Economic Development Manager – Adult Employment, Glasgow City Council
Staff from Economic Development in Glasgow City Council have had ongoing involvement in the Community Justice Glasgow Partnership’s (CJG) Learning, Skills and Employment Group for a number of years. A strong partnership with staff from CJG has developed and the collaborative meetings have led to a vast amount of specialisms and expertise being shared across the services that attend.
In 2020-21, in the midst of responding to the impact of the pandemic on priorities and services, CJG and Economic Development were put to work to ensure that a final allocation of funding from Europe for employability was made available to people in the criminal justice system.
After a short delay in advertising the fund and checking its scope and focus in light of the pandemic, a small evaluation group was able to meet virtually in early 2021, to assess a range of bids from local and national organisations seeking to support people to move towards and into work.
Colleagues from addictions and homelessness were also involved, demonstrating the further levels of engagement and collaboration from across services. In March 2021, the Contracts and Property Committee agreed to the groups recommendation to fund Wheatley Group for 2 years to support people towards and into employment, education and training through the Way Ahead project.
As reported by the Scottish Housing News in Dec 2018, an independent report by Craigforth Research & Consultancy in 2018 found that the first Way Ahead programme, which ran from 2017, funded by the European Social Fund and Wheatley Foundation and delivered in collaboration with Glasgow City Council and several 3rd Sector organisations, supported more than 320 people to get work ready. The programme outcomes included:
- 34 having found permanent employment;
- 112 having gone onto vocational training; and
- 71 of the participants having stopped using alcohol or drugs.
The report concluded that the programme had delivered in excess of £8million in social benefit to Glasgow.
The Way Ahead project will re-open in July 2021 and deliver employability support to people aged 16+ in recovery from an addiction and/or experiencing homelessness and/or with an offending background. Working with jobcentres and third sector partners across the city, it will deploy a team of five employability mentors, who will engage with and register 200 people in 2 years. The focus is to provide the joined-up support people need to engage with learning and work while helping them develop practical strategies for improving CVs, job applications and interview performance that they can use long beyond the programme. Contact Arlene Dick, The Way Ahead, Wheatley Group, 0141 274 8511, 07769221553 Arlene.Dick@wheatley-group.com.
The Way Ahead will operate alongside the ChoiceWorks programme (also funded via Economic Development). ChoiceWorks sits within Glasgow City Council’s, Neighbourhoods, Regeneration and Sustainability business area. The employability programme supports individuals aged 16+, resident in Glasgow who have a history of offending and are not in employment, education or training. It has three teams which cover the North West, North East and South of the city. Each team has two Intervention Workers and a Case Management Worker, all teams are supported by two Training and Employability officers.
The Programme takes referrals from any source, including self-referral. By working closely with participants, it seeks to challenge offending behaviour by providing appropriate and proportionate bespoke intervention sessions that support a transition into employment, education or training. It also assists to address and support other issues in people’s lives which may be viewed as an obstacle to a positive outcome. Choice Works has worked intensively with nearly 300 people with the first round of funding. Contact: Derek Brown – Service Manager 0141 276 7690/07823525982 derek.brown@glasgow.gov.uk
This partnership and collaboration will be further utilised as Glasgow looks to develop its approach to delivering No On Left Behind – the Scottish approach to employability that focuses on the needs of the individual first and foremost. No One Left Behind will deliver a person-centred system that is more flexible and responsive to the changing labour market, tackles inequalities and grows Scotland’s economy. An approach that is needed now more than ever as Glasgow and Scotland devises a collective economic and wellbeing response to the pandemic
Built on the principle of integration and alignment, community justice is one area clearly called out as crucial in the new approach to delivering employability support. 2021-22 will see Economic Development and CJG support the Local Employability Partnership to lead the development and design an approach that works for each individual regardless of background and skills.
