North Lanarkshire’s Working scheme aims to help 5000 back to work

FIVE thousand unemployed people across North Lanarkshire are to be helped to find work through a £15 million council initiative.

Employment programme North Lanarkshire’s Working is to provide nearly 1800 additional wage subsidies over three years to allow businesses to fund apprenticeships and new staff.

Officials plan to link up with local firms to find up to 4000 job opportunities in that period – especially targeting those aged under 25 – and will provide half their wages for six or 12 months.

It represents a £7 million expansion of the existing North Lanarkshire’s Working scheme, which currently supports 1100 people per year into employment, more than two-thirds thorugh wage subsidies and employer incentives.

Members of the regeneration services committee will this morning agree an extra cash injection of £1.7 million to “kickstart” the first year of the programme.

The council is expected to add a similar sum in the next two years, and will also be bidding for external funding, including from the Scottish Government’s youth employment budget.

A report for councillors at today’s meeting notes that there are 6720 North Lanarkshire under-25s on “inactive benefits” such as jobseekers’ allowance – more than four per cent above the Scottish average of 13.5 per cent.

It describes “young people becoming economically active” as a council priority and notes: “Acting now is about investing to save resources in the future.”

The expanded initiative would see the creation of apprenticeships for 16-24-year-olds, providing training and an accredited route into a job, with North Lanarkshire’s Working funding half the new recruit’s wage for a year.

It would also target the provision of entry-level private-sector posts and provide 50 per cent of each new employee’s wage for six months.

The report states: “It is proposed that we increase the numbers of wage subsidies by approximately 570 people each year so that we can work towards a three-year target of supporting 5000 people back into work.

“Of these, 80 per cent [would be] focused on young people, and within that [would] target vulnerable groups, those that have been unemployed for six months or more, and potentially unemployed graduates.

“A further 1000 people will be supported into work without the incentives; within the 16-24 pool, our focus will be on 16-18-year-olds.”

The programme is intended to address barriers to work, with a lack of experience, skills and qualifications being cited as the two biggest challenges by young people surveyed by North Lanarkshire’s Working.

Councillors were told: “Experiencing worklessness at an early age is a very negative experience for young people; it can result in a drop in skill levels and a growing lack of confidence.

“A high level of youth unemployment is also a major threat to an area’s long-term prosperity and productivity.

“When economies begin to grow and move out of recession, and there is increased demand for skills and labour, local people need to be in a good position to benefit from new jobs created.

“It is vital that we intervene now in order to prevent long-term damage to individuals and communities, which could [also] increase pressure on services such as social work, justice and health in future years.

“North Lanarkshire’s economy enjoyed growth that outstripped the national rate between 2003 and 2008 and has the potential to grow again at similar rates if economic conditions improve and the right support is in place.”