New one-to-one service aims to Lift 5,000 long-term unemployed into work or training
24 Mar 2014 04:20 PM
An ambitious new
programme to provide 5,000 training and employment opportunities for households
where no-one is in work was launched yesterday by the Welsh
Government.
Dedicated one to one help
through the Lift Programme will help hard to reach people who have not been
able to take up training or find work.
In eight areas there will be two
employment brokers who will work to find local people from workless households
who could benefit from the programme. They will identify reasons why a person
may not be in work, such as a lack of qualifications or health issues. Each
person taking part will have personal development plans to monitor their
progress and adapt the help they are getting if needed.
The scheme is not aimed at those
who are temporarily out of work, but will focus on those who face the greatest
barriers to becoming employed and may have spent more than six months out of
work or training.
Lift will be piloted in eight of
the Welsh Government’s Communities First clusters which cover the most
disadvantaged areas in the country.
- Mon Cluster –
Anglesey.
- Carmarthenshire Cluster –
Carmarthenshire.
- Swansea North West Cluster
– Swansea.
- Afan Cluster – Neath Port
Talbot.
- Taf Cluster – Rhondda
Cynon Taf.
- Cardiff East Cluster –
Cardiff.
- Caerphilly Basin Cluster –
Caerphilly.
- Tredegar & Ebbw Fawr
Clusters – Blaenau Gwent.
It will also support those who
are at risk of becoming long-term unemployed, such as being a young single
parent household; being a household in which the adults have few or no formal
qualifications; people with weak employment records and individuals with
disabilities. Research shows that households with these characteristics are
much less likely to gain employment than others.
Ministers have asked each Welsh
Government department to become involved in the programme by identifying
training, work experience or employment opportunities that may help those
taking part. The brokers will also make contact with local public sector
organisations and businesses to identify opportunities.
Lift is part of the Tackling
Poverty Action Plan and will run until the end of 2017. It will have an initial
budget of £500,000 for the first year and £1 million for 2014-15
and will also be supported by existing Welsh Government spending across
departments.
Communities and Tackling
Poverty Minister Jeff Cuthbert said:
"We have a clear aim of
helping some of the most hard to reach people in our society to find work and
improve their life chances. These are often individuals who for a long time
have not been in any form of employment or training. Some may have a long
history of unemployment in their family. We will provide one-to-one advice and
help through our new Lift employment brokers to make sure we are doing all we
can to find the right opportunities.”
Deputy Minister for Tackling
Poverty Vaughan Gething said:
“Employment is still the
best route out of poverty. If we are to make Wales a more equal place it is
vital we focus our efforts on those who need the most help, many of whom may
have been out for work for some years. This is about providing real help that
will make a lasting difference.