Labour is planning a radical overhaul of jobseeking in the UK by promising to hand major powers to local authorities and turning jobcentres into hubs for skills training and advice for would-be entrepreneurs. The party is also considering allowing universal credit claimants to undertake far more comprehensive programmes of study and training opportunities while continuing to claim benefits. The policy is likely to be adopted based on two key reports by Gordon Brown and David Blunkett, which will the building blocks for Labour’s manifesto offer. Alison McGovern, the shadow employment minister, said there was very little engagement from the Department for Work and Pensions about how jobcentres could match the local skills needed, and that local authorities were best placed to overhaul what employment support was on offer. “To grow our economy, every place needs an economic plan. We want to grow the economy across the country and make sure everybody feels the benefit. You cannot do that without local places being in the lead,” McGovern said. “At the moment, too much of DWP’s policy is made in a high-handed way from Whitehall, whereas we want to learn the lesson from the places that do it best and make sure every place has a really good plan for jobs for all its people.” Brown’s Commission on the UK’s Future said the devolution of Jobcentre Plus should mean they become a hub for local employers – open to those looking to upskill, re-enter the workplace later in life or after childcare responsibilities, or start businesses and resources for civil society, trade union and private sector support. It said that health services should have closer connections to job support and they should be data hubs for local market information. Blunkett’s learning and skills report also recommends funding people to study with agreed providers and that the DWP “should allow people to study full or part-time, whilst on benefits for an agreed course”. Under the current system, there are limits on the ability of people to train and study and continue to receive universal credit. Many experts have cited the requirement for people to spend a minimum amount of time each week looking for work, which limits the ability for full-time skills training or study. A study by the Work Foundation this year found many universal credit claimants voicing frustration that they were not being signposted to adequate training to allow them to build long-term careers in sectors. In cases where people were able to undertake part-time training, most of those cited in the study said they were still having to spend between 16 and 35 hours each week looking for work so they could keep receiving benefits. McGovern, the MP for Wirral South, said that it was self-evidently wrong that people were being penalised for wanted to improve their skills. She said that top-down scripts delivered to work coaches from Whitehall would never be flexible enough to match local skills gaps or help people into long-term skilled jobs. “My frustration is that DWP doesn’t engage in the conversations at all about the big initiatives that are happening between councils, skills centres or big developers. All their policies are set by Whitehall. The conversations people have with work coaches are all driven by Westminster,” she said. McGovern, a former Southwark councillor, said councils were often already building their own initiatives to try to bridge the gap locally. “It’s not the jobcentre sitting with skills centres or employers working out who might fit where. Southwark council have created a whole new body – Southwark Works – to backfill what DWP should be doing. “We should empower local authorities to look at what the opportunities are – every sector has labour shortages – and let towns and cities work it out.”