back to work efforts by the DWP are failing dismally, according to a report by the BBC. Work coach appointments with each jobseeker last just ten minutes, the number of work coaches has been reduced and a smaller proportion of claimants are finding work each month.
Research by the BBC that has revealed that appointments are too short to be of value to jobseekers. Mark Byers, a work coach for 15 years explained:
"All appointments are 10 minutes, and once you've got through the security checks there is not much time. These short appointments mean you're just being a benefits policeman."
The number of work coaches has dropped from 23,000 in 2021 to 16,640 in August 2025, leading to the DWP to claim earlier this year that there was a shortage of staff.
Astonishingly, just a few months later the DWP now claim they have too many work coaches. But this is solely because they have shortened appointment times and reduced the number of follow-up meetings.
It’s not surprising then, that the proportion of claimants finding work each month has fallen from 10% in 2022 to 7.6% in the year to April 2025.
Work coach Saul Cahill told the BBC that, not surprisingly, people with health conditions and disabled people are often the most difficult to support into work.
One of his “really engaged” clients with long-term health conditions has been on his caseload since he started the job four years ago.
Saul says that he can’t help them as much as he would like because of time constraints.
"I might be sitting with someone who is, on paper, doing all the right things and doesn't seem to be getting any response," he says.
"I'd love to sit down with them [and] go through the job applications together, and that's not necessarily possible.
"People get very frustrated."
You can read the full report on the BBC website.
