LB of Hammersmith & Fulham Housing Options Division Housing & Employment Team Joseph Pascual Team Manager

1. LB of Hammersmith & FulhamHousing Options DivisionHousing & Employment TeamJoseph PascualTeam Manager

2. Project name: H&F Employment Ladder • Team of 4 situated within Housing Options Accommodation Services • Funded by the LDA with in-house top-up. • Operational delivery vehicle of the Enhanced Housing Options Project and Regeneration’s agenda on tackling worklessness. • Enabling access to skills training and job and work experience opportunities by delivering in-house, employment-focused IAG and by working with other employability service providers and employers Background

3. Referrals come from Housing Options colleagues through the web based West London HELP database • Target beneficiaries are: • Customers in housing needor those on the council’s Housing Register, H&F Homes tenants or living in a housing association property in the borough, and • Are claiming Income Support, Employment Support Allowance, Incapacity Benefit or Job Seekers Allowance Background (cont.)

4. H&F Employment Ladder - Delivery Model (Output 1) Referrals to Employability Service Providers Quality Time (Output 7) Staff Receiving Training and Input (Output 3) Gaining Training (ESOL, etc) (Output 5) Gaining Work (Output 6) Sustaining Work >6 months (Output 2) >1 Hour Contact Time - Accessing Support Referrals • Assessment of Barriers • Motivation • Individual Action Plan (Output 4) Accessing Childcare Support Monitoring and Assisting Customer Progress

5. West London Housing & Employment Link Project (HELP) • Income Project (Independence, Accommodation and Employment) • 15 non-tenant adults • Life Coaching Programme • 50 lone parents in TA • Apprenticeships Scheme • 15 places Initiatives

6. Childcare Support Schemes through LBHF Early Years • Childcare Matters • Childcare Support Scheme • Family Solutions • Fulham Court Regeneration Project Initiatives

7. H&F Employment Ladder –Targets and YTD Stats

8. 3 Months on… What works and why? • High level support - to embed additional ‘offer’ in traditional housing advice (over 150 referrals since April 2009) • Enhanced Housing Options – backdrop to culture change • West London HELP – web based referral system • West London Working – sharing and learning best practice • Regeneration initiatives e.g. Apprenticeship Scheme – guaranteed interviews for project beneficiaries. Work placements next. • Allocation Policy – rehousing quotas for applicants in full-time employment • In-house IAG provision – homelessness and worklessness are linked • Partnerships with: • Early Years - childcare places coordination and brokerage • Adult education – training courses • Complementary IAG providers – specialist support for ex-offenders, those with disability, young people • Employer engagement – work experience or voluntary work (majority of clients are long term unemployed)

9. 3 Months on… Challenges • Customers • Lack of belief in their own abilities or unrealistic job-entry expectations • Lack of recent work experience – long gaps in some instances • Childcare requirements between • Better off or worse off scenario • High rent in TA and private rented sector • High competition for jobs – current economic climate • Welfare reforms – still a long way to having a benefit system that really incentivices working • Complementary IAG providers – difficult to track down clients’ progress if feedback not offered