History
Following the announcement in the Pre-Budget report in December 2004, DWP began trialling the placement of employment advisers in GP surgeries. Similar schemes run by the private and voluntary sector indicated that outreach schemes of this type offer a method of contacting Incapacity Benefit customers who may not otherwise visit a Jobcentre.
The Pathways Advisory Service (PAS) began in February 2006 in the following areas:
- Gateshead
- East Lancashire
- Dorset and Somerset
- Highlands, Islands, Clyde Coast and Grampian
- Bridgend, Rhondda, Cynon, Taf
All five pilot areas became live in June 2006. Initial registrations to the PAS indicated that the gateway model attracted IB and SSP customers, offering advice that allowed them to move on to the Pathways to Work programme
The PAS has been evaluated and the report can now be downloaded here.
Expansion of the PAS
A ministerial announcement on 27 November 2007 in support of the National Strategy for Mental Health and Work committed the Department to an expansion of PAS. Five further sites were added and became fully operational at the end of October 2008. These sites are located in:
- Greater Manchester Central
- Merseyside
- South West Wales
- Tees Valley and
- Staffordshire
The added resource has allowed for two additional full-time advisers allocated to the expansion areas and three more advisers in the original pilot sites. There are now five sites with two full-time advisers:
Greater Manchester Central, Tees Valley, Cumbria and Lancashire (formally East Lancashire), Dorset and Somerset, and Highlands, Islands, Clyde Coast and Grampian.
The remaining sites have one full-time adviser.
In the news
The PAS has been widely reported in the specialist GP press, national press highlighting Ministerial visits and in DWP publications.
Press article
E-newsletter