£3 million Jobcentres fund to support homeless people

Minister for Welfare Delivery Will Quince has announced that Jobcentres across the UK are to benefit from a boost of up to £3 million to support homeless people.

The Department for Work and Pensions has said that the new funding will see jobcentre staff joining outreach teams on the streets to speak to people sleeping rough, helping them to claim their benefits, find new work, secure stable accommodation and direct them to additional support.

The funding will also be used to bolster projects jobcentres are already working on with various organisations. The government says that Jobcentre staff could also be stationed in charity run day centres to advise those who use those services, but have not yet visited a jobcentre.

Quince said: “We are determined to help anyone experiencing homelessness, and if this means getting staff out of the jobcentre to speak to people on the street directly then we will do that. There’s a huge amount of support available to help people who are homeless, but they often don’t know about the support they can access. So we’re going out and taking the help to them, through outreach programmes and closer working with homelessness charities.”

Luke Hall, Minister for Homelessness, added: “As Minister for Homelessness, it’s my priority to ensure that we reduce all forms of homelessness and rough sleeping. And while our interventions are working there is still more to do. Today’s announcement will mean homeless people get the support they need to get back on their feet and find new work.”