GETTING the long-term unemployed back to work is an issue that has vexed governments for decades.

Oxfordshire’s 17,000 jobless – 4.6 per cent of working age people – rank below England’s rate of 7.8 per cent for the 12 months from April 2012.

The Government this month heralded a 0.2 per cent drop in unemployment from March to May, meaning 2.51 million are out of work, down 57,000 on the previous three months.

Yet 915,000 people in the UK have been looking for work for at least 12 months, the highest number since 1996.

Helping people, many of whom have never worked, is a major task for a coalition government fighting Britain’s economic problems.

To this end it set up the Work Programme in June 2011 with a classic piece of Conservativism – giving 18 private companies the job and telling them they would get paid up to £3,500 a person only if they stayed in work, though the firms get a “small” payment upfront.

Help includes job searching, help with CVs, counselling for people with mental health problems and computer courses.

Labour branded it a “failure” after figures showed only 132,000 people – 13.4 per cent – were still in work after six months, or three months for those who are hardest to help.

Oxfordshire was little different: only 690 people out of 4,960, a total 13.9 per cent, had a job after six months.

East Oxford Labour MP Andrew Smith said: “The figures are very disappointing.

“They need to look at whether unemployed people are being put on the programme, whether their skill levels are matching what employers need.”

A4e (Action for Employment) Ltd is a training company that had a number of contracts with the Department of Work and Pensions but was the subject of a fraud investigation in 2012.

The DWP terminated a contract in the South East for mandatory work placements last May, although no evidence of fraud was found.

One Oxfordshire job seeker who used the scheme felt it was not helpful. Louise (not her real name) said she would have been better off looking for a job herself after spending six months from October 2012 being helped by A4e to find a supermarket job.

The 27-year-old mum-of-one – out of work after an accident – said: “It was not very effective; they didn’t really help me much. My adviser was the one with the most people and never spent much time with me.

“They never went through my CV with me, I had to update it myself at Crisis.”

That charity – Crisis Skylight – has been scathing of the Work Programme.

Chief executive Leslie Morphy said: “The Work Programme has been a huge disappointment for too many homeless people.

“It has taken them no closer to what they really want: a better life through work. The support has been minimal.”

Paul Farmer, chief executive of mental health charity Mind, said: “There is too little specialist support, too much focus on mandating people to undertake activities rather than addressing real barriers they face.”

But Conservative Banbury MP Sir Tony Baldry said Oxfordshire’s wealth of highly-skilled jobs posed a challenge for long-term jobless and stressed the programme was only part of the solution.

He said: “Whenever I go and see businesses in Bicester and Banbury their main concern is their need to recruit people with the necessary skills.

“I think we have a mismatch in those who are out of work. They need to get back to work, but to do so they need to aquire skills and qualifications.”