Written evidence submitted
by County Durham Council
INTRODUCTION
Durham County Council welcomes the opportunity to
submit evidence as part of the Work and Pensions Committee's first
inquiry into Youth Unemployment and the Future Jobs Fund (FJF).
This response reflects Durham County Council's views and our experiences
of managing and delivering FJF. The response highlights:
- County Durham approach to FJF.
- Key successes and strengths.
- Case studies.
- Implementation issues and key challenges.
- Areas for consideration and improvement.
Tackling employability, deprivation and regenerating
our communities, alongside wealth generation is a high priority
for the County. A fundamental component of achieving our ambitions
of sustainable places where people want to live, work, invest
and visit, is enabling our young population to become competitive
and successful. Through targeted interventions like FJF it has
been possible for the Council to provide the support and real
job experience that many young people who are not in education,
employment or training need.
Although successes have been enabled through the
FJF and other Area Based Grant funded initiatives we still have
significant numbers of young people not in employment that face
many barriers to securing a job - the journey is far from complete!
As we enter a period of constrained public finances, it is particularly
important that we are clear, targeted and know what works to support
youth employment within the County. We support this enquiry, await
its outcomes and strongly believe that targeted support for young
people must continue.
COUNTY DURHAM'S
APPROACH TO
FJF
Since the announcement of the successful Tyne and
Wear City Region Future Jobs Fund bid in September 2009, Durham
County Council has worked with a variety of employers and partners
like Job Centre Plus and Connexions to create job opportunities
as part of the Young Person's Guarantee. The programme within
the County aims to create over 1,000 job placements by March 2011.
The FJF programme has in excess of £2 million FJF resources
and a further £0.5 million allocated from Working Neighbourhoods
Fund to maximise the scope of the FJF programme. This has provided
a total budget of £2.5 million up to March 2011.
The programme is managed by a small team of staff
within the Economic Regeneration Team in the Economic Development
Service at Durham County Council. These staff have extensive experience
of managing and implementing a variety of employability focused
programmes funded through Working Neighbourhoods Fund, Neighbourhood
Renewal Funding and Single Regeneration Budget. The FJF team liaises
and co-ordinate with employers to create job opportunities and
with JCP who check the eligibility of prospective employers and
employees.
KEY SUCCESSES
AND STRENGTHS
The list below highlights they key successes of the
programme to date:
- Provided much needed "real" job opportunities
for young people within the County.
- Achieved over 375 job starts[18].
- Currently hold over 287 "live" vacancies.
- Currently have over 507 proposed positions within
the public, private and third sector.
- Working Neighbourhoods Fund secured as match
funding.
- Additional funding has allowed employers to offer
a "real wage" to job-seekers, above the £6,500
available to employers over the initial six month fixed term period
and provide longer term opportunities.
- Job opportunities provided in a variety of sectors
from neighbourhood wardens to receptionists.
- Driven by the needs and skills of the individual
not the employer, however provide added skills and resource benefit
for all employers.
- Over 120 job opportunities have been created
by the third sector.
- Durham County Council has provided over 100 jobs,
particular success has been within the Neighbourhoods Service
Grouping.
- Delivered wider community benefits.
- Enabled partnership approach between the public,
private and third sectors.
- Provided a better link between supply and demand
in the labour market.
CASE STUDIES
Many employment opportunities have been created through
third sector organisations, who have either provided direct job
creation or have acted an "employment hosts" by seconding
individuals to smaller organisations. An example of this arrangement
has been provided by East Durham Partnership.
Third Sector Job Placement
EAST DURHAM
PARTNERSHIP (EDP)
"The EDP exists to promote activity within East
Durham communities which will be of benefit to individuals, facilities,
groups and organisations, which will help people individually
and collectively to achieve their goals and which will contribute
towards an improved quality of life for people and towards the
regeneration of East Durham."
At the outset of the FJF programme, the EDP anticipated
the creation of 30 jobs, with the possibility of a "few"
other opportunities if all went well. In practice, things have
gone very well and a further 120 jobs have been created with more
to follow (profile for 190 by the end of the programme). The Partnership
has been able to employ individuals on a direct basis as well
as offering opportunities for smaller third sector organisations.
Furthermore, a number of these temporary jobs have already been
made permanent. The types of jobs have been wide-ranging from
receptionists to IT assistants and from trainee rangers to neighbourhood
wardens.
