New support to give homeless people ‘basic building blocks’ for work
16 Apr 2014 12:30 PM
Pilot scheme to give the
most vulnerable homeless people the right skills and training to get into
work.
A new pilot scheme will give the
most vulnerable homeless people the right skills and training to get into work,
Housing Minister Kris Hopkins and Skills Minister Matthew Hancock announced
today (16 April 2014).
The ministers said the
government is determined to test different ways of delivering support to the
most disadvantaged people who want to work, but lack the basic maths, English
and other skills that are vital when applying for jobs.
The
London STRIVE (Skills, Training, Innovation and Employment)
pre-employment programme will initially help 100 single homeless people over 2
years. The scheme will address key barriers to employment, providing 50 people
a year with the right skills and opportunities to have an independent future
without the need to rely upon local services and benefits.
Over the course of a programme
designed with their particular needs in mind, participants will build up their
basic skills in IT, maths and English and get their confidence to a level that
will open the doors to further training helping them move out of homelessness
into work.
STRIVE, run by homelessness
charities Crisis and St Mungo’s Broadway, will work alongside Jobcentre
Plus to identify those who would benefit most from the scheme.
Daniel Howard-Trickett, one of
the first people to join the new initiative at Crisis, said:
I have been out of work since
the end of last summer, having previously worked as a kitchen porter. Since
then I have been looking for something that could help me to progress in
life.
Learning computer skills and
embedding it with English and maths will hopefully enable me to do that and to
get a job and succeed in life.
Housing Minister Kris Hopkins
said:
This government is determined to
help vulnerable people tear down the barriers that prevent them from finding a
job.
Many homeless people simply want
to work hard and get on in life, but finding work is a real struggle if you
don’t have basic skills in maths, English and IT.
That’s why we are
supporting the STRIVE programme, which will help ensure the most
disadvantaged people have opportunities to build up their skills and gain
confidence, so they can move forward with their lives and start to live
independently.
Skills and Enterprise Minister,
Matthew Hancock said;
I can think of few better uses
of education funding than to support English, maths, and IT skills for homeless
people. It is wrong that until now excellent education projects led by St
Mungo’s Broadway and others have been denied government funding - today
we are putting that right. There is no doubt that charities like St
Mungo’s Broadway and Crisis are best placed to reach those in need of
help, but we are backing them in this vital task.
Leslie Morphy, Crisis Chief
Executive said:
The crushing experience of
homelessness leaves individuals feeling very vulnerable. At Crisis we offer
dedicated and specialist support to help people turn their lives around, build
new skills and confidence and ultimately find work. This new pre-employment
programme will help us reach more people, getting them back on their feet and
leaving homelessness behind.
But while our services have long
been successful they have always struggled to get mainstream funding. It is
vital that as well as helping individuals we use this programme to capture what
works and ensure the lessons are fed into employment programmes and funding to
ensure all homeless people across the country get the help they
need.
Howard Sinclair, Chief Executive
of St Mungo’s Broadway, said:
STRIVE will be a vital
stepping stone for people in need of tailored specialist support around
literacy, maths and IT as they search for work. The people we see at St
Mungo’s Broadway do need this additional support and we are delighted
their particular needs have been recognised. It is about giving people a chance
to succeed and rebuild their lives, rather than being knocked back from the
start.
Further
information
- STRIVE is funded jointly
by DCLG and BIS. A total of £297,330 will be invested over
the 2-year pilot. DWP are working with Crisis and St Mungo’s to establish
referrals onto the scheme.
- The charities will work
alongside Jobcentre Plus to identify suitable individuals to join the
programme, and continuously measure progress towards employability. The scheme
will be supported by all four Job Centre Plus London
districts.
- A skills and employment training
schedule has been developed with capacity to work with up to 50 homeless
clients per year.
- Crisis and St. Mungos’s
Broadway are both being funded to work with clients to develop basic skills in
English, maths and IT, as well as developing essential employability skills
according to each individual’s needs and aspirations.