WIREDGOV

Six months since the Welsh Government launched its Lift programme, 500 training and employment opportunities have been provided to people from households where no-one is in work. 

Minister for Communities and Tackling Poverty, Lesley Griffiths, has welcomed the milestone and is encouraging more businesses and public sector organisations to get involved in the programme.  

The Lift programme provides dedicated one-to-one support to people who have been out of work for more than six months and face employment barriers, such as young single parents, disabled people, adults with no qualifications or those with poor employment records.

The programme has been underway in nine areas across Wales, where Lift mentors have been working with local people from workless households – identifying reasons why they are not in work and providing support to help overcome those issues.

Mentors remain in contact with participants for up to 12 months after they start in their new job or training placement to offer them support and help them deal with the day-to-day issues which may arise.

Thanks to this support over 500 training and employment opportunities have been provided to people from workless households in the past six months, including Glen from Rhondda Cynon Taf, who, after being injured when serving in the army and discharged on medical grounds, was helped to retrain and gain employment with a local security firm.

All Welsh Government departments have been asked to become involved in the Lift programme by identifying work experience or employment opportunities. The mentors have also been working with the Welsh NHS and the South Wales Fire & Rescue Service, as well as major employers in the local area to identify job opportunities or work experience placements.

Lesley Griffiths said,

“Today we are marking two significant milestones – reaching six months of the Lift programme and successfully providing 500 training and employment opportunities to people from workless households.  We are rightly proud of these achievements.

“Sometimes in life all people need is a helping hand and some support to enable them to make a change which will have a significant and lasting positive impact on their lives.

“The Lift programme is doing exactly this by providing practical, hands-on support to people who want to improve their lives by helping remove the hurdles preventing people from getting a job. I encourage all public sector organisations and local businesses to consider how they can get involved in the programme.”

Lift is part of the Welsh Government’s Tackling Poverty Action Plan and aims to provide 5,000 training and employment opportunities for people from workless households by the end of 2017