Job centre overhaul outlined by government

The number of unemployed people in the UK is almost 2.5 million

The government has outlined plans to modernise job centres to help more people find work in the recession.

The plans involve making better use of technology such as text messaging and the internet to communicate with job seekers.

The changes follow criticism that job centres have not responded well to the rising number of people who have lost their jobs during the downturn.

Latest figures show that 2.46 million people in the UK are unemployed.

Broadband access

CASE STUDY David Hall, computer aided design draughtsman Mr Hall was made redundant when the engineering firm he worked for went out of business during the recession. He went to a job centre to help him find work. "They weren't very clued up about what my role was. When I explained that I was a draughtsman who does technical drawing using a computer, they said: 'What exactly is that? What the hell is a grassman?' "They tried to find me a position in retail and sales and working in shops, which is not really me." Ask the expert: Employment and redundancy

The proposals include helping people get online to perform most of their day-to-day job searching using their own personalised web page.

The page would allow job seekers to find jobs specifically suited to them, and allow them to track benefit claims.

The plans also outlined a "technologies budget" to help some people get connected to broadband at home.

Job centre advisers will also be able to send out text messages about new jobs, and reminders about interviews and appointments.

Personalised service

The proposals also outline individual budgets that people can allocate towards various training and development options.

"We've got a service that works pretty well for the people it was designed to help," Employment Minister Jim Knight told the BBC.

"But with almost a doubling in the number of people coming through the door, we've got a much bigger range of people coming in, with different sorts of skills."

Mr Knight said the service was getting more than half of people into work within three months, but that it needed to be "more personalised and more universal".

The plans will be formally outlined in a government White Paper later this month.