Sharp Drop in Success Rate of Government Work Experience Scheme Raises Questions

A sharp decline in the employment rate among participants of a government-backed work experience initiative has cast doubt on its efficacy and value for taxpayer money. The Sector-based Work Academy Programmes, known as Swaps, are designed to help over-16s receiving unemployment benefits secure jobs by offering six-week placements and a guaranteed job interview upon completion.

New data released by the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) reveal that just 37 percent of participants were earning a wage six months after starting a Swap placement in January 2025. This is a marked decrease from the 55.6 percent recorded in April 2021, when the programme’s outcomes were first published. The downward trend in job conversions has raised fresh scrutiny of the scheme’s ability to address worklessness, especially among young people.

John McDonough, founder of Recro Consulting, was critical of the scheme’s scope. He observed that Swaps are “not sophisticated,” serving only those who are already close to employment, and argued that “most of it is quite insecure work.” McDonough noted that the guaranteed job interview, a central tenet of the programme, “often doesn’t happen, or it becomes a tick-box exercise.”

The Swaps initiative is part of the government’s broader strategy to tackle a post-pandemic surge in economic inactivity, with a particular focus on the growing number of young people not in education, employment, or training (Neet). According to the latest figures from the Office for National Statistics, there were 948,000 Neets aged 16 to 24 in the three months to June 2025.

Young adults aged 20 to 24 represent the largest group within Swaps, with 66,870 from this cohort participating since April 2021. Stephen Evans, chief executive at the Learning and Work Institute, acknowledges the scheme’s benefit in providing skills and experience aligned with local job markets. Yet he cautions that the abundance of government programmes can cause confusion for both jobseekers and employers.

Originating in 2011 as sector-based work academies and relaunched in 2020 under Boris Johnson’s Plan for Jobs, the programme now sees only around 40 percent of participants obtaining work afterwards. While participants reportedly earn an average of £1,400 more than non-participants, the question of whether the scheme offers true value for money remains unresolved in the absence of independent evaluation. The government has nonetheless committed to supporting a record 100,000 new Swap starts this year.