The Public Value Award Shortlist

eTeam, Jobcentre Plus

During the economic downturn Jobcentre Plus has played a key role in helping the unemployed into work. A key intervention is a fortnightly review where a customer meets with a Jobcentre adviser to support the customer in securing employment.

South East Wales Business Operations Tool (SEWBOT) is an office diary management system that manages these appointments. SEWBOT also provides management information, enabling managers to spot trends and ensure resources are utilised efficiently.

Prior to SEWBOT, offices either used a basic spreadsheet or a paper-based diary system. SEWBOT requires significantly less management resource than the previous alternatives, it also provides better functionality, meaning appointments can be managed better; that is, fewer advisers can interview more customers.

SEWBOT was developed and implemented in Wales by Dan Harris of the eTeam. Without Dan Harris SEWBOT would not exist, and without the eTEam, the SEWBOT rollout across Wales, Scotland and England would not have been effective.

Following SEWBOT’s early development there have been changes to the way of working and SEWBOT has been updated to reflect these – the latest being to give managers a picture of how many customers individual advisers have helped into work on a real-time basis.

Based on initial work done by a Lean team in Wales, savings to Jobcentre Plus are estimated at £10m per year.