06 October 2009
The battle to reduce the dole queues
Stephen Dunn
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Growing unemployment is exacerbating the public sector deficit at a time when tax revenues have plunged and local authorities are under pressure to reduce worklessness. Stephen Dunn looks at ways of bringing the disabled into work while.
Worklessness – the problem of long-term unemployment and dependency on government benefits – is a huge drain on government spending.
According to latest figures there are currently around 2.44 million people out of work, and worklessness specifically is at a 10-year high.
Worklessness among young people is a particular concern, as it permanently damages careers and individuals’ ability to make an economic contribution to society.
Centre for Cities suggest that 1.18 million young people will be unemployed by 2011, and one-third of these will be out of work for more than 12 months.
But worklessness isn’t just about young people. The long-term sick, their carers and the ‘early retired’ can also fall into this category.
Worklessness is also a particular problem for the disabled. Remploy suggests there are currently 6.7 million disabled people of working age in the UK, a high proportion of whom struggle to find employment, even if they are capable of working.
The impacts of worklessness are inevitably felt first at a local level, and so local authorities are coming under increasing pressure from central government to address the problem. While councils are using a variety of measures to address the issue, the simplest, most cost-effective steps are often overlooked.
A council is often the largest employer in any given region, so its own employment practices cannot fail to have an impact on worklessness at a local level.
However, even councils with exemplary recruitment practices may find that their standard procedures overlook the particular barriers to employment that the long-term unemployed face.
Councils must ensure their recruitment processes encompass working with specialist employment agencies at a local level, including Jobcentre Plus, Help the Aged, Remploy or Slivers-of-Time, which focus on getting the long-term unemployed back to work.
Remploy, for example, is a leading provider of employment services for disabled people and those experiencing complex barriers to work. Its tailored, vocational development programmes are designed in close partnership with employers to enable candidates to move successfully into employment.
Slivers-of-Time, on the other hand, works with people who are excluded from the workforce because they have demands on their time – often childcare or elder care - which make it hard for them to hold down a job. Slivers-of-Time provides workers for employers looking for staff for a very short time frame – typically, for less than seven hours.
It’s vital that these organisations are integrated into the council’s recruitment process so they can compete on a level playing field with other agencies. In some areas, a council may even want to prioritise these specialist groups ahead of nationwide recruitment agencies.
The problem is, most people within local authorities find the current plethora of recruitments solutions un-navigable.
There are so many options, including national and local recruitment agencies, Jobcentre Plus, direct applicants, charities and voluntary organisations, as well as local employment schemes that simply identifying the sources of employees can be a huge challenge.
To cut down the complexity, councils often use a preferred supplier list (PSL) to manage their recruitment needs. But organisations which are trying to address worklessness are often excluded from even being considered. PSLs are also rarely updated and fail to take into account the current selection of suppliers on offer.
Addressing worklessness requires a more flexible approach.
The good news is that vendor-neutral solutions can help address worklessness. Comensura, for example, provides access to all employment avenues through a single point of contact, and allows specialist employment services to compete on a level playing field or even be prioritised, if necessary.
Tower Hamlets LBC uses this approach to promote its Skillsmatch initiative. Skillsmatch receives all temporary secretarial and administration vacancies for the borough before any other agencies, enabling registered local candidates to access the jobs.
Similarly, the City of London is working with Comensura to ensure that whenever it needs agency staff for under seven hours, Slivers-of-Time can put forward candidates before other agencies.
Clearly, worklessness is a huge challenge that councils have an obligation to address at a local level. But, by simply changing the processes they have in place to recruit staff, and taking a more flexible approach to recruitment, local authorities can lead the charge against long-term unemployment.
Stephen Dunn is head of strategic partnerships for Remploy Employment Services
Worklessness – the problem of long-term unemployment and dependency on government benefits – is a huge drain on government spending.
According to latest figures there are currently around 2.44 million people out of work, and worklessness specifically is at a 10-year high.
Worklessness among young people is a particular concern, as it permanently damages careers and individuals’ ability to make an economic contribution to society.
Centre for Cities suggest that 1.18 million young people will be unemployed by 2011, and one-third of these will be out of work for more than 12 months.
But worklessness isn’t just about young people. The long-term sick, their carers and the ‘early retired’ can also fall into this category.
Worklessness is also a particular problem for the disabled. Remploy suggests there are currently 6.7 million disabled people of working age in the UK, a high proportion of whom struggle to find employment, even if they are capable of working.
The impacts of worklessness are inevitably felt first at a local level, and so local authorities are coming under increasing pressure from central government to address the problem. While councils are using a variety of measures to address the issue, the simplest, most cost-effective steps are often overlooked.
A council is often the largest employer in any given region, so its own employment practices cannot fail to have an impact on worklessness at a local level.
However, even councils with exemplary recruitment practices may find that their standard procedures overlook the particular barriers to employment that the long-term unemployed face.
Councils must ensure their recruitment processes encompass working with specialist employment agencies at a local level, including Jobcentre Plus, Help the Aged, Remploy or Slivers-of-Time, which focus on getting the long-term unemployed back to work.
Remploy, for example, is a leading provider of employment services for disabled people and those experiencing complex barriers to work. Its tailored, vocational development programmes are designed in close partnership with employers to enable candidates to move successfully into employment.
Slivers-of-Time, on the other hand, works with people who are excluded from the workforce because they have demands on their time – often childcare or elder care - which make it hard for them to hold down a job. Slivers-of-Time provides workers for employers looking for staff for a very short time frame – typically, for less than seven hours.
It’s vital that these organisations are integrated into the council’s recruitment process so they can compete on a level playing field with other agencies. In some areas, a council may even want to prioritise these specialist groups ahead of nationwide recruitment agencies.
The problem is, most people within local authorities find the current plethora of recruitments solutions un-navigable.
There are so many options, including national and local recruitment agencies, Jobcentre Plus, direct applicants, charities and voluntary organisations, as well as local employment schemes that simply identifying the sources of employees can be a huge challenge.
To cut down the complexity, councils often use a preferred supplier list (PSL) to manage their recruitment needs. But organisations which are trying to address worklessness are often excluded from even being considered. PSLs are also rarely updated and fail to take into account the current selection of suppliers on offer.
Addressing worklessness requires a more flexible approach.
The good news is that vendor-neutral solutions can help address worklessness. Comensura, for example, provides access to all employment avenues through a single point of contact, and allows specialist employment services to compete on a level playing field or even be prioritised, if necessary.
Tower Hamlets LBC uses this approach to promote its Skillsmatch initiative. Skillsmatch receives all temporary secretarial and administration vacancies for the borough before any other agencies, enabling registered local candidates to access the jobs.
Similarly, the City of London is working with Comensura to ensure that whenever it needs agency staff for under seven hours, Slivers-of-Time can put forward candidates before other agencies.
Clearly, worklessness is a huge challenge that councils have an obligation to address at a local level. But, by simply changing the processes they have in place to recruit staff, and taking a more flexible approach to recruitment, local authorities can lead the charge against long-term unemployment.
Stephen Dunn is head of strategic partnerships for Remploy Employment Services
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