28 February 2008 – DWP Productivity up by 11%

Productivity at the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) is expected to have increased by around 11 per cent by the end of the current three year spending review period in March, according to a report published today.

Publishing the department’s ‘Commissioning Strategy’, James Purnell announced a much greater focus on payments by results when awarding welfare-to-work contracts to the public, private and voluntary sectors in Great Britain.

By March 2007, overall productivity had increased by around 6 per cent. The report from the DWP estimates that by the end of March 2008 it will have increased by a further 5 per cent.

Staff productivity has increased at an even greater rate. By March 2007, staff productivity had increased by 8 per cent. The report estimates that by the end of the spending review period it will have increased by around 17 per cent.

Commenting on the report, Sir Leigh Lewis, Permanent Secretary at the DWP, said:

“These figures are very encouraging. We have delivered greater headcount reductions than any other Department over this spending review period and gone through a period of major business transformation. To have increased our overall productivity by 11 per cent at the same time is a very significant achievement.”

The increase in DWP productivity follows a substantial programme of reorganisation and modernisation following the Department’s creation in 2001.

Since its creation the Department has moved away from a passive benefits paying system to a far more active approach, working intensively with claimants to help them back to work.

Notes to Editors

The report containing these figures, ‘An analysis of the productivity of the Department for Work and Pensions, 2002/03-2007/08’, can be found at: http://www.dwp.gov.uk/docs/report3939.pdf

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