{"id":52024,"date":"2014-12-26T00:15:00","date_gmt":"2014-12-26T00:15:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/?guid=cdede710289674081c2565ba56bf79e8"},"modified":"2014-12-26T00:15:00","modified_gmt":"2014-12-26T00:15:00","slug":"press-release-jobcentre-staff-targeting-blitz-at-unusual-locations-taking-work-support-direct-to-jobseekers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/?p=52024","title":{"rendered":"Press release: Jobcentre staff targeting blitz at unusual locations: taking work support direct to jobseekers"},"content":{"rendered":"
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With a jobs revolution sweeping the country, Jobcentre staff are getting out and about and taking work support direct to jobseekers as part of a new blitz targeting unusual locations \u2013 from football clubs to prisons and homeless shelters.<\/p>\n

As employment numbers reach a record 30.8 million, and the number of people on the main out-of-work benefits is the lowest for a quarter of a century, Jobcentre Plus Work Coaches \u2013 the government\u2019s army of jobs experts \u2013 are heading out to meet the public in children\u2019s centres, youth hubs, homeless shelters, and rural work clubs, to offer targeted support to people who need it most.<\/p>\n

This more direct approach to helping jobseekers back to work has seen roaming Work Coaches partnering up with professional football clubs, including Arsenal, Everton, and Tottenham Hotspur, to set up schemes that help young people build confidence and skills to prepare them to find work.<\/p>\n

And they are setting up shop in prisons across the country to help prisoners who are soon to leave custody prepare for a new life away from crime and in work.<\/p>\n

New figures released last week show that an average of 1,500 more people were in work every day over the last year and the number of people on the main out-of-work benefits is down by more than 850,000 to under 4 million \u2013 the lowest it has been since 1990.<\/p>\n

Employment Minister Esther McVey said:<\/p>\n

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Our hardworking Jobcentre Plus staff have made a huge contribution to Britain\u2019s jobs success this year. By doing things differently, and getting out to where jobseekers are, they\u2019re helping thousands into work every day.<\/p>\n

We have broken record after record in 2014 \u2013 with huge falls in youth and long-term unemployment and the highest number of women in work on record.<\/p>\n

This new approach is working. What we can see at the end of the year is that our welfare reforms are ensuring that people have the skills and opportunities to move into work.<\/p>\n

But behind these record figures there are countless stories of individual hard work and determination \u2013 stories of people turning their lives around, of families who are now feeling more secure over the Christmas period with a regular wage, and of young people escaping unemployment and building a career.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Specialist Work Coaches are based in prisons across the country where they can help parolees sign up to Jobseeker\u2019s Allowance up to 6 weeks before they are released. Once they sign up, they are automatically placed on to the Work Programme to help them build up skills and experience.<\/p>\n

The Work Programme<\/a> is designed to get the hardest to help jobseekers back into work and has now helped 368,000 long-term unemployed claimants find sustainable work.<\/p>\n

Jobcentre Plus staff have also helped budding entrepreneurs to set up more than 60,000 new businesses through the government\u2019s New Enterprise Allowance<\/a> scheme, which helps jobseekers, lone parents and people on sickness benefits, with a good idea, to start up their own business.<\/p>\n

Since 2011, more than 360,000 people of all ages have taken up opportunities through employer-led sector-based work academies, or work experience placements through Jobcentre Plus, to give them a job taster and a guaranteed job interview.<\/p>\n

In Bootle, Merseyside, Jobcentre Plus has staff working from the local Youth Hub to provide guidance and advice to young people in the area and to offer chances to gain skills and experience through Sector-based Work Academies \u2013 which are employer-led training courses that lead to a guaranteed job interview.<\/p>\n

And in Scotland, Stranraer Jobcentre Plus staff have established weekly work clubs in rural areas to provide help on budgeting, mock interviews, CVs and cover letters, and job applications.<\/p>\n

Contact the Press Office<\/h2>\n

Media enquiries for this press release \u2013 020 3267 5122<\/p>\n

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Press Office<\/h3>\n
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\nCaxton House
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\nTothill Street<\/span>
London<\/span>
SW1H 9NA<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

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\n London Press Office (national media and London area enquiries only \u2013 not questions about personal claims)<\/span>
\n 020 3267 5144\n <\/p>\n

\n Out-of-hours (journalists only)<\/span>
\n 076 59 108 883\n <\/p>\n

\n England and Wales (local media enquiries)<\/span>
\n 029 20 586 then 097 or 098 or 099\n <\/p>\n

\n Scotland (local media enquiries)<\/span>
\n 0131 310 1122\n <\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n

Follow DWP on:<\/p>\n