Sign on for benefits, sign up for skills

Benefit claimants who need to improve their skills in order to get a job will have to attend training, under new proposals published in a Government welfare and skills paper, Work Skills. The move will be backed by improvements to the training system that will give adults access to a new 'skills account' to fund vocational courses. People claiming Jobseekers Allowance who have gaps in their skills will have to attend training to help them find a job.

The Government also intends to consult on making it compulsory for lone parents and people on Employment and Support Allowance to attend skills training. Work Skills also sets out how the Government will overhaul the Skills and Welfare systems in major cities. In Manchester and Birmingham the systems will be decentralised with traditional distinctions between adult training and Job Centre Plus broken down and services redesigned with the interests of individuals and employers at the centre. The Government expects these reforms to help up to 75,000 people in the Birmingham city region and 30,000 in Greater Manchester.