Tag: Employability

The Edinburgh Guarantee

Ann Confrey with the third in a series of articles on Employment and Training opportunities in North Edinburgh:

The Edinburgh Guarantee

A joint initiative to improve employment opportunities and break the cycle of youth unemployment 

At almost double the adult level, youth unemployment is a growing problem in Edinburgh. Addressing this problem is one of the highest priorities for Edinburgh and the city is meeting the challenge head on with a new political coalition that is working in partnership with business.

The challenge of finding employment is significant enough for those with degrees and good exam results but for anyone without those qualifications that challenge can appear insurmountable.

The numbers tell a bleak story:

  • In the year ending September 2011, 6,000 residents of Edinburgh aged 16 to 24 were unemployed – 36% of the total number of people unemployed in the city
  • In May 2012, there were 2,845 Jobseekers Allowance claimants aged under 24 in Edinburgh – 24% of all claimants
  • Of the 3,423 pupils, who left publicly- funded schools in 2011, 423 – almost 12% – were unemployed nine months later.

So what is the City of Edinburgh Council doing to address this problem and secure a future for our young people?

When Chief Executive Sue Bruce (above) took over as Chief Executive in 2011, one statistic struck her more than any other. She said: “Of the thirty two local authorities in Scotland, Edinburgh was sitting at 32nd for providing positive destinations for its school leavers from publicly funded schools.”

“Scotland’s Capital city was at the bottom of the list when it came to getting its young people into a job, a training course or higher education. That trend had to be tackled, it had to be arrested and reversed.

“It was clear that the problem would not be solved either quickly or by the council working alone. To create an environment where school leavers would have opportunity to realise and fulfil their potential, every sector of the city would need to come together with one purpose, to galvanise business and change the landscape for the better forever.”

The result was the Edinburgh Guarantee, created to drive a cultural change that recognizes the creativity and energy that young people can bring to business, dispel the negative perceptions and unite the public, private and third sectors to achieve a common goal – A positive destination for every school leaver.

On 8 December last year a call went out to city businesses and organisations across all sectors to provide jobs, paid work experience, training or continued education for every school leaver in Edinburgh.

The call was made at a breakfast debate which brought together 120 individuals from Edinburgh businesses and organisations to discuss the ongoing issue of youth unemployment in Edinburgh and to encourage participation in the development and delivery of the Edinburgh Guarantee.

Under the Guarantee, Edinburgh City Council has committed to ensuring that “…all teenagers will have the chance to leave school with a job, work placement or apprenticeship secured in order to drive down youth unemployment to zero”.

What is the Council doing?

As a lead partner in the Edinburgh Guarantee, and as the city’s largest single employer, the Council has fully committed to taking positive action to increase the number of opportunities that it offers to young people and to provide additional targeted support to maximise their take up.

In 2011/12 it created:

  • 50 new apprenticeships in the Council using existing Modern Apprentice Framework
  • 80 new training places in the Council offering support and work experience for young people assessed as not job ready
  • 50 opportunities with Council contractors through the use of community benefit clauses

How are businesses encouraged to participate?

The Council will provide support to other employers who join the Edinburgh Guarantee through the services of a dedicated Economic Development Business Liaison Officer. (pam.peters@edinburgh.gov.uk)

The types of support available include:

  • Marketing of opportunities
  • Briefing of young people’s support agencies
  • Pre-screening of applicants
  • Practical support for young person’s transition into work eg bus passes, food vouchers etc
  • In work support for vulnerable young people
  • Training for staff to be coaches/mentors for young people
  • Sign posting to potential funding sources
  • Sharing success and best practice

Facts’n’ Figures update:

Since it’s inception in 2011

  • more than 100 businesses and organisations have joined the Edinburgh Guarantee
  • over 400 additional opportunities have been generated
  • 50 new apprentice posts have been created within City of Edinburgh Council

What does that mean for young people in North Edinburgh? Will this initiative benefit them or pass them by?

From the progress being made it certainly looks like North Edinburgh is benefitting greatly from the initiative and employers are delighted at the choice of talent in the area.

The success of local initiatives has been noticed further afield – so much so that earlier this year Craigroyston Community High School had a very high profile visitor when HRH Prince Charles, Duke of Rothesay joined a number of business leaders on a ‘Seeing is believing’ visit.

As part of the visit, two local business leaders talked about their experiences of taking part in a paired reading programme every Thursday to support the school’s literacy programme.