Jobs within the private sector have been more difficult
to create, with state aid rules and community benefit eligibility
causing some restrictions. However, the Council has made great
strides during August 2010 with two local businesses who have
developed products and processes in support of green-technology
and so qualify for FJF support through the promotion of energy
efficiency.
Private Sector Job Placements:
GLASS PROCESSING
COMPANY
This company from Leadgate are a leading glass processor
serving the security, architectural and transport glass sectors,
as well as specialising in the production and distribution of
PV (photovoltaic) solar panels. The company's specialist production
base, together with a change in Government policy with regard
to Feed-in-Tariffs (or Clean Energy Cashback) has meant that the
company has secured additional and lucrative contracts both within
the UK and abroad, necessitating the establishment of a bespoke
training centre to specifically cover the PV sector of the company.
The company anticipates the recruitment of approximately 110 personnel,
with at least 60 being eligible for FJF assistance. These jobs
will be filled during 2010.
GREEN TECHNOLOGY
COMPANY
This company plan to create 100 jobs who will provide
an 18 month apprenticeship programme in green-technology manufacturing
techniques. The company has developed these techniques and training
programmes over a number of years and supports the placement of
manufacturing personnel to a number of local blue-chip companies
following the completion of the apprenticeship programme. These
jobs will all be filled during 2010.
In both of the above case studies, the private sector
company's will take advantage of the FJF being able to support
the first six months of the apprenticeship scheme. Therefore,
making the job more permanent at the outset, providing sustainability
and long term commitment for the employer and employee.
IMPLEMENTATION ISSUES
AND KEY
CHALLENGES
There were several implementation issues experienced
in the early phases of the programme and other key challenges
that have impeded the ease of establishing job opportunities and
matching individuals to these employment placements, including:
- Changing operational guidance, eligibility
and slow start - The programme suffered
initial "teething" problems following bid approval like
many new programmes, however, these were exacerbated by the evolving
nature of the operational and eligibility guidance. This created
frustrations for internal management, programme planning and partner
implementation: better communication is needed.
- Employer buy-in -
Although the timescales for implementation from DWP were clear
at the outset, a period of lead in or piloting would have been
useful in order to "sell" the programme to local employers.
Employer support and buy-in proved a key challenge at the beginning
of the programme, but local processes were devised and implemented
to overcome this. The pressure to be "up and running"
quickly whilst local processes and relationships were being formed
obviously led to a slow start in terms of job creation performance.
- Pre-employment support
- As the FJF programme clients have been out of work for some
time, many face additional barriers to employment and required
pre-employment advice and support. During 2009 and the early phases
of the programme, it was a challenge to gain appropriate pre-employment
support for individuals.
- Role of Job Centre Plus (JCP)
- The reliance on JCP as the only referral mechanism to prospective
employers has proved limiting and an area of concern. However,
the relationship with JCP has been excellent throughout the development
and delivery of the programme. This good working practice has
enabling and facilitated effective decision making.
- Community benefit
- The definition of community benefit and the eligibility criteria
for appropriate job opportunities affected the number of jobs
created. As current FJF guidance states, FJF aims to create additional
jobs to deliver benefits to communities and these benefits must
be in addition to the benefit of employment to the individual.
As included within the FJF bid, wider benefits for local communities,
such as the increase in local employment levels, the associated
impact on health and well-being and the wider regeneration effects
needs to be maximised for the benefit of the individual and those
providing job opportunities. It is understood that there is a
careful balance needed and that FJF should not supplement jobs
already created or planned, these are "additional" opportunities.
The community benefit definition has been problematic for securing
private involvement, especially in comparison to third sector
contracts.
- Employee skills -
Some jobs have been initially created with unrealistic expectations
about the level of skills and experiences required by prospective
employees.
- Recruitment delays
- The programme has experienced delays in recruitment following
job creation. This has been linked to low levels of referral,
low conversion rates from referral to submission of an application
and poor conversion rates from application to filled jobs.
- Competing employment support
programmes - The lack of fit with existing JCP programmes
has been an issue, in particular New Deal.
- Geographic coverage -
The County Council's portfolio of FJF jobs does not yet represent
an equal spread across the County settlements, with the majority
of jobs coming from the more deprived areas of the County, mainly
East Durham. A longer delivery period, would have enabled more
time to develop the programme, extend partners and the number
of employer, widening the coverage of job opportunities available.
