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The Tackling Worklessness Review was announced on 28 May 2008. See Communities and Local Government news release: New drive to get long term unemployed back to work.
Minister for Local Government John Healey and Employment Minister Stephen Timms invited Councillor Stephen Houghton (leader Barnsley MBC) to chair this independent review examining the role of local authorities and their partners in tackling worklessness. The other members of the group were Iqbal Wahhab, Chair of the Ethnic Minority Employment Advisory Group, and Claire Dove, Chair of the Social Enterprise Coalition.
The team published their emerging recommendations and Interim report for consultation on 27 November 2008. The consultation period ended on 9 January 2009. The consultation responses informed the development on the group's final recommendations published on 2 March 2009.
Building directly on Councillor Houghton's recommendations for a challenge fund to provide additional resources for local partners to deal with the impact of the recession and to create jobs, the Chancellor announced (in the Budget 22 April 2009) a £1bn Future Jobs Fund to create additional jobs for unemployed people. More information on the Future Jobs Fund, including how to bid can be found here: www.dwp.gov.uk/campaigns/futurejobsfund/ (external link).
Since the launch in May, Local Authority partners have played a hugely important role in delivering the Future Job Fund commitment - extended recently in the DWP Paper - Building Britain's Recovery - to offer a total of 170,000 jobs for young people and those furthest from the labour market. The fund is an integral part of the Young Person's Guarantee that ensures that every 18 to 24 year old receives an offer of a job, training or work-experience when they reach 6 month point of their claim to Jobseekers Allowance. By the time the Guarantee went live in January 2010 funding for over 100,000 jobs had already been agreed.
Since the announcement of the fund, employers in all regions have been submitting bids for funding to create new jobs - with Local Authorities playing a vital role in creating good quality and meaningful work for those excluded from the labour market. To date over half of all successful bids have been Local Authority led - with many offering apprenticeship opportunities and experience in key sectors. For example, of the 4,000 jobs agreed from round 2 of the Future Jobs Fund over 40 per cent are being delivered through local authority partnerships with nearly 300 green jobs and over thirty apprenticeship places. (See the Brighton and Hove case study below).
The IDeA will shortly be publishing a 'How To' guide setting out how authorities can maximise the support offered by the fund, including guidance on constructing a bid and case study examples from authorities that have successfully bid for funding www.idea.gov.uk/worklessness (external link).
Communities and Local Government and the Department for Work and Pensions published their response to the Tackling Worklessness Review, Stepping up to the challenge, on 13 May 2009. It sets out the basis for a stronger partnership between central and local government; a framework for sub-regional and local partnerships to demonstrate where they are ready and able to go further; and a framework to take forward future devolution on a something for something approach.
On the 4 February 2010 the National Worklessness Learning Forum met for the first time. This forum is designed to drive the local delivery and allow a space for all local partners to engage and share best practice.
Communities and Local Government and Department of Work and Pensions set out the next steps of the Houghton Implementation programme at this event with the publication of the Work and Skills Plan's Policy Statement - Next Steps www.dwp.gov.uk/docs/work-skills-plans.pdf (pdf - external link).
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