The Duke heard all about the Employability Course – a course that offers pupils in S4 the chance to develop their skills, make the most of work experience opportunities and business mentoring.

Muirhouse Youth Development Group demonstrated how, having become a Social Enterprise, they ran a Bike Project in the school.

Scottish Champions of the ‘Formula 1 in Schools’ programme demonstrated their winning car and explained how business support had been crucial to their success.

Prince Charles visited each of these projects, and commended the links that the school and business leaders had established. He encouraged business leaders to increase their engagement with schools, and encouraged everyone to continue working towards positive destinations for all leavers.

Edinburgh’s Telford College – Junior College

“There are a huge number of young people who could excel in certain areas of employment if they were made aware of them and given access and opportunity to pursue them.“ says Principle Miles Dibsdall OBE (pictured above). Here at our Junior College students are presented with a range of courses to help them chose a route to further education or employment. The College works together with Children and Families and Economic Development teams at the Council to ensure that course planning is linked to both senior phased in secondary school and employment opportunities being created in the city.

“By understanding the areas of work in need of employees and reflecting this need in the qualifications we provide we have a good chance of making this (the Guarantee) a reality.” added Miles.

Other contributing local initiatives include Barnardo’s Works Edinburgh based close to Granton Square. The established team is about to embark on a fourth successive year delivering employment programmes across the city.

Participants of the programme go through a tailored induction to develop their employability skills before moving on to a placement with an employer whilst still able to claim benefits. Placements give the young people opportunity to demonstrate what they can bring to a business while the employer benefits from dedicated support throughout the placement period.

Employers can be part of this success – contact helen.brown@barnardos.org.uk

Facts’n’Figures: So far 40% of young people going through the Barnardo’s programme are now in independent employment across a range of sectors.

Ann Confrey

 

Community Renewal – ready and able to help

With the closure of the popular Community Employability Office on Ferry Road Drive, it is good to know that there is still a locally based support service ready and able to help residents of North Edinburgh find and make the most of available job, training, education or volunteering opportunities and to assist with a range of health and welfare issues (writes Ann Confrey). 

Since 2003 Community Renewal, a not for profit organisation, has been working to transform communities by engaging and supporting people to get involved in community activity and to improve health, learning and employment.

In 2008 Community Renewal extended it’s reach to include Edinburgh, opening offices to embark on area focused projects initially in Muirhouse and latterly Craigmillar.

Community Renewal staff work with unemployed people including those who may have significant barriers to accessing opportunities, with their overall aim to break through these barriers to reduce unemployment and health inequalities.

Through an open ended listening process people are supported to identify where they would like to make a change in their own lives and in their community and encouraged to take positive steps towards this.

James Riordan, Team Leader at the Muirhouse project explains how the team work: “At each Community Renewal Centre the door is always open and people can drop in for a chat and cup of tea. The biggest barrier people face to improving their lives can be lack of confidence so it is important to create an environment that is friendly and safe.

“We take a people first approach to help deal with a range of issues and, most importantly, to gain the trust of the people we come into contact with. Once we have gained the trust of an individual we learn about the real or perceived barriers that they need support to overcome. We build on the initial trust step by step until we are able to discuss and develop a personal plan that focuses on improving the individuals’ personal health and economic activity.

“We also look to tackle some of the environmental and social problems that contribute to stress, ill-health and low morale in the neighbourhood. This is part of Community Renewal’s holistic approach to breaking the cycle of decline”.

The UK and Scottish Governments have produced numerous programmes and spent many billions of pounds aimed at local regeneration, encouraging people into work and improving health. There is recognition that to be sustainable, neighbourhood regeneration cannot just be about bricks and mortar but must address employment and social issues in tandem. Otherwise the cycle of decline is not broken.

Despite this, figures collated in 2010 show that Scotland has more people in receipt of out-of-work-benefits than the average for Great Britain and that two-fifths of all working-age claimants of out-of-work disability benefits are under the age of 45.

In Scotland alone there are around 20,000 young people aged 16-19 not in work, education or training. In some housing estates and inner city areas only 1 in every 2 adults is economically active.

Figures from ONS population survey Oct 2010 – Sept 2011 show that in the Edinburgh North and Leith Parliamentary Constituency alone there are 12,800 economically inactive people. 9,460 are of working age and claiming benefits of some kind and of these 4,700 people over the age of 16 are registered unemployed.