Despite these difficulties and challenges, the numbers
gaining job opportunities, vacancy handling and referral processes
in the County have seen a continued improved performance over
recent months. This progress has meant we are still on track to
achieve the programmed 1,000 job creation opportunities. As the
County Durham FJF is part of an ongoing evaluation process that
has been commissioned by the Tyne and Wear City Region, this will
provide a more detailed analysis of what has worked well and weaknesses
during the lifetime of the programme.
AREAS FOR
CONSIDERATION AND
IMPROVEMENT
The Government's decision to end FJF in March 2011
rather than March 2012 will certainly curtail job opportunities
for young people in County Durham. Locally there is concern about
the transition period between FJF and the newly planned integrated
welfare to work programme.
The FJF programme within the County has over six
months of delivery left, with significant numbers of job opportunities
left to fill. The numbers of live vacancies and the recent progress
made with private sector and with the addition of another 12 months
would mean more sustainable job opportunities could be realised.
The Council would be and is willing to continue such an employment
placement programme and has the required management and expertise
to continue this at present.
The outlined recommendations detailed below should
be considered to improve a future FJF programme or any future
employability/work programme:
- Need and demand driven—the
FJF programme has not only helped to meet the needs and job experience
requirements of young people in the County, but also provided
a short term skills/resource solution for the employer. It is
important that future employability support is demand driven,
ensuring that those not in work are developing and benefiting
from appropriate work experience.
- Relaxation in the community benefit criteria—this
would have enabled much wider participation from the private sector.
However, the criterion does need to be targeted to ensure this
programme does not artificially distort the local jobs market.
New start businesses could benefit from such criteria relaxation,
providing much needed financial support for new businesses, extra
resource, but also allowing these businesses to expand and grow.
- Fragmented and disjointed employment services
and programmes—there is a clear
link between FJF and the apprenticeship programme that has not
been maximised. Although links have been made within the County
and longer term job opportunities realised, this needs to be formalised.
There is a case for the National Apprenticeship Service to become
more involved. Both programmes can complement one another for
the benefit of employers and employees.
- Young People Not in Employment, Education
and Training (NEETs)—Further work
to cement and extend the relationship with the Connexions service
to target those at risk of becoming longer term unemployed and
understanding the employability needs and ambitions of this group
of young people is needed. County Durham has on average 3.77 %
higher numbers of NEETS than England and the numbers of 18 year
olds classified as NEET is of particular concern. This cohort
has recently increased year on year[19]
and over 50% of the whole NEETs group are 18 years old[20].
This correlates strongly to the increased numbers of young people
aged 18-24 claiming Job Seekers Allowance. It is important that
there is effective transitional support between services, especially
whilst young people transfer from Connexions and JCP.
- Pre employment support—A
coherent and coordinated approach to pre-employment advice and
support, for all ages, would benefit both the potential employee
and employer. As clients of such programmes have been out of work
for some time, they often face complex barriers to employment,
from confidence, anxiety and low skills.
- Short term funded initiatives—the
short term nature of government initiatives can mean that significant
time is lost in establishing new processes, partners and delivery
mechanisms, rather than concentrating on the delivery priority,
in this case enabling young people to access job opportunities.
Although this argument is not new, a longer term approach would
enable greater numbers of placements and an enhanced service,
with greater handholding and aftercare support once people find
permanent employment.
FJF has enabled the delivery of real jobs for young
people within the County. A longer term solution to employability
and particularly supporting young people into employment is needed.
The perpetual short term nature of government initiatives can
exacerbate the issues and frustrations felt by employers and those
not in work (being passed from one support programme to another!).
We need a demand driven approach that enables young people and
the rest of those of working age that are not economically active
to obtain support and/or retrain in appropriate job growth sectors
and gain the appropriate skills levels for their own benefit and
for the wider economy.
Within the County a range of multi-faceted and person-centred
initiatives have been established to support people into employment
or enterprise and tackle the variety of barriers they may face.
However, the recession has limited progress and increased numbers
claiming Job Seekers Allowance, particularly amongst young people.
This will be compounded by the reduction of ABG and removal of
FJF. As a Council, supporting our population to become more competitive
and successful remains a strategic priority and we will endeavor
to support people to become economically active, however, this
will become increasingly challenging with the reduction of public
resources.
10 September 2010
18 These figures are accurate
as at 06/09/10. Back
19
The numbers of 18 year olds that are NEET within the County has
increased year on year from 640 (November 2007) to 785.
Back
20
The number of 18 year olds that are NEET within the County comprises
51 % of the total number of NEETS in 2009.
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