Welsh Government
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Minister praises innovative scheme for helping long-term unemployed back to work
He met employees of Cwm Taf NHS Trust in Merthyr who have secured permanent jobs as a result of a pre-employment course for the long-term economically inactive.
The Trust has developed the course for the long term unemployed in the Merthyr Tydfil and RCT communities. The Trust always has a demand for hotel services, domestic and catering staff, bank health care assistants and administration posts.
Partners such as Job Centre Plus, Remploy, Working Links and other community groups nominate participants for each course. They attend an ‘Awareness Day’ and then a ten day workshop with a guaranteed job interview. Participants are normally in receipt of incapacity benefit, are long term unemployed and have suffered depression or stress related problems. So far eleven courses have been held with one 160 participants, of whom 100 have gained employment with the Trust and 12 with other organisations.
The Minister said:
“In an area where twenty percent of the potential working population is in receipt of incapacity benefit, the NHS Trust has developed a way to help people overcome demotivating and debilitating health and confidence problems to make a successful entry into sustained, permanent employment.
“It is great to see an innovative scheme like this help get long-term unemployed people back to work, particularly during a recession. This is not just good news for the employees: it is a boost for the whole community.
“I have been saying for some time that we need to find innovative ways of delivering public services which provide real value for money, and this is exactly the sort of good practice which other organisations could learn from.”
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