a week (though this does not apply to voluntary work). Part-time students can claim provided they do not have more than 16 hours a week in teacher contact time and the course is not officially designated as full-time by the college (irrespective of the number of hours of contact time). Work programmes New Deal Starting in 2001, the New Deal introduced a second stage to the claim period. Initially, there is the jobseekers agreement and allowance. If a claimant who is below the female state pension is unemployed for over twelve months, they are placed on the New Deal scheme. They may also enter the New Deal process early if they fall in special categories. From 2009, a Flexible New Deal scheme started using the private sector to provide tailored employment and skills support, with return-to-work performance incentives for the providers. In Northern Ireland the New Deal was replaced in 2008 by a similar scheme known as Steps to Work. This scheme is administered by the Department for Employment and Learning which operates Jobs & Benefits Offices jointly with the Social Security Agency. During October 2009 the New Deal programmes were replaced by the Flexible New Deal programmes, these available to claimants still unemployed after a period of twelve months. The Work Programme Work programmes ; Flexible New deal, New Deal for Young People, New Deal 25+, New Deal for Disabled people, New Deal for Lone parents, Pathways to Work, Progress2Work and Employment Zones, were replaced by The Work programme during June 2011. On 6 March 2012 the UK Government announced benefits changes for prisoners at the end of their sentence and those claiming JSA. They would be sent on the work programme, as would JSA claimants who had been claiming for the previous 26 weeks. On the work programme they must sign a form to agree to a 30 hours a week of unpaid work or face sanctions of 6 months. Unlike New Deal there is no choice of training or help setting up a business neither can the job seeker choose what type of unpaid work they do. In nearly all cases the unpaid placement involves shop work. From 2012, work placement advisors would receive £5,600 should they find work for a person leaving prison who keeps the job for two years. According to the Government, from June 2011 only 1 in 5 participants in the Work Programme