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General Needs Housing Employment Compact. Training December 2009. Why is the Compact being put in place?. Housing organisations have a unique position to engage with their tenants (and families) to encourage them to move towards employment Raising incomes can also:
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General Needs Housing Employment Compact Training December 2009
Why is the Compact being put in place? • Housing organisations have a unique position to engage with their tenants (and families) to encourage them to move towards employment • Raising incomes can also: - widen people’s housing choices - increase confidence and reduce isolation - improve mental health - reduce domestic violence and other forms of abuse - create safer and more stable communities - increase input into houses and flats • Costs of unemployment are felt by individuals, council tax payers, city council, and government
Unemployment in Newcastle Newcastle residents at end of 2008: • 27.4% of people of working age were economically inactive - 21.2% in the country as a whole • 8.9% were unemployed - 5.7% across the whole country Council tenants in Newcastle at Sept 09 • 9.9% are unemployed
Unemployment amongst social housing tenants 55% of working age social housing tenants are economically inactive – compared to 21.1% of general population (Sept 09) • Social housing tenants are 15% of working age population but 30% of workless • The worklessness rate in social housing is twice that in the owner occupied sector • People unemployed in 1994 were more than twice as likely to still be unemployed ten years later if they were social tenants
Newcastle’s Local Area Agreement National Indicator 152: • To reduce the proportion of residents of working age who are on out-of-work benefits to 14.9% by March 2011 • Baseline is 16.3% in 2007
Newcastle’s Employability Action Plan 2008-2011 Priorities are: • Engagement at all stages along the pathway – priority groups are harder-to-reach groups (including homeless), young people, lone parents, people from BME groups, and people in Incapacity Benefit • Progression sustained • Holistic 1-1 support
Other drivers • Welfare reform – people will need to be able to demonstrate that they are moving towards work – or face reduced benefit • Adding value to the other work of housing providers • Building links with other agencies
Our aims 1. Developing clear progression pathways towards employment for social housing (and supported ) residents:- engagement - training- education- employment 2. Same minimum level of help regardless of which landlord or support provider
Our aims • Ensure housing staff know how and where to refer residents to • Ensure opportunities offered within the housing sector are available to all • Be able to demonstrate the outcomes from the offer of help from housing providers
The client journey DIAGNOSTICS JOB PLACEMENT ENGAGEMENT Assessment Pre - engagement RETENTION EMPLOYABILITY SERVICES Stability Phase Employer Involvement
The offer for social housing residents • Ask all unemployed tenants in first 6 weeks if they want help to get involved in education, training or employment • Use other opportunities to introduce the idea of moving towards work • Help people to overcome barriers to work, and to develop their skills, confidence, and motivation • Make referrals to Newcastle Futures or other services • Display information about access to employment and skills provision • Monitor outcomes – so we know if the approach is helping
Our partners • Tackling worklessness: Newcastle Futures – employment support agency targeting most disadvantaged and hardest to reach, and strategic co-ordination role • Supporting people into independence: Supporting People – fulfilling government expectations • Housing providers • JobCentre Plus and Connexions • Welfare Rights Service