§ Mr. Malcolm BruceTo ask the Secretary of State for Employment in what way the pay or additional remuneration of employment service client advisers is related to the number or proportion of new or existing claimants whose applications for benefits payments are turned down or scaled back; and what direct link there is between client adviser remuneration and success in placing clients in work. [17818]
§ Miss WiddecombeResponsibility for the subject of the question has been delegated to the Employment Service Agency under its chief executive. I have asked him to arrange for a reply to be given.
Letter from M. E. G. Fogden to Mr. Malcolm Bruce, dated 4 April 1995:
The Secretary of State has asked me to reply to your question about the extent to which the pay of Employment Service (ES) Client Advisers is related to the number of claimants whose applications for benefits payments are turned down or scaled back; and whether there is any direct link between Client Adviser remuneration and their success in placing clients in work.Client Advisers are paid within a salary range which reflects the responsibilities of their posts. In keeping with Government policy, that pay and reward systems in the public sector should demonstrate a regular and direct link between a person's contribution to standards of service delivered and their reward, annual performance pay awards are determined by an individual's performance against a range of annual objectives.The ES's overall operational objectives are set out in an Annual Performance Agreement and are translated into standards of performance which are set for Local Offices. An individual Client Adviser's objectives cover a range of expected outcomes, including placing clients into work and ensuring the accurate and timely payment of benefits, to those clients who meet the conditions for receiving them. Their objectives therefore contribute to the delivery of the Local Office standards of service, and hence the overall objectives of the ES, as set out in the Annual Performance Agreement.Performance against those objectives is reviewed regularly and assessed annually, resulting in an Overall Performance Mark which reflects the degree to which an individual has exceeded, met, or not met the full range of objectives that they have been set.In arriving at an overall assessment of a Client Advisers performance, no single objective is given greater prominence. It is therefore not possible to draw a direct correlation between the pay a Client Adviser receives and the number of clients whose applications for benefits payments are turned down, or scaled back, nor their success in placing clients in work.I hope this is helpful.