Finding critics of Iain Duncan Smith and his welfare reforms is not difficult, despite the statistics that suggest that some of them have broad levels of support. Many of these changes have only just begun to take affect or are waiting in the wings and as I have written previously there has been no robust modelling to understand the extent to which these various changes will interact with one another in the lives of those affected. There are signs of some unplanned challenges already emerging in the parts of the employment system that has not been prepared for the consequences. These may be isolated examples but the risk is that crisis is emerging in ways that have not been anticipated. Neither of these should be seen as more pressing than the personal challenges that are leading 1000’s of people to approach food banks for the first time, and families staying hungry for long periods. However they are nevertheless concerning.

The first is the impact of pressing benefit claimaints to provide evidence of job seeking activity. Whilst on the surface this is not unreasonable and it is one of the measures that has wide levels of support, the tide may be turning. At a meeting a few days ago I heard from a small organisation which has done a great deal to help people find work and is helping to regenerate a deprived part of East Sussex. Knowing that the audience included a number of statutory agencies including potentially Job Centre Plus (they were not present) they pleaded that claimants are not pressured to apply for jobs that they have no chance of securing. The old adage of “activity being the only means of overcoming adversity” is not proving to be helpful to this organisation, as they sift through 100’s of ill matched applications for one or two posts low paid posts. If small organisations that do possess the skills to support and new entrants to the job market are becoming frustrated in their actions, the risk is that other companies will adopt different approaches to avoid being deluged with applicants that they judge to be unhelpful.

The second challenge is yet to take effect but it is clear that it will create challenges on a huge scale. Last week I attended a meeting at a local Job Centre. The area claimants attend for interviews and assessments was already busy. There was a quieter area which included a set of computers, that are used when job seekers are searching on line for work. This area is likely to become a great deal busier. Although the changes that George Osborne announced during the Conservative Party Conference are not due to be introduced until next year for all claimants, the need to spend a proportion of the working week in the job centre or on similar activity is about to become a reality for new claimants. If this happens without providing the human and technical resources to match the demand, there could be a lot of frustrated job seekers. The same prospect of a bottle neck exist in other places where diversionary activity is needed to help prepare claimants to experience the daily activity which many of us experience as we go about our working day. The charities and social enterprises which will be needed to make this offer a reality are not yet prepared for this increased demand.

These are two examples where political rhetoric is clashing with organisational or social reality. If DWP Ministers are not interested in visiting foodbanks, there is very little prospect of them taking the time to listen to small organisations that are creaking under the weight of unwarranted applications or the security guards overseeing soon to be chaotic queues for computers in job centres. What started as good ideas in the head offices of the DWP in Tothill Street in London is beginning to unravel in small organisations across the country and will soon be creating problems in 100’s of job centres!