DWP urges sector groups to provide new employment services - without more funding

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DWP urges sector groups to provide new employment services - without more funding 1

Finance | Tania Mason | 17 Nov 2010

The Department for Work and Pensions has announced it wants charities and community groups to look at setting up or supporting local Work Clubs to help unemployed people secure work – but is not offering any funding to help them do so.

Yesterday Chris Grayling, minister for employment (pictured), said: “Areas affected by unemployment often need a tailored approach to the problems they face and this is best provided locally by the experts on the ground rather than imposed from above.

“We’d urge charities, businesses and other organisations to consider the benefits of setting up Work Clubs, which can take on a number of forms depending on the needs of the community.”

Work Clubs are part of the government’s wider Get Britain Working measures which are aimed at getting people into jobs. A few clubs are already operating across the country, in areas including Banbury, Bicester and Warrington. The content of sessions varies from CV writing to interview techniques and developing basic IT skills.

National employers like Asda have already been involved, designing and delivering Work Club sessions in areas such as Birmingham.

However, when asked whether there would be any money available for civil society groups to carry out the government’s wishes, a DWP spokeswoman said: “We have no details on that.”

Sir Stuart: 'Funding needs to be urgently addressed'

DWP’s call came just a day before NCVO chief executive Sir Stuart Etherington said in a speech that funding is the "elephant in the room" that must be addressed urgently if the government’s vision of the Big Society is to become a reality.

In a speech at NCVO’s Autumn Conference in Manchester today, Sir Stuart said the Big Society agenda is doomed to fail unless adequate funding is put behind it.

He said: “We cannot argue for special treatment for our sector, just because of who we are. But we can argue that we should not be penalised or singled out for cuts because of who we are. And we can argue that if government is serious about achieving the Big Society, then it needs to ensure that our organisations are enabled to play their full part.”

Directory: National Council of Voluntary Organisations (NCVO)

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Lena Patel
Centre Manager
Nuneaton Women's Multicutural Resource Centre (NWMRC)
19 Feb 2011

I do think that setting up job clubs in community /voluntary organisations which are best placed to meet the needs of the community is a good idea in principle. However, to do this properly you need at least 1 paid staff and funding for the running costs of such a scheme.

For the Prime Minister’s vision of a "Big Society" to succeed, he needs to ensure that the very organisations he wants to do this work are properly funded to run such schemes.

I work for a small voluntary/community organisation in one of the most deprived areas in Nuneaton, with a strong ethnic minority community, where educational attainment is low and unemployment is higher than the national average.

The people who use the centre are from various cultural backgrounds, including wives of Ghurkas. Altogether, the users of the centres are made up of over 9 nationalities. 50% of our users are British White. I know the Prime Minister publicly denounced Multiculturalism but NWMRC is proof that it works.

Feedback from our centre users are "Everyone is so nice and welcoming", "I've made so many new friends", "I feel more confident", “I’ve learned so much about other cultures and can now understand and respect our differences "Thank you for kindness and patience", and many more such comments.

Due to the Government cut in funding to the local council and the county council, we might have to close very soon, as most of our funding last year came from those sources. The local authorities recognised that we are doing a fantastic job to help the local community but would not be able to give us any funding this year as they themselves have their budget severely cut by central government.

Unfortunately, NWMRC is not qualified to apply for The Transition Fund, as our income for last year was less that £40,000. Should we have to close (I cannot see how we can survive without help from the government) the 200 users of the centre from the local community who benefit from our facilities will definitely blame the current government for the closure of the centre.

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