Leicestershire County Council Approach To Worklessness

Heather Bell

Policy & Partnerships Manager

LCC Economic Growth Priorities complement and support the LLEP’s Economic Growth Plan:

• Worklessness• Employment Land & Buildings• Sector Priorities e.g. Distribution & Logistics• Capital Availability• Enterprise Growth

Why worklessness:• Improving quality of people’s lives• One in 10 people in the County claiming benefits and one in

5 in the City, highest proportion on ESA and incapacity benefits.

• Ensuring that Leicestershire has a suitably skilled workforce• A 20% increase in worklessness would cost an additional

£13 million a year• Our 3,300 troubled families and families with complex needs

cost us £158 million per annum• Introduction of Universal Credit.

Worklessness

"people of working age who are not in formal employment, but who are looking for a job (the unemployed), together with people of working age who are neither formally employed nor looking for formal employment (the economically inactive)".

(Source: the Department of Work and Pensions)

Leicestershire Work and Skills Board

• Membership includes the Skills Funding Agency, BIS, District council representative, Voluntary sector; College representative, Work programme providers, Job centre plus, Groundwork et al.

• Aim to better co-ordinate what is already happening to provide a better service and reduce costs.

• Will link into the LLEP Employment and Skills Group.

• Employer Hub model• Construction Based Initiative• Local employment clauses in Procurement contracts• Supporting Leicestershire Families• Opportunities through Green Deal for local

employment• Local initiatives

Projects Currently Underway:

Local Initiative: Marks and Spencer E-Commerce Centre

Castle Donington

• Marks and Spencer E-Commerce Distribution Centre• Looking to assist in the linking of transport to people

to employment.• Local Sustainable Transport Fund with the People

2 Places and Wheels to Work schemes.• Ensuring that Leicestershire people are aware of the

opportunities offered in the development particularly those `furthest from the job market’.

• Working with lead agencies - Derby JCP and Remploy

Example of current work:

LCC Apprentices

• Currently there are 60 apprentices directly employed by LCC in a variety of roles – particularly in Business & Administration and Customer Service. Looking to increase this number in future.

• Also around 190 apprentices have been placed in Small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in the County through the Adult Learning Service

Construction Opportunities

• Through the Work & Skills Board agree to co-ordinate major planning applications of developments which could provide opportunities for employment and apprenticeships.

• Opportunities may exist through Section 106 Planning remit to collect funding for a central construction employment hub. A pilot is currently being worked on at Glenfield Park in Blaby District and the Crescent Retail scheme in Hinckley.

• From this a County-wide scheme will be developed.• Coordinated approach with Leicestershire colleges,

developers; Job Centre Plus; other Public and voluntary sector organisations.

Developing the Leicestershire Offer

• Develop a Leicestershire hub, similar to Cornwall Works.• This covers all training and employment information for the

client and also brings together associated areas such as Debt Advice.

• Providers and businesses can also gather information at this “One-stop shop”

• Exploring the development of an online directory for all users.