Equal-Works

Background

In Scotland, areas of potential employment for people re-entering the labour market include natural heritage (of 11,750 UK employees with 2,200 additional employees each year), tourism (Scottish Tourism employs 8% of the population within a £4 billion per year (and growing) industry) and construction (33,000 new employees required in Scotland before 2006). All these sectors are represented within the DP.

There is strong evidence that there are a number of unemployed people who can be classed as ‘serial trainees’ who move from one training programme to another, and never achieve a positive outcome. The EQUAL Employability pilots seek to break the cycle and improve the success rate of the client groups.  

The potential jobs are there, the potential pool of labour has been identified: this partnership has been formed to support into employment those people who find themselves furthest from the labour market.

Aims 

To test and develop innovative methods and approaches across pathways to employment that enable a range of disadvantaged beneficiaries to increase their employability. Also to empower organisations by increasing their skills set to deal with their client group more effectively through improved, structured training for the deliverer.

Objectives

To deliver training and support at three levels:

• initial engagement in learning
• specific ‘job-ready’ skills
• structured support during initial employment.
  

• Developing a road map and learning pathway for ex-offenders and individuals leaving residential care that is relevant to their situation.
• Working with people with mental health problems to improve their skills through the use of art, drama and music.
• Facilitating people from all sectors of society to become actively involved in their local environment.
• Developing an after-care and mentoring project.
• Developing an interactive job search toolkit designed to help the long-term unemployed into employment.
• Developing and delivering the Inside Out programme, a community-based employment-focused programme for ex-offenders.
• Tackling both social and geographic exclusion across the North Highland area of those groups with physical or mental disabilities, young people with learning difficulties and those who, due to behavioural problems, have become excluded from the workforce.
• Improving young offenders’ future employability.
• Working with Asperger sufferers who wish to work to raise awareness amongst Scottish employers.

• Women
• Older people
• People with physical disabilities
• People with autistic spectrum disorders or mental health problems
• Prisoners and ex-offenders
• People from areas of high unemployment in rural and urban areas
• People with alcohol and drug dependency problems

The partnership has been formed in order to deliver the Equal programme to support those furthest from the labour market. It has brought together partners from relevant employment growth sectors (tourism, construction and natural heritage) and includes further education colleges, universities, public, private and voluntary sector employment agencies, councils, enterprise groups, voluntary organisations, private and social enterprise companies. The project partners are from both rural and urban areas of Scotland and activities have been delivered on a national basis.

Assisting disadvantaged people to access sustainable employment 

The overall aim of the Equal Employability DP was to assist disadvantaged people, regardless of the multiple barriers that they faced, to have an equal opportunity of accessing sustainable employment.
Thirteen partners participated in the project and they worked together to develop a ‘pathway to employment’ that engaged with those furthest from the labour market. Each partner worked on developing a new intervention on a different part of the ‘pathway to employment’.

The project dealt with 1,104 beneficiaries in total over the two-and-a-half year period from 1 July 2005 to 31 December 2007. Of these 1,104 beneficiaries, 67% went into employment, training or further education.

Steps in the Pathway to Employment

At the first level, three projects (Ayr College, The Princes Trust and Momentum) worked with those furthest from the labour market. This included the hardest-to-reach and included people with chaotic lifestyles, ex-offenders, young people with no qualifications, and people with mental health issues.

At the next stage, three partners (Adam Smith College, North Highland College and Reid Kerr College) developed Core Skills and vocational training. This focused on enabling unemployed participants to improve their employability skills using motivational courses and tools.

At the third level, two partners (Dundee College and the University of the West of Scotland) focused on improving beneficiaries’ jobseeking skills through the development of multimedia resources and qualifications for employment advisers, whilst another two (BTCV and Volunteer Centre North Lanarkshire) focused on developing innovative approaches using volunteering to improve participants’ employability skills.

Finally, for those participants nearer employment, The Lennox Partnership, Prospects and Cumbernauld College structured pre-employment training designed to enable participants to enter sustainable employment by providing training and after-care support.

Significant outputs

In achieving its aims and objectives, the Equal Employability DP produced 18 significant outputs. It produced one new information service, one new learning toolkit, nine new learning or training programmes, two new qualifications, two new IT, ICT and multimedia applications, and three new research reports.

Examples from each of the partners are listed below:

• Ayr College produced a soft skills review
• Momentum produced a Starting Point DVD, reporting on the achievements of the project.
• Communities Scotland produced a Learning Point on the work of the DP
• BTCV produced a volunteer pack
• VCNL produced a report entitled ‘Challenging Limits’ which investigated the impacts and responsibilities of people with mental health issues, people with disabilities and excluded young people in volunteering
• Prospects produced a handbook for employers on employing people with Asperger Syndrome
• Dundee College produced an interactive jobsearch tool called the ‘Employment Driver’
• The University of the West of Scotland (formally the University of Paisley) produced an Employment Advisers course to HNC level
• The Lennox Partnership successfully piloted the Strive Project: a franchised programme from America which is now being piloted in Dundee as well as its original location of Clydebank.
  

Transnational work

The partnership also participated in a successful transnational partnership known as ‘The Routes to Employment’ Partnership, which involved three other DPs from Lithuania (two) and Finland. This successful collaboration saw the production of a transnational module and a transnational web site to which all transnational partners contributed. This was produced following eight transnational meetings and steering group meetings held in Lithuania, Finland and Scotland.