Welfare Reform on the Web (July 2009): Social security - UK - New Deal
Hidden talents: re-engaging young people
Centre for Social Justice and Local Government Association
London: LGA, 2009
The number of 16 to 24-year-olds not in education, employment or training is set to reach its highest level since records began. Young people from White backgrounds are about 20% more likely to be out of work or training than those from Black and Asian families, while women are suffering more than men. Those over 19 are most vulnerable because they are not at the centre of government targets which focus on the under-18s. Family breakdown and a history of unemployment among parents are the most likely causes of idleness. The report calls for earlier interventions to target children aged under 11 and for councils to be given more powers to run their own training courses, funded by local reductions in Jobseekers' Allowance.
A budget for workless people
Anon
Working Brief, Mar. 2009, p. 3-5
Argues that, in spite of the poor state of the public finances, the government should use the 2009 Budget to invest in training and jobs for the unemployed. Any improved offer to workless people would need to:
- maintain levels of jobsearch and labour market attachment
- be sufficiently flexible to meet changing priorities
- target communities and groups hardest hit by the recession
- upskill people to take new opportunities post-recession
- continue support for sick and disabled people and lone parents.
Lone parents: developing employability services
S. Robertson
Working Brief, Mar. 2009, p. 10-11
Dundee has developed an employability pipeline for all agencies working with lone parents in the city. The aim of the pipeline approach is to encourage collaborative working between agencies to ensure a smooth transition for clients and to encourage service providers to focus on their key strengths. The pipeline approach identifies agencies working at each of eight key stages of a client's journey towards employment, allowing advisers to make appropriate referrals once a client is ready to progress.
Reducing barriers to employment and further education
M. Gray
Working Brief, Mar. 2009, p. 12-14
Introduces the work of the Edinburgh charity Access to Industry, which exists to move the most excluded people into further education and employment in south-east Scotland. It aims to develop an individual's personal effectiveness to the point where they can engage with existing employability provision. It targets its services on ex-prisoners, recovering substance abusers, sex workers and homeless people.