Government training schemes

Government training schemes, also known as government-supported schemes, are any kind of scheme supported by the government that is intended to help the unemployed and inactive back to work. Schemes can be aimed at providing direct training for a particular job or with general help in finding work, for example, interview techniques and CV writing.

Statistics detailing the numbers of people on government schemes are of interest as they provide a measure of the number of people who have moved, or are attempting to move, closer to the labour market.

The Office for National Statistics (ONS) uses two measures of the number of people on government schemes: the Labour Force Survey (LFS) estimates and the workforce jobs estimates. The LFS relies on a respondent's answers in order to classify them as a government-supported trainee or otherwise. The workforce jobs series measures the number of government-supported trainees by using administrative records from the Department for Education and Skills (DfES).

The workforce jobs series only classifies people as government-supported trainees if they do not have a contract of employment; those with a contract are classed as employed.

The LFS questionnaire asks respondents whether they are on a government scheme before asking other questions that would classify them as having a different employment status. By LFS definitions, those on New Deal are classified as being on a government scheme, unless they are working for an employer or are receiving help setting up as self-employed.

New Deal is a government initiative aimed at helping people get back into work. It provides job-related training through a work or voluntary placement or full-time education and training. Those on a work placement may receive payments from the employer at that placement, all others receive a training allowance plus their usual benefit such as Jobseeker's Allowance.

Data are published monthly in Labour Market Trends on the numbers of people classified, according to the LFS, as being on a government-supported scheme.