Yet the same source (2008 figures) cites that there were 96,200 jobs on offer in the area. 66,000 of these were full time positions offering an attractive average pay of  £512.00 per week.

http://www.nomisweb.co.uk/reports/lmp/wpca/1929380436/report.aspx#tabwab

What is clear is that many residents of North Edinburgh and Leith are not easily accessing suitable jobs when they become available.

This is where Community Renewal can make a difference. They understand that people who are unemployed and particularly those who may find themselves long term economically inactive or who have a range of health or family difficulties do not always find it easy to motivate themselves to make positive changes in their lives.

The team take steps to understand what is really holding people back and what their real motivators for personal change are before encouraging and supporting them to take positive steps forward.

‘Partnership’ is today’s buzz-word in service delivery. But Community Renewal believes that the real challenge is in making this work at the grass roots level.

“All too often people find themselves referred from one agency to another completing endless forms and providing the same information over and over again until they end up confused, demoralised and eventually become lost in the system.

“Community Renewal aims to widen the range of services working effectively together for the benefit of the individual and the community as a whole. From housing departments, schools and colleges to NHS initiatives – we try to provide a simple and seamless process with one point of contact.

“We take the time to learn about the needs of the person and support them through the various services that can help – even bringing the service to them if necessary” adds James.

Next time you are in the area, don’t pass by, call in for a cup of tea and a friendly chat – it could mark the start of a whole new you!!

Success

The results speak for themselves, with over 3000 people involved with the projects finding jobs, over 1000 moving into training, education or volunteering and around another 1000 others taking active measures to improve their health and wellbeing.

Contact Community Renewal:

From pilot schemes supported by Glasgow City Council and European funding Community Renewal now has 50 staff plus a host of volunteers making a difference in communities across Scotland.

See how your local team can help you make a difference at:

Edinburgh – Muirhouse

(North Hub), Unit 13, 11 Pennywell Court

Muirhouse Shopping Centre, Edinburgh EH4 4TZ

Telephone 0131 332 8773

muirhouse@communityrenewal.org.uk

http://www.communityrenewal.org.uk

 

Ann Confrey 

 

Community Employability to close

The Community Employability office in Ferry Road Drive will close it’s doors for the last time tomorrow. The local employment and training organisation lost out as the city council restructured employability service delivery across the city. It’s understood that some staff have applied for positions with succesful bidder Community Renewal and may be interviewed early next month.

Community Employability came into being when national organisation Working Links decided to pull out of the North Edinburgh in July 2010. A partnership between Edinburgh Chamber of Commerce and North Edinburgh Trust saw the local employability service saved then, but there will be no reprieve this time round and the office closes tomorrow.

Community Employability’s current clients – around 300 people – have now been referred on to Pennywell Shopping Centre-based Community Renewal, which was part of the four-agency consortium that won the employability contract.

Lead organisation Stevenson College, Community Renewal, FourSquare and Volunteer Centre Edinburgh will now deliver Edinburgh’s integrated employability service for the next two years. It’s thought that the contract will save Edinburgh taxpayers at least £150,000.

No word yet of what will happen to Community Employability’s office on Ferry Road Drive – landlords Pilton Central Association are considering a number of options, including looking at the feasibity of using the premise as a resource for community organisations.

Bye, bye Bert!

Community Employability staff (see article above) will be interviewed for positions with the successful consortium early next month, but there will be no place for Bert Craig, for so long a familiar face through Working Links’ ‘Where’s Bert?’ feature in the NEN. Bert, who is now 67, finished up with Community Employability last week after ten years working in North Edinburgh.

“It’s very sad”, he said. “I think we did a pretty good job here over the years and we were never driven by targets or figures but concentrated instead on doing the very best we could to support people, helping them to make the right choices about what options were best for them and then supporting them all the way through. Some clients need a lot more support than others but that’s the nature of the job – every person who walks through our door is different, has different needs. For some, it’s maybe just a wee confidence boost that’s required or help with job applications or filling in forms, but there’s a huge sense of job satisfaction when a client you have been working intensively with finally lands that dream job which had seemed impossible just a few months before. Those are the ones you remember most”.

Bert hopes to find work and doesn’t plan to settle into retirement just yet. “I still feel I’ve got something to offer, and I hope my working experience and contacts here in North Edinburgh could be put to good use by a local organisation. We all know how difficult it is to find work just now, though – times are hard, and the telephone hasn’t rung so far. I’m here if anyone needs me, though – I love working in this area, feel part of the community and I feel I’ve got more to contribute. I’m just not ready to walk away yet”.

All the best, Bert – and who knows, maybe that telephone call may yet come?