Britain’s biggest employment programme for decades is being launched today to provide tailored support for hundreds of thousands of long-term benefit claimants.

The Work Programme, part of the Government’s drive to tackle long term unemployment and benefit dependency, will be delivered by local private and voluntary sector organisations.

They will be given the freedom to be innovative and provide the right help for each individual and be paid by results.

More than 89,000 people in Yorkshire have spent the last ten years claiming at least one of the three main out of work benefits.

Across the country just over one million people of working age have spent at least ten years continuously claiming some form of Jobseeker’s Allowance, Incapacity Benefit or Income Support.

The new two-year programme aims to put an end to the cycle of people undergoing short-term training and then returning to the dole queue by continuing to support job-seekers after they have found employment.

Employment Minister Chris Grayling said: “With the right help thousands of people could be making a contribution to the economy.

“The Work Programme will start helping people now, giving them the support they need, when they need it and will ensure that people who can work are supported properly to do so.” The Work Foundation said the new scheme would do little to improve job prospects for people living in economically weaker areas of the UK as it would be difficult for private contractors to deliver the programme at a profit in some parts of the country.