Centre visit - i2i's Manchester FND delivery

In the last of the current series of site visits, I visited i2i's Manchester FND delivery centre earlier this week. As a subcontractor to Serco, I thought it might be interesting to see how they are finding the move from delivering the Gateway stage of New Deal over to FND.

Office Structure

The staff at Manchester's i2i FND delivery centre are divided up into very distinct roles of programme manager, account managers, job brokers, and job coaches. They have 2 account managers, one of whom worked in welfare to work before delivering FND, and the other who comes from a very different background.

The account managers find live vacancies, set up accounts with local companies and organisations, get guaranteed interviews for job seekers, and pass all the relevant information about the vacancies on to the job brokers who work with the jobseekers as advisers.

Innovation

The account managers work with Local Councils where possible, to establish a working relationship and have found some to be more receptive than others. i2i feel the key point here is showing councils how working with them, and providing work trials for job seekers would benefit their wider work in the community and help them as large employers, to fulfil their recruitment needs.

One of the projects that i2i is involved in at the moment is a two day course at Manchester Airport Academy. Job seekers work towards a GSAT qualification, and are guaranteed interviews after they complete the course. Liverpool airport is looking at setting up something similar.

Coaching Academy

Another innovative scheme that i2i has found effective is their 'i2i Coaching Academy'. They base sessions in professional football clubs, such as Everton, Sunderland and Blackburn FC, which encourages job seekers to come to an appealing venue in order to use football as a way to help individuals build up certain skills, such as team work and leadership through job related activities. These include using football to show the importance of clarity and decision-making in fast-moving, high-pressured environment. They also have recruitment specialists available on site and have found that this particular academy model has worked well with people at all levels of job readiness. i2i is expanding this project elsewhere due to its success. t the time, they offer them to other local providers.

i2i is working with a number of other companies who are willing to replicate the academy scheme. Strong local links have meant that a number of i2i's job seekers will be interviewed for the initial staffing of a new Holiday Inn that is being built in the area.

Jobs Fair and Work Trials

i2i held a very successful jobs fair in October with employers from the hotel industry coming in and talking with job seekers. As a result, a number of individuals were placed in work and/or work trials. The event was held on site to enable the job seekers to feel more at ease in a familiar environment. i2i is putting together another event to be held in February, expanding it to include other industries too. Their primary focus was on the hotel industry, as it is strong in Manchester and can open up possibilities for a number of different jobs, from catering to cleaning.

The team is starting 'Workshop Wednesdays' this week, which will allow for job ready job seekers to spend dedicated one-on-one time with the account managers, enabling them to better search for jobs to match the job seekers skills and interests.

Jackie, the senior Programme Manager, feels that i2i’s focus on Work Trials makes them different to others. Over 80% of their job seekers who have taken part in work trials have remained with that employer in sustained employment. All those who took up pre-Christmas placements in Manchester's hotels are still working there now.

Streaming and Skills

Streaming is done but, as with most providers, this is largely for internal purposes in order to ascertain how far an individual is from the labour market, and how much extra support they may need. For example, a number of their job seekers need further assistance with developing their English language skills, and so i2i establish this and can then refer them to an ESOL course to help them, step by step, get closer to the labour market.

i2i also offer a number of on site skills development sessions, from CV building to interview practice, the jobs coaches hold group sessions to enable individuals to further develop their skills in particular areas.

Job seekers are booked in to the jobs café fortnightly, where they can search for jobs on the computers where they receive support and get intelligence on labour market opportunities from a member of staff. In terms of time spent with their job brokers, job ready individuals come in as often as they like, but as a minimum once a week, and non-job ready individuals once a fortnight.

Thoughts on FND

Jackie, who delivered the Gateway, Gateway to Work and Follow Through programmes under New Deal before FND1, feels there is always room for improvement for delivery of the contract and is proactive in establishing appropriate methods. Serco has a three step model for FND delivery which, as a subcontractor i2i work in all three steps. The first step involves intensive jobsearch from the induction through to sustained work, which the Manchester office is currently delivering. Step 2 focuses on the building of skills through individual/group sessions alongside continued job search and placement. Step 3 is designed to focus on intensive job search with more direct, bespoke assistance addressing complex work barriers.

Unlike most providers, i2i’s jobseeker numbers in the early stages of FND, are actually up on what they were expecting. This week alone they have had 150 referrals. However, a number of job seekers do not always attend their initial inductions, and so numbers can fluctuate from group to group.

“FND is basically all the New Deal contracts rolled into one,” says Jackie, which makes for a much more diverse customer base, but also means that the provider can never be sure who will be walking through the doors next. However, she feels that FND is much better at leading to sustained employment, making it certainly more successful than New Deal in that sense and the Serco model we run puts people into jobs at the earliest opportunity.

Funding and Additional Support

Discretionary funding is available for items or services that are helping customers find work, for example suits and tools. This seems to be a practice carried out by a number of providers, and has proven useful for job seekers.

i2i has received strong testimonials from employers who job seekers have found work with, including one who employed two individuals as chefs, one of whom had been unemployed for eight years prior to this.

They also provide in work support for all new recruits, unless they wish to opt out, which lasts for around six months, and can vary from acting as a liaison between the employer and employee to helping individuals look for other jobs if their position is only temporary.

Mixed Caseloads

The job brokers have mixed caseloads of individuals with varying degrees of job-readiness. Some of the job brokers were in fact unemployed themselves, and have applied for jobs with the team after seeing how the schemes work for themselves, providing a real understanding of how it feels to walk into a delivery centre for the first time.

As noted earlier, staff have come from a range of backgrounds in this office, from those who were unemployed, to those who have worked in entirely different industries working alongside those who have been delivering other contracts for a few years. They feel this blend is a strong and necessary one, that has led to a very close-knit team being formed with experience to be gained from all.

Delivery Process

Job seekers have an initial 3 part induction when joining i2i, and are then introduced to their specific job broker at the end for an initial meeting. The inductions are carried out in groups, and diagnostic activities are carried out with the aim of ascertaining how job-ready individuals are. Other parts of the induction include further group sessions carried out by a job coach, and at some point all job seekers take part in a motivational session. I sat in on one of these on my visit and Simon, the job coach, used videos and discussion very well to build job seekers self confidence.

Provider Partnership

Serco promote interaction and the sharing of good practice between providers, and i2i support this as a subcontractor. Their aim is that all providers have the same motivation – to help people back into sustained employment – and so when i2i has vacancies they cannot fill at the time, they offer them to other local providers.