The Shaw Trust has been awarded two of the six prime contracts for the Department for Work and Pensions’ latest welfare-to-work programme.
DWP announced last week the successful bidders for its Work and Health Programme (WHP)’s six regional contracts, two of which were awarded to the Shaw Trust.
The Shaw Trust, the only charity to be awarded any of the contracts, will service the Central England and Home Counties regions.
According to DWP's tender specification, the provisional values for the five-year contracts the Shaw Trust has now been awarded is £135.6m.
The department said it would reveal the full details of the contracts “in due course”.
Roy O’Shaughnessy, chief executive of the Shaw Trust, said: “We are pleased that our community-focused delivery model, which aims to integrate employment and wellbeing support for Work and Health Programme customers, has been well received by our commissioner.
“Shaw Trust is now looking forward to working with our delivery partners, DWP, local authorities and other local stakeholders to make the Work and Health Programme a success.”
Meanwhile, the North East contract was awarded to Reed In Partnership, the North West tender to Ingeus, the Southern contract to Pluss and the Wales contract to Remploy.
Commissioning for services in Greater Manchester and London has been devolved to the respective regions. The winners of these tenders have not yet been announced.
The WHP, which replaces the larger Work Programme, is due to open this year and will provide specialised support for people unemployed for over two years and, on a voluntary basis, to those with health conditions or disabilities.
The Government expects that the majority of people referred to the WHP will be disabled.
A DWP spokesperson said: “The WHP will use the expertise of private, public and voluntary and community sector providers to deliver sustained employment for disabled people, disadvantaged groups and the long term unemployed.”
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