Written evidence submission
by Merthyr Tydfil County Borough Council
1.0 OVERVIEW
1.1 The Future Jobs Fund programme has provided
six South East Wales local authorities with a mechanism for breaking
the cycle of long term unemployment in areas of high deprivation.
This programme has created vacancies which are targeted at the
hardest to reach and has provided local residents with a chance
to change their personal, social and economic status.
1.2 Merthyr Tydfil County Borough Council (MTCBC)
was successful in leading on the submission of an application
to Department of Work and Pensions (DWP) for Future Jobs Fund
in July 2009.
1.3 The application for funding is a consortium
approach demonstrating a clear and strong partnership between
six local authorities across South East Wales which are Merthyr
Tydfil County Borough Council, Rhondda Cynon Taf County Borough
Council, Caerphilly County Borough Council, Blaenau Gwent County
Borough Council, Torfaen County Borough Council and Bridgend County
Borough Council.
1.4 The initial tranche of jobs that were to
be created across the six local authority areas was 872. This
was contractually fully met.
1.5 In November 2009 the partnership was successful
in securing an extension to the FJF contract due to the success
of the first tranche and further committed to creating an additional
1,656 jobs over the course of 12 months again covering the whole
of the South East Wales local authority areas.
2.0 SUCCESS OF
FUTURE JOBS
FUND
2.1 Generally across the six local authority
areas the programme has been deemed a great success. The programme
covering our area has created and successfully given the opportunity
for 872 local people to access a very broad range of vacancies
which have had a direct benefit to their local communities. Jobs
have been created in various areas of work such as Bio-Diversity,
Information Technology, Tourism, Leisure, street cleansing, Regeneration
and Education.
2.2 FJF has also provided wider benefits which
include allowing people on Job Seekers Allowance (JSA) to experience
job search related activities which will also give individuals
invaluable experience when seeking future employment.
2.3 In terms of the actual take up of vacancies
the FJF grant allocation has enabled individuals to gain experience
in interview and inductions, accredited training and specific
on the job training allowing individuals to build their work ethic
and develop essential skills to survive in the work place.
2.4 Employers have been keen to recognise the
calibre of clients accessing FJF and this has allowed employers
to "buy in" to the concept of FJF and develop additional
vacancies to give more opportunities and enhance services to benefit
the local community.
2.5 Employers have in some cases retained individuals
who have been afforded to them via FJF and offered full time employment
which is the greatest success. This has allowed some individuals
to become financially secure and has taken them out of poverty.
For example in the borough of Caerphilly they have had a total
of 29 completers as part of the initial phase of delivery that
have successfully gone into employment which is a success rate
of 71%.
2.6 The range of experiences offered through
the opportunities created has allowed individuals to develop transferable
skills that can be taken to any employment opportunity. Individuals
have established strong work ethics and we have witnessed changes
in attitude that demonstrates clearly their desire to work and
to actually be in employment rather than claiming benefits. This
has been highlighted by the low number of early leavers from the
provision.
3.0 STRENGTHS
AND WEAKNESSES
OF THE
FJF PROGRAMME
3.1 Strengths
3.1.1 FJF has strengths in the following areas;
- Extension of the provision will allow a larger
volume of NEETS young people to benefit from FJF which will make
the pool of employable young people far greater in the future.
- Extension of the provision will give more time
for the economy to recover therefore enhancing the chances for
individuals to gain further employment leaving FJF.
- Equipping young people with transferrable skills.
- Training received by individuals has been customised
to the clients and the role they are undertaking.
- FJF offers a combination of paid employment and
skills development.
- Young people who have not worked have developed
a work ethic.
- Participants of FJF have reported that the programme
has benefited both in their health and well-being, confidence
and motivation.
- It has helped those who have found it generally
difficult to break into the job market.
- A good opportunity for graduates to gain valuable
work experience.
- Employer perceptions of young people are changing
positively.
- Links have been developed and established on
a local level with third sector organisations and Registered Social
Landlords (RSLs).
- RSLs have been encouraged to think creatively
about how young people could benefit the local community.
- There has been an increase in civic pride of
the young people employed within community settings.
- Teams of FJF participants have made significant
improvements in the local community and environment.
- Participants have been able to gain future references
to use when applying for alternative employment.
- Some participants moving from FJF Employment
to real employment following completion of the FJF opportunity.
3.2 Weaknesses
3.2.1 FJF has weaknesses in the following areas;
- Scheme is too short and individuals would benefit
from a longer employment term.
- Confusion over eligibility and links with other
projects supporting the Young Persons Guarantee.
- Multiple FJF application approved in close proximity
leaving less number of eligible participants to choose from. This
makes fulfilling contract far more challenging.
- Some successful FJF Providers offering a higher
wage to attract participants from organisations that have already
offered positions under another FJF provider.
- Eligible people not being able to access FJF
opportunities created as they are not better off working due to
benefit structures.
- No clear exit strategy developed by DWP to support
the transition back onto benefits or into work.
- Due to the scheme being only six months long,
in some cases this has not been long enough for individuals to
gain industry registered training.
- The brief for FJF is to ensure that the jobs
created are of direct benefit to the community, which has resulted
in it becoming very difficult to forge links with the Private
Sector.
- A longer preparatory period would have enabled
us to measure the success of the programme for individuals and
wider benefits, such as reduction of crime rates and improving
health issues.
- No initial scoping exercise took place with Job
Centre Plus to identify the types of vacancies that would be developed.
This led to opportunities being created that could not be filled
due to lack of interest.
4.0 IMPACT OF
FJF FINISHING IN
MARCH 2011.
4.1 Job seekers will not have the opportunity
to benefit from real paid employment.
4.2 FJF has provided individuals in some cases
with a wide range of job offers. If the programme was to cease
then individuals would be mandated programmes with no choice with
regards their role and aspirations, which will hinder the development
of work ethic.
4.3 Negative impact on the community and services
offered to local residents. For every 100 participants lost 65,000
hours of work to benefit the local community will be lost.
4.4 Work related training opportunities will
be far more difficult for job seekers to access. This, in the
long term will continue to breed an unskilled pool of people for
the local labour market.
4.5 Well establish contacts with agencies, organisations,
third sector and public sector will cease.
5.0 HOW THE
TRANSITION FROM
FJF TO THE
WORK PROGRAMME
WILL BE
MANAGED AND
THE ROLE
OF THE
GOVERNMENTS PROPOSAL
TO FUND
NEW APPRENTICESHIPS.
5.1 FJF can still play a key role in apprenticeships.
If the Government continues to fund FJF then this would enhance
the prospect of employers committing to taking on a young person
under the guise of an Apprentice. It is often hard to get employers
to invest in young people and FJF will reduce the risk for the
employer by clearly demonstrating the young person's commitment
to the employer and organisation before additional investment
is spent.
5.2 There appears to be a lack of understanding
of how the Work Programme will look and therefore until further
detail is released then it's not totally understood how the transition
could happen. It is clear that this work is likely to involve
the private sector and a concern whether the Work Programme will
be able to meet the needs of individuals in their localities.
5.3 Both programmes should cross over with clear
guidelines as to how it will work.
9 September 2010
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