Submitted by stephw2w on Mon, 13/06/2011 - 2:31pm.
It shouldn't impact at all as one of the other headline projects of the government is to plough more money into apprenticeships, diverting money from Train to Gain and other skills pots and "creating" more opportunities. A recent quote from John Hayes, “... by the end of this Parliament, my aim is to deliver the greatest number of apprenticeships in this country’s history.”
If you Google apprenticeships + john + hayes you'll find lots of information about it. Also apprenticeships come under BIS and WP under DWP so it's totally separate. However this is something that WP providers should explore with jobseekers so WP could have a positive impact.
Download the Skills for Growth paper from BIS which outline the government's plans. Here's a link for you: http://tiny.cc/0i3ce
Submitted by cheekymonkey on Mon, 13/06/2011 - 6:25pm.
Back-to-work scheme sees 75% of workforce slashed
Thursday, June 02, 2011, 09:00Comment on this story
A REPLACEMENT government scheme to get people back to work in Cornwall will start by making about 75 per cent of its workforce redundant.
The existing 100 staff have been handed redundancy notices, with interviews to reapply for their jobs beginning this week.
Flexible New Deal, provided by Working Links in Devon and Cornwall, was a Labour government initiative to get people on Job Seeker's Allowance back into work which started in October 2009.
Due to supersede it this summer, The Work Programme will also help people, including those on health-related benefits and ex-offenders.
Working Links has been named as the preferred provider for the South West alongside Prospects Services.
A worker from the Flexible New Deal programme from the West Briton area said staff morale has been "rock bottom" and added: "It's quite ironic, and a sad state of affairs, that the first move of a new government back-to-work programme is to make people redundant.
"We were told the Flexible New Deal programme would last five years, then the new one came in to replace it.
"We were told we would be fine if we won the contract, if not we would be transferred over to work for whoever did.
"We have won the contract but 75 per cent of us are still going."
He said with caseloads increasing from between 60 and 80 clients per person to about 120 the quality of their work will inevitably drop, as the Government pays companies more if they get the hardest to help off benefits and into work.
Of the five Working Links Cornish offices, St Austell will shut and another in Redruth is expected to close, leaving Penzance, Truro and Bodmin.
A spokesman for the Department for Work and Pensions said plans businesses were making to fulfil their contracts were a matter for the preferred provider and not themselves – despite claiming The Work Programme "is very much a partnership between Government and providers" on its website.
Submitted by Prometheus on Mon, 13/06/2011 - 7:18pm.
It has always been an acute embarrassment that any Government should provide taxpayers money for employers training needs, either through Apprenticeships or Modern Apprenticeships, and far better that employers finance their own way in the world rather than rely on taxpayers, or even students financing their own College and University. I think that, with the Liberals having sanctioned the increase in Student Tuition Fees to £9K, the taxpayer will be underwriting HE by about £1 Billion.
As for staff in Working Links being made redundant.... Tough Cookie. However, the jobs front is still optimistic, and to paraphrase Norman Tebbitt..... "Get On Your Bikes".
It shouldn't impact at all as one of the other headline projects of the government is to plough more money into apprenticeships, diverting money from Train to Gain and other skills pots and "creating" more opportunities. A recent quote from John Hayes, “... by the end of this Parliament, my aim is to deliver the greatest number of apprenticeships in this country’s history.”
If you Google apprenticeships + john + hayes you'll find lots of information about it. Also apprenticeships come under BIS and WP under DWP so it's totally separate. However this is something that WP providers should explore with jobseekers so WP could have a positive impact.
Download the Skills for Growth paper from BIS which outline the government's plans. Here's a link for you: http://tiny.cc/0i3ce
Back-to-work scheme sees 75% of workforce slashed
Thursday, June 02, 2011, 09:00Comment on this story
A REPLACEMENT government scheme to get people back to work in Cornwall will start by making about 75 per cent of its workforce redundant.
The existing 100 staff have been handed redundancy notices, with interviews to reapply for their jobs beginning this week.
Flexible New Deal, provided by Working Links in Devon and Cornwall, was a Labour government initiative to get people on Job Seeker's Allowance back into work which started in October 2009.
Due to supersede it this summer, The Work Programme will also help people, including those on health-related benefits and ex-offenders.
Working Links has been named as the preferred provider for the South West alongside Prospects Services.
A worker from the Flexible New Deal programme from the West Briton area said staff morale has been "rock bottom" and added: "It's quite ironic, and a sad state of affairs, that the first move of a new government back-to-work programme is to make people redundant.
"We were told the Flexible New Deal programme would last five years, then the new one came in to replace it.
"We were told we would be fine if we won the contract, if not we would be transferred over to work for whoever did.
"We have won the contract but 75 per cent of us are still going."
He said with caseloads increasing from between 60 and 80 clients per person to about 120 the quality of their work will inevitably drop, as the Government pays companies more if they get the hardest to help off benefits and into work.
Of the five Working Links Cornish offices, St Austell will shut and another in Redruth is expected to close, leaving Penzance, Truro and Bodmin.
A spokesman for the Department for Work and Pensions said plans businesses were making to fulfil their contracts were a matter for the preferred provider and not themselves – despite claiming The Work Programme "is very much a partnership between Government and providers" on its website.
Aaah .. so this is how the government intend to work with private enterprise to get Britain working is it?
It has always been an acute embarrassment that any Government should provide taxpayers money for employers training needs, either through Apprenticeships or Modern Apprenticeships, and far better that employers finance their own way in the world rather than rely on taxpayers, or even students financing their own College and University. I think that, with the Liberals having sanctioned the increase in Student Tuition Fees to £9K, the taxpayer will be underwriting HE by about £1 Billion.
As for staff in Working Links being made redundant.... Tough Cookie. However, the jobs front is still optimistic, and to paraphrase Norman Tebbitt..... "Get On Your Bikes".
http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b0120yd0/House_of_Commons_Live_Work...