Just one in eight people placed on Government's flagship back to work scheme have found a lasting role Just one in eight people placed on the Government's flagship employment scheme has been found a lasting job, official figures revealed yesterday. Of the 1.2 million people who have started on the Work Programme since it was launched in June 2011, only 132,000 have had a job lasting more than six months - just 11 per cent of the total. But the Department for Work and Pensions insisted the true headline employment figure was 13 per cent rather than 11, as 118,000 people had not been on the scheme long enough to qualify as having had a lasting job. One in eight of those on the Work Programme have found jobs lasting more than six months The scheme, which has been personally championed by the Prime Minister, pays private sector firms such as A4e and G4S to find jobs for the long term unemployed. Employment Minister Mark Hoban insisted the figures represented a "significant improvement" in the performance of the £5 billion scheme to get the long-term unemployed back to work. In its first year it found jobs for just 2.3 per cent of people. The Department for Work and Pensions acknowledged that the scheme had missed all of its "minimum performance levels." But officials said it was "very close" to meeting its main targets on finding jobs for the long-term unemployed. Figures for those on Employment and Support Allowance remain very low. The DWP also insisted that the headline employment figure was 13 per cent rather than 11, as 118,000 had not been on the scheme long enough to qualify as having had a lasting job. Mr Hoban said the worst performing providers would have some of their "clients" transferred to firms that are doing a better job in finding work. Providers running schemes in 12 parts of the country will be warned they will lose their contracts completely unless they up their game in the next four months. But Labour claimed the new figures showed the scheme was failing. Shadow Work and Pensions Secretary Liam Byrne called on ministers to change course. Mr Byrne said: "The Work Programme is still failing and failing badly. Three years into the parliament it's failed over a million people. Worst of all, the government missed every single one of its minimum targets and in nearly half the country, the Work Programme is literally worse than doing nothing. The figures came just 24 hours after Chancellor George Osborne warned of the need for a "hard-headed assessment of under-performing programmes" at the DWP. The DWP said it was unfair to compare the total number of people placed on the Work Programme with the number found a job, as many had only been on it for a short time. Under the terms of the Work Programme, people have to be found work lasting at least six months to qualify as a "job outcome." Those on ESA have to be found just three months" work to qualify. Officials also stressed that the companies involved in the Work Programme do not receive their main payment unless someone is found a long-term job. Jim Bligh of the CBI said: "These figures show a significant improvement in the performance of the Work Programme, which has helped over a hundred thousand long-term unemployed people into sustained employment. Performance in supporting the hardest to help jobseekers needs to improve, but these people have significant barriers to work which take time to address.