Working Links continue delivering Deprived Areas Fund
Date: 13 October 2009
After 25 months of delivering the DAF contract in Ayrshire,
Dumfries & Galloway and Inverclyde Working Links has
successfully won the re-tender of the contract from the Department
for Work and Pensions (DWP).
The contract is designed to engage with
unemployed people living in some of the most deprived areas of
Scotland providing them with personalised support to find, get and
retain work.
Since 2006 Working Links has engaged with over
3,000 local people and registered over 2,100 customers onto the
programme.
Using the support of the Individual Customer
Fund, a tool offered by Jobcentre Plus to help overcome financial
costs of training courses and other necessary items, the nine staff
from Working Links regularly use it to reduce the impact of
financial constraints on returning to work.
The unique DAF contract encourages local
organisations to refer customers onto the programme. Working Links
works with partners such as Inverclyde Community Development Trust
(ICDT), Dumfries and Galloway Council, Lowlands Training and
Kilmarnock College to find the best methods to support people in
real jobs that last.
Over the next 18 months Working Links will
work with almost 2,000 customers helping them enter work and
hopefully enhancing both their and their families’ lives.
John Dolan, Senior Scottish Operations Manager
said, “Winning the Deprived Areas Contract is a great achievement
for Working Links. This is one of the most important contracts we
have in Scotland helping out communities that often feel excluded
due to the severity of the deprivation within the areas. It
inspires customers to feel connected and leaves a legacy of
motivated and financially better off individuals behind it.”
Barbara Milligan, is someone who benefited
from the support of Working Links, having been out of work for a
period of time, she was helped into a role with Jobcentre Plus, she
says, “My consultant, Yvonne Finnigan, was great, she helped me
create a new CV as the one I was using was very old fashioned and
not very informative. When I did get a job they didn’t just forget
about me they continued to offer support and advice as I settled
into my new role.
“Without Working Links and Yvonne's help I
would have found it difficult financially to start back in
employment. I found Yvonne very friendly and easy to talk to and
she was very knowledgeable in her field of work. Because of this I
often recommend Working Links to my Jobcentre Plus customers and
have had fantastic feedback from them on both the service they
receive and the jobs they have taken.”