Worklessness

• Worklessness Learning Forum
• Guidance
• Local government's role in skills and welfare reform
• Research
• Worklessness case studies

Worklessness Learning Forum

Long-term worklessness is damaging for society and is further exacerbated during a recession, both in its social ramifications and the cost to the taxpayer. While local authorities and their partners are at the forefront in tackling worklessness, the challenge is great and highly complex.

Local authority partnerships work collectively to add value to, complement and strengthen national programmes helping to increase the number of people accessing jobs and remaining in employment

Local Government Improvement and Development supports the role of local government and the contribution made by local authorities and their partners in tackling worklessness, offering high level practical advice and recommendations, promoting the role of local partnerships, identifying key issues that affect local areas and bringing together some key players.

We will continue to develop:

• sharing of good practice and innovation through case studies
• guidance material on specific issues relating to tackling worklessness
• support in responding to new opportunities
• signposts to other key sources of support and information
• support for an WLF online community of practice (CoP), where anyone who is involved in tackling worklessness can join.

Join the Worklessness Learning Forum Community of Practice.

The Community of Practice offers an opportunity to shape views, creating a hub of support for local authorities and their partners to share and signpost the latest research, government vision, innovative responses and trends. It is a forum for debate and exchange of views.

You will be able to:

• contribute to the national debate on the future of tackling worklessness
• find out about and help shape future guidance and support
• share what works, what doesn’t, your ideas and challenges with others.

The WLF and the resources here are open to all local authorities, their partners and other organisations involved in tackling worklessness.

Guidance

In view of the recent and proposed changes to welfare programmes some of our 'How to guides' are now out of date. We will be reviewing and refreshing these as new policy emerges. 

Local government's role in skills and welfare reform

Local government is uniquely equipped to tackle worklessness and raise skills by working with local partners and agencies. Local government also has an important role to play as an employer.

Skills, welfare reform and local government

In 2008, all 150 upper-tier local authorities committed to focusing on literacy. They nominated a lead officer to coordinate activity, lead partnerships and develop a sustainable local legacy.

Why literacy is a priority for all councils

The growth of cities and the city-region agenda is important in terms of the debate around the future of local government and approaches to the creation of sustainable communities. There is an increasing view that the measure of local authority success is the effectiveness of its 'place shaping' achievements. The Local Government Association (LGA) report 'Productivity and Place: Performance in remote areas' looks at those communities, often in far-flung corners of England, where there is a perceived lack of economic dynamism and where the impact of major cities is often remote.

Productivity and Place: Economic performance in remote areas – on the LGA website.

Improving employability

Improving Employability (overview)

Skills for Employability (overview)

Addressing barriers to work

Kickstart (case study)

Pre- and Post-school Childcare (solving the problem)

Job brokerage

Getting People Into Work (overview)

Job Brokerage (overview)

Engaging Private Sector Employers (overview)

Benefit payments, economic development and worklessness

Benefit payments are important for economic development for many reasons. They also tend to smooth the transition for people between jobs, and give them an incentive to try work. There are many ways to adapt the benefits systems to the needs of those looking for work.

Benefit payments

The Institute of Ratings, Revenue and Valuation has a Benefits faculty to promote the study of all aspects of state benefits and awards, and to provide support to members of the Benefits faculty in their professional activities.

Benefits faculty – on the Institue of Ratings, Revenue and Valuation website

The report outlined the need for the creation of a jobs fund managed by councils. The Future Jobs fund gives councils the opportunity to bid for part of £1 billion to create 150,000 new jobs.

Research

The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) has many research reports relevant to tackling worklessness. 

Research, analysis and statistics – on the DWP website

Working Neighbourhoods Fund

The Working Neighbourhoods Fund (WNF) Scoping Study report provides an overview of the nature and scale of the worklessness problem in WNF areas and the strategies in place to tackle it. The report also provides feedback on the early deployment of WNF and identifies some learning and improvement needs.

Working Neighbourhoods Fund Report – on the Communities and Local Government website

Building local jobs

The All-Party Urban Development Group launched a report ‘Building Local Jobs: Ensuring local communities gain employment from regeneration’ about improving the use of planning agreements to secure jobs for local residents on council, health trust and other public sector property developments. Local planners should assess a planning application’s potential to generate employment in a regeneration area and ensure employment commitments through their negotiations with developers.

The report also recommends:

• for councils to work with employers to provide useful training to local people and monitor those newly-hired through the first five years of employment
• funding for adult training to be given to local councils rather than administered centrally
• the private sector to develop an accreditation scheme that identifies the businesses best at hiring locally.

Building Local Jobs: Ensuring local employment – on the All-Party Urban Development Group website

Helping workless people find jobs

Disadvantaged areas tend to have high rates of worklessness. Solutions need to be local, reflecting the kind of jobs people are likely to be able to get, and the individuals living in the area and their individual problems.

A study from the Joseph Rowntree Foundation (JRF) draws on the evidence on interventions to help workless people into paid employment.

Local Initiatives to Help Workless People Find and Keep Paid Work – on the JRF website

Worklessness case studies

Worklessness (overview)

Intermediate Labour Markets: A bridge from unemployement to work (overview)

Intermediate Labour Markets – on the Joseph Rowntree Foundation website.

Tackling economic activity in Knowsley through the LAA (case study)

Cornwall: economic development in the context of LAAs (case study)

Equal Brighton and Hove: support for NEETs (case study)

Greenwich: Tackling worklessness through the LAA (case study)

Local jobs for local people: the Aire Valley Leeds Access to Employment Network (case study)

Waltham Forest Worknet Partnership case study

Developing best practice for tackling worklessness in Manchester

Page published March 2010.