As more emerges about Jérôme Kerviel, the rogue trader who apparently cost Société Générale about £3.6 billion, it would be no surprise to discover that in his spare time he helped to organise the finances for Peter Hain's bid to become the deputy leader of the Labour Party. For it has been ineptitude at handling money - on an admittedly much smaller scale - that has ensured that instead of launching a package of welfare reforms today aimed at getting the unemployed back into work, the former Work and Pensions Secretary finds himself among them.

As a result, James Purnell, his successor, and Andy Burnham, who has taken over at the Department for Culture, Media and Sport, suddenly find themselves in the spotlight. They have assumed the role of “likely lads” for Gordon Brown, much as Stephen Byers and Alan Milburn did in Tony Blair's first term in office (this might not be considered a wholly encouraging precedent). Mr Byers and Mr Milburn acquired that title virtually a decade ago because they were of a similar age and political outlook, represented seats in the North East of England and were friends as well as colleagues. Mr Purnell and Mr Burnham are even closer by birthdate (born only two months apart in 1970) and it is the Greater Manchester constituency connection that binds them together.

Mr Purnell's shift from Culture, Media and Sport to Work and Pensions is thought a sizeable promotion since he now heads a much bigger department. If so, then it is rather like being a German officer in 1944 who, having previously been asked to oversee Denmark, finds himself in command on the Eastern Front. As of last Wednesday, Mr Purnell could look forward to the Baftas, attending swanky art exhibitions in London and endless Premiership matches. He is now condemned to a life of touring benefit offices and berating scroungers. If this is promotion, he is entitled to muse, what on earth does Mr Brown do to youthful stars whose careers he has determined to sideline?

Yet, starting today, Mr Purnell has to tackle what has been one of new Labour's primary examples of unfinished business. While the Government's record on boosting employment is sound, welfare reform has been more of a refrain than a solid achievement. This is, by my count, perhaps the 12th such initiative in the field since 1997.

The combination of seeking to make the unemployed more employable by improving their skills and at the same time clamping down on the lazy and feckless is all too familiar. It comes after the Tories have sought to occupy this territory, although the most prominent part of their prospectus - that is, removing benefits from those who have turned down three decent job offers - would have affected no more than 500 people in 2007.

The need for fundamental welfare reform is going to become more pressing. If the impending economic slowdown proves to be as serious as recent events have suggested it might be, then Labour will be faced by rising, not falling, unemployment. If the damage is to be limited, then Mr Purnell and his team have to extract the maximum possible value from matching those who are on the dole to a probably diminishing number of vacancies. The new Work and Pensions Secretary is considered to be a Blairite by intellectual inclination. If so, then he has to be much bolder in bringing in the private sector to make welfare a springboard as well as a safety net. For instance, the business of matching unemployed people to suitable jobs could be handed

over entirely to private sector companies. Swift and decisive action is necessary in case outright recession overwhelms the Brown Government.

In a sense, Mr Burnham's task at Mr Purnell's old haunt has its parallels. Both of them need to send the right signals, in Mr Burnham's case on a piece of business that is less unfinished than barely begun, namely the fate of the BBC licence fee.

It is very unfortunate that Mr Purnell's switch within the Cabinet came just days after he had made the best and bravest speech of any Culture Secretary in the Labour era. Addressing a media conference in Oxford, he departed from his script to assert that the method by which the BBC is subsidised is the “huge elephant in the room” and then spoke sympathetically of the option of “topslicing”- that is, allowing stations other than the Beeb to bid for a share of the licence fee for public service broadcasting.

This did not get a euphoric reception from his audience. Indeed, many of them would have been less horrified if he had simply stayed silent and stripped naked on stage. It was heresy, and condemned so by The Guardian, which on subjects such as these is rather like the BBC's inhouse magazine Ariel, except less critical of the corporation. This lobby will hope that once Mr Purnell is wandering around job centres rather than media meetings, topslicing will return to being one of the few words that Auntie would not allow to be heard on air after the watershed. Heart will be taken because Mr Burnham was once the special adviser to Chris Smith when he was Culture Secretary, Smith being the man who let the licence fee be inflated further.

The challenge for Mr Burnham is to make it plain that he will be as radical as his predecessor. It is absolutely absurd that a modern party of the centre Left can accept what is effectively a poll tax on television sets, or acquiesce in the fantasy that the BBC is uniquely capable of creating material of the highest calibre. But if Mr Burnham acts he will be no more popular with luvvies then Mr Purnell might be praised by layabouts.

Both of the likely lads, if they press on with real change, may come to regret their new appointments. They should be prepared to plough ahead regardless. And they should look on the bright side. At least they have not been asked to serve as Mr Kerviel's replacement.

Times Recommends

• It’s the beginning of the affair
• Afghanistan: still a price worth paying
• Heroes of the downtrodden