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Councils working together to create 10,000 new jobs

(Picture: Photo of many hands on top of each other)

For the last three years, Blaenau Gwent have been piloting a scheme with the objective of arming unemployed people with the necessary skills, training and qualifications needed to increase their employment opportunities.

JobMatch has proven to be such a huge success exceeding all initial expectations, that it will now be rolled out across the entire Heads of the Valleys areas in conjunction with the existing Pathways to Work scheme.

Since the scheme was launched in 2004, 2,529 people have benefited by obtaining employment and skills training in a variety of fields including Administration, Social Care, Retail, Radio & Media and Plumbing.

Indeed, Administration has turned out to be the success story of the entire scheme. Recently, the Administration programme has reported a staggering 85 per cent success rate of providing training and obtaining qualifications in a wide range of administration skills such as qualifications in Minute Taking, First Aid at Work, Interview Techniques, CV writing, Applications, Assertiveness, Manual Handling and Health & Safety Awareness. These are currently working towards NVQ Level 2 in Administration.

Over the next five years, JobMatch will aim to work with a further 14,000 throughout the region with the objective of getting at least 10,000 into employment, support 4,000 through training and help as many as 2,000 people to obtain qualifications.

The Heads of the Valleys Employment Consortium has already been successful in achieving City Strategies/Pathfinder status to support this work through the Department for Work and Pensions. This has been matched with Heads of the Valleys Programme Funding.

The JobMatch scheme will start in Merthyr in November and will engage with inactive people regardless of the type of benefit they are claiming and the length of time they are unemployed.

One such person who has benefited from the JobMatch programme is Mrs ‘X’. Mrs ‘X’, a 33 year old mother of two who, after spending 3 years out of work to raise her young family was keen to return to employment. So, she enrolled on the Social Care Intermediate Labour Market Programme in January 2006.

“I have always been interested in working in the care sector, and hope to become a qualified Occupational Therapist in the future. I saw this course as a golden opportunity to gain experience, knowledge and qualifications whilst being paid what I consider to be a good training wage. This has been an ideal stepping-stone for a career in O.T.”.

With an interest in Learning Disabilities, she was placed with Sonael Care Home in Ebbw Vale and, having regained her confidence, she was quickly taking on the running of the day centre for service users. And, despite encountering a number of difficult challenges she was able to
overcome them thanks largely to JobMatch’s Mentoring support.

Whilst there she attained certificates in Infectious Disease Control, Food Hygiene, First Aid at Work, Principles of Care, Funeral Awareness, Manual Handling, Team Building, Communication Skills and various IT qualifications.

And, upon completing her placement, she successfully secured employment at Augusta House in Ebbw Vale and continues to receive support from the JobMatch Employment Liaison Team. She recently submitted her NVQ2 in Health & Social Care.

Similar success stories include Mr ‘X’. He had been unemployed for over 9 years, suffered from poor eyesight which prevented him from driving and his Literacy and Numeracy skills were at Level 1 in both prior to joining.

Having gained qualifications in media studies and relevant work experience, Mr ‘X’ didn’t feel it was the right route for him. He said: “I have studied music but found it hard to find a job in the industry. I am keen to go into care but have no formal qualifications”.

JobMatch placed him with a care home where he quickly fitted in with his team and, by the end of the Social Care element of the programme, he had enjoyed it so much that he started studying for a degree in psychology.

He added: “The Foundation training we were given was second to none; covering all aspects of care including First Aid, Care Principles, Food Hygiene and Health & Safety Awareness.

After the foundation period finished I was placed with my host. Prior to placement we were asked our preference for working with service users of residential care, mental health or learning disabilities. I chose mental health and was placed with Maesy-dderwen in Tredegar. Throughout my placement I was given support with training, my NVQ and any other situation that arose by both my host and the JobMatch team.

Overall the Social Care ILM helped me change my whole direction in life and has helped me personally as well as professionally”.