Written evidence submitted
by Wigan Council
1. SUMMARY
1.1. In Wigan, we have had considerable success
in matching young unemployed people to work experience opportunities.
1.2. A key strength of the Future Jobs Fund (FJF)
programme is the flexibility to add value to the standard programme
through match funding. In Wigan, we have used Working Neighbourhoods
Fund to extend the length of the employment beyond six months
to enable FJF employees to achieve NVQ Level 2 and 3 qualifications.
1.3. A weakness in the programme are the restrictions
applied to jobs created within the private sector which we see
as a missed opportunity to convert posts to full time permanent
positions.
1.4. The impact of ending FJF 12 months earlier
than planned will result in a substantial increase in unemployment
amongst people aged 18 to 24.
1.5. There is an opportunity for FJF to evolve
into a pre-apprenticeship scheme to ensure that disadvantaged
individuals have the required skills and experience to compete
for full apprenticeship positions.
2. FJF IN WIGAN
2.1. Wigan Council is a partner in the Greater
Manchester FJF Programme which aims to create and fill 8,000 jobs.
In Wigan, we will have created and filled 565 FJF posts by March
2011. At the end of August 2010 we had created and filled 305
FJF posts.
2.2. Working Neighbourhoods Fund has been used
in Wigan to provide 100% match with DWP money for FJF. Wigan is
the only Local Authority within the Greater Manchester programme
to 100% match the DWP funding.
2.3. Wigan is working with five partners who
provide the employment infrastructure for FJF employees. The partners
also play a key role in job creation and development within public,
third and private sector hosts. To date, jobs have been created
in over 40 different organisations offering a tremendous variety
of opportunity.
3. THE EXTENT
TO WHICH
THE FJF HAS
SUCCEEDED IN
MATCHING NEW
WORK EXPERIENCE
OPPORTUNITIES TO
YOUNG UNEMPLOYED
PEOPLE
3.1. This has worked well in Wigan due to the
very close relationship between the JC+ advisors and the our employment
partners. There is continuous communication between Job Centre
+ (JC+) advisors and the partner managing the recruitment process
on behalf of the host organisation as vacancies are developed,
submitted and go live to ensure the most appropriate JC+ customers
are referred to the vacancy.
3.2. There has been considerable success in working
with host employers to ensure that a more flexible approach to
recruitment for FJF. This is particularly relevant within Local
Authority posts when host managers wanted to apply the full HR
recruitment procedure for FJF. This was not practical and would
have discriminated against many young unemployed due to unachievable
person specifications, intensive interview panels and assessment
tasks.
3.3. The key to the success of FJF in Wigan is
to set realistic expectations both with the host employer and
the FJF employee. For the employer it is about providing opportunity
not about securing staff at little or no cost. For the employee,
it is about taking the opportunity and to gain experience and
qualifications to make them more employable at the end of their
job.
4. STRENGTHS
AND WEAKNESSES
OF THE
FJF PROGRAMME FROM
THE PERSPECTIVE
OF PROVIDERS
(INCLUDING IN
THE THIRD
SECTOR), EMPLOYERS
AND YOUNG
UNEMPLOYED PEOPLE,
AND PARTICULARLY
IN RELATION
TO THE
LONG-TERM
SUSTAINABILITY OF
EMPLOYMENT OPPORTUNITIES
4.1. A key strength of the programme is the relative
flexibility to create many different jobs including traditional
ILM roles, administrative posts, trainee technical roles and outreach
type activity. A further strength of the programme is the flexibility
to add value to the job through matching FJF with other sources
of funding such as Working Neighbourhoods Fund. In Wigan, this
has enabled us to extend many of the posts to 12 months to give
the FJF employees the appropriate amount of time to achieve NVQ
Level 2 and even Level 3 qualifications. The variety of posts
we have created in Wigan together with the added value from match
funding have ensured that the posts are very popular with young
unemployed and we have very few leavers from the programme.
4.2. The obvious weakness with the programme
are the restrictions relating to FJF jobs created within the private
sector. In Wigan, we have created some posts with private sector
companies, but not as many as we could have. We understand the
reasons why FJF was not fully opened up to the private sector
but we do believe it is a missed opportunity. Under the current
economic climate with the public sector, very few (if any) of
the current FJF posts will be converted to full time permanent
appointments. However, there are increasing numbers of vacancies
within the private sector. Had FJF been fully available to the
private sector, then potentially many such posts could have been
converted to permanent positions as the economy improves.
5. THE LIKELY
IMPACT OF
THE DECISION
TO END
THE FJF IN
MARCH 2011 RATHER
THAN MARCH
2012
5.1. The impact in Wigan of this decision will
be an increase in unemployment amongst 18 to 24 year olds. The
FJF Programme started operating in Wigan in January 2010. By the
end of July, we had employed 257 young people. In the same period,
unemployment numbers within 18 to 24 year olds reduced by 20.5%
compared to an overall reduction in unemployment numbers of 16.81%.
Without FJF, unemployment numbers amongst 18 to 24 year olds would
have reduced by 12.97%.
6. HOW THE
TRANSITION FROM
FJF TO THE
WORK PROGRAMME
WILL BE
MANAGED, INCLUDING
THE PART
TO BE
PLAYED BY
THE GOVERNMENT'S
PROPOSAL TO
FUND NEW
APPRENTICESHIPS.
6.1. There is the suggestion in the Government's
proposals for funding of new apprenticeships that employers may
be expected to pay more. If this is the case, then employers will
seek to gain fast return on their investment in apprenticeships.
They are unlikely to recruit apprentices who are unable to demonstrate
the required skills immediately and the Government's "Skills
for Sustainable Growth" consultation document recognises
this. The consultation also invites views on how this issue could
be addressed. In that context, there is the potential for FJF
to evolve into a pre-apprentice model with the specific objective
of ensuring beneficiaries develop the appropriate skills and achieve
the relevant qualifications for a full apprenticeship. The FJF
model implemented in Wigan could very quickly and cost effectively
be adapted to meet this need.
10 September 2010
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