Member Article

Manchester job help scheme paying dividends

A scheme in which public sector staff including police and health workers help unemployed people in Manchester to find jobs is proving a big success.

The Real Opportunities scheme – the first of its kind - was launched in Wythenshawe in October 2011. It enables a wide range of public sector workers to speak to people in the course of their duties, and to fill in a form to help them find work. So far, it has helped more than 300 people find jobs and another 200 into suitable training.

Staff from public sector agencies including Manchester City Council, Wythenshawe Community Housing Group(WCHG), The Manchester College and the NHS – can fill in a single-page form to refer a person directly into a training and jobs pool in Wythenshawe.

From there the forms are dealt with in confidence via the Wythenshawe Regeneration Team and staff at WCHG who help to arrange careers interviews, training - including computer skills, literacy and CV workshops -and alert people to job vacancies.

Unemployment in Manchester stands at 5.8 per cent, according to the most recent figures and just under one in ten people is on incapacity benefit. In Wythenshawe 6.4 per cent people are unemployed (claiming Jobseekers’ Allowance), 12.1 per cent are on Incapacity Benefit and 3.2 per cent are lone parent income support claimants. (DWP figures, August 2012)

Since the scheme launched more than a thousand people have been referred into it. Of the 1,200 people referred into the Real Opportunities system 345 people have got jobs and 205 have gone into training programmes.

When a person in the scheme is successful in finding a job or training course, the referrer receives a letter to tell them the good news. This is done with the permission of the person involved.

Cllr Sue Murphy, Deputy Leader at Manchester City Council, said: “We all know how hard it is to find work. This system has been designed to help a community gain vocational skills, work experience and ultimately a job, during an extremely difficult financial climate.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Simon Malia .