Long-term unemployment is a big problem for the UK, both for the government and for the individual. The solution is unlikely to be one the government wishes to consider: invest money in improving the skills of job centre staff. Some people argue that providing welfare benefits makes unemployed people less motivated to find work. Other people, mostly outside the government, think that not enough is done to provide the help needed to get people into work. Neither side is right. Unemployed people are all different: some really want to work and would do so if they had help; others are content to live on benefits. We have to steer away from one-size-fits-all solutions and tailor the approach to the individual. But this needs much higher levels of skilled staff than job centres currently have.