Issue - meetings

The Board considered a report of the Executive Director – Environment and Regeneration, which provided an overview of the current services provided by Halton People into Jobs (HPIJ) and its future focus to engage with more economically inactive residents for Ways to Work and the new Work and Health Pioneer Programme.

The report outlined the definitions of being ‘economically inactive’ in the context of each of the above Programmes and it was noted that the Programmes were voluntary, for individuals that met the respective economically inactive criteria, and were looking to start work in the immediate future.

Members were provided with data on the economically inactive population in Halton between July 22 to July 23 which showed a comparison with regional and national figures.  Also, performance and achievements for both Programmes so far was presented.

Further information was given, following Members’ questions:

·         HPIJ and the Regeneration and Business Growth Teams often liaised with each other, as there was some crossover with the services;

·         Clients’ requesting business start-up help via the HPIJ services were signposted to the relevant departments for assistance;

·         Information on ‘Access to Work’ was provided to employers in contact with HPIJ;

·         People who wanted to work (shown on the data as 4,200 in the Borough) used a variety of methods to look for work independently, so only a small portion of these came to HPIJ and Job Centre Plus (JCP);

·         Those who did use HPIJ to look for assistance in getting a job did so voluntarily and completed a 100 question diagnostic first, to determine any issues that might require dealing with prior to searching for work – such as mental health problems, physical health problems and benefit payments;

·         An affordability exercise was also completed for each client, to ensure they would not lose out financially by returning to work; and

·         It was felt that the WHP Pioneer Programme target of 28 paid job outcomes was low, in comparison to the number of people looking for work (4,200) – it was explained that this was due to the complexity of clients the service dealt with.  It was also a pilot programme so numbers could be revised in time.

In conclusion, Members were presented with two good new stories, one from the Ways to Work Programme and one from the Work and Health Pioneer Programme.

RESOLVED:  That the report is noted.