You asked
I picked up that you had a request back in 2016 prior to introduction of UC (see below) to help inform our London Recovery and given concern that long term unemployed will be forgotten in the current climate.
I would like:
1. An updated position on that highlighted below
2. Your new definition and measure for long term unemployment
3. A breakdown by Borough and LSOA.
4. Your policy position on working with long term unemployed – principal policy interventions – e.g. Work & Health Programme.
https://www.ons.gov.uk/aboutus/transparencyandgovernance/freedomofinformationfoi/longtermunemployment
We said
Thank you for your request.
Unfortunately, our position is unchanged.
Meaningful statistics on long-term unemployment would still be dependent on using Claimant Count information from benefit statistics as a proxy.
The Department for Work Place (DWP) still remain unable to provide us with appropriate information from Universal Credit for us to produce duration estimates for the Claimant Count, so, unfortunately, we still do not have any suitable estimates of long-term unemployment at a local level.
Regarding the final point, we are not responsible for any policy or for working with long-term unemployed. The Department for Work and Pensions may be better placed to help with this. They can be contacted via email at freedom-of-information-request@dwp.gov.uk.