Work Programme
- Not to be confused with the Work Choice scheme
The Work Programme was the 'flagship' welfare-to-work scheme of the 2010-2015 coalition government. The Work Programme was a government welfare-to-work programme introduced in Great Britain in June 2011. Under the Work Programme the task of getting the long-term unemployed into work was outsourced to a range of public sector, private sector and third sector organisations. The scheme replaced a range of schemes which existed under previous New Labour governments including Employment Zones, New Deal, Flexible New Deal and the now abolished Future Jobs Fund scheme which aimed to tackle youth unemployment. Despite being the 'flagship' welfare-to-work scheme of the Conservative-led coalition government, and then the incumbent Conservative government from May 2015, the DWP announced in November 2015 that it was replacing the Work Programme and Work Choice with a new Work and Health Programme for the longer-term unemployed and those with health conditions. The DWP also announced that it would not be renewing Mandatory Work Activity and Help to Work which included 'Community Work Placements'.