Southwark Works moves to a mixed model in July 2027, with triage and employer contacts run by the council. 39% of clients who finish a plan get a job.

Southwark Council has approved a rebuild of Southwark Works, the employment support programme it has run since 2004. The decision was signed on 28 August and comes into force on 8 September.

The new arrangement starts in July 2027. Under it the council takes the front door of the service in-house: finding clients, assessing them, deciding where to send them, and holding the relationships with employers. Specialist support stays with outside organisations, but on the council’s terms.

The decision was taken by the Executive Member for Inclusive Economy, Equalities and Democracy, and the record of decision gives a call-in deadline of 7 September. No call-in had been registered when we checked on 3 September.

What the review found

An internal review ran from January to June 2026 and reported that the service works, with qualifications. The officer report sets out the performance evidence over the most recent contract term:

  • 39% of clients who completed an action plan got a job
  • 60% of those who got a job were still in work after 26 weeks
  • 25% of clients completing a plan also gained accredited training

The problems it identified are about the shape of the service rather than the quality of the advice. The report lists variation in what happens to people after their first assessment, inconsistent follow-up, “fragmented” employer engagement, and a delivery network complex enough that partner organisations were not sure who did what.

Employers told the review they wanted better candidate matching. Residents told it that support which felt generic or hard to reach made them drop out.

Three options, and the money behind the choice

Officers set out three models: keep the current structure with fewer contracts, bring everything in-house, or run a mixed model. The mixed model was recommended and approved. A fully in-house service was rejected as “not viable within current resource constraints”.

That constraint is visible in the funding table published with the report. Discretionary money the council controls falls from £2.145m this year to £1m of confirmed funding next year, because the General Fund contribution beyond 2026-27 has not yet been set. The largest single grant, the Department for Work and Pensions Connect to Work programme, falls from £2.6m in 2027-28 to £700,000 in 2029-30.

Funding available to Southwark Works by year, 2026-27 to 2029-30 Stacked bar chart of confirmed funding. 2026-27 totals 4.889 million pounds, of which 2.145 million is council discretionary money and 2.744 million is restricted government grant. 2027-28 totals 4.103 million, 1 million council and 3.103 million grant. 2028-29 totals 3.545 million, 1 million council and 2.545 million grant. 2029-30 totals 1.7 million, 1 million council and 700,000 grant. The council General Fund line is unset after 2026-27. Confirmed money for Southwark Works falls by two thirds by 2029-30 Funding committed to the programme as set out in Table 4 of the council's report. The General Fund line is unset after 2026-27, so later years may rise. Council (S106 and General Fund) Restricted government grant £5m £4m £3m £2m £1m £0 £4.889m 2026-27 £4.103m 2027-28 £3.545m 2028-29 £1.700m 2029-30 Source: Southwark Council, Southwark Works: future delivery, Table 4, decision of 28 August 2026. Graphic by Dulwich Today
The 2026-27 bar is the only one with a General Fund figure in it. Later years show what is committed today, not a final budget.

The full table for each year runs:

  • Council, Section 106 developer contributions: £1.5m, then £1m a year to 2029-30
  • Council, General Fund: £645,000 this year, then unset
  • DWP Connect to Work: £2.5m, £2.6m, £2m, £700,000
  • DWP and DHSC WorkWell, via South East London ICB: £194,000, £503,000, £545,000, then nothing
  • DWP Youth Guarantee Trailblazer: £50,000 this year only

The report says £5,445,274 of Section 106 employment and skills money was available at the start of this financial year, and that General Fund commitments will be confirmed in the budget process in early 2027. That is the same process that sets council tax bands.

Fixed-term jobs, because the money is

Running the mixed model needs new council posts. All of them will be fixed-term, because Section 106 money is variable, and the report says any redundancies at the end of the funding period will be handled under the council’s existing policies. Strategic management, commissioning and contract work will be absorbed by the existing Local Economy team.

What it means for you

Nothing changes yet. The current service and its provider network carry on until July 2027, and the report promises “extensive further engagement” with existing providers and community organisations before then.

If you need the service now, Southwark Works is open to any Southwark resident looking for work or a change of direction. It covers CV writing, application forms, interview practice, training courses, apprenticeships and referrals to debt and benefits advice. There is a council page explaining what it offers, and the report confirms hubs in Walworth and Peckham.

Two things are worth watching. The first is whether the General Fund line returns in the 2027 budget, because without it the council’s own contribution halves. The second is which parts of the service end up commissioned out: the report says that split has not been decided, and that work starts now.

If you want to object, the route is a call-in by councillors, and that window closes on 7 September.

Sources