Parking and those who 'fail'
The Programme can refer people to outside courses or treatments - perhaps for literacy, numeracy, mental ill-health or substance abuse - but funds have to be found. Such payments are not the responsibility of Programme providers. I remember an older job-seeker bitterly frustrated by his provider's refusal to support an application for funding for the construction industry's certification test, the CSCS, though younger people had been funded. Two other people, both severely socially phobic, were told to find and attend respectively mental health counselling and literacy classes, but no free one-to-one provision was available locally. These people were 'parked', their providers opting not to put effort into them. Responsibility for failure to achieve rested with them: until they could resource their own training or treatment, the Programme would give no further help. To be ignored may be better than being directed to unmanageable activities, but where 'support' is promised, 'a phone call once a month' - as described by one witness to the TSRC - counts as rejection.
Where they're available, treatment or courses can be positive. TSRC gives a valuable set of insights from providers, one of whom speaks of people "being referred onto, say, drug and alcohol services who will be working with them and until they have their condition managed then you can’t work with them. So there might be a perception of parking because it’s taking longer." Fair enough. Provided effective, sustained treatment is provided.
