Nottingham City Council’s unique employment and skills service Nottingham Jobs has been awarded over £4 million to support unemployed people of all ages and to help local businesses increase the skills of their employees with in-work training.
The funding which comes from the European Social Fund, will enable the council to sustain its community-focussed activity across Nottingham and will be used to deliver three targeted employment projects in the city.
The three projects; GetAhead, MoveAhead and StayAhead are designed to support individuals whether they are unemployed or in work and in need of additional training to achieve their full potential. They will run until December 2019.
The funding will enhance the council’s Nottingham Jobs service, which works in partnership with Futures Advice, Skills & Employment and the Department for Work & Pensions to support city residents. As well as supporting Nottingham city residents the funding will enable the Nottingham Jobs service to share previous success and good practice across the region and will be used by partners across Nottinghamshire, Derby and Derbyshire to deliver their own training and employment support services.
In Nottingham, the funding will be used to support unemployed residents from disadvantaged communities to access adviser-led training and pre-employment activities at centres which are local to them. GetAhead will help unemployed and inactive people aged over 16 who come from deprived backgrounds to overcome barriers which prevent them from finding sustainable employment.
GetAhead will also provide employers access the Nottingham Jobs Fund to encourage them to create jobs for people who are economically inactive or furthest from the labour market.
MoveAhead will support unemployed and disadvantaged residents in Nottingham and across the region to boost skills and employment in five key sectors; construction, creative & digital, health & social care, transport equipment manufacturing and low carbon industry which are currently seeing skills shortages.
StayAhead allows SMEs in these five key sectors to access high quality innovative in work training solutions to support internal training of employees, increasing their skills and helping them contribute more and sustain employment.
Over the last 12 months the Nottingham Jobs service has supported over 2,200 people including over 50, lone parents and people with disabilities into work. The service has also helped to create over 500 apprenticeship placements across Nottingham.
Councillor Neghat Khan, