Walk into a state benefits or employment office almost anywhere in the industrialised world these days and there is a good chance of hearing English spoken.

It will be in a variety of accents – Dutch, Australian, English itself or American. Yet the voices will not be those of the people claiming jobless payments but of people touting for business – the contract to move those very claimants off benefits and into work. In the space of little more than three years, these “welfare-to-work” programmes have become an international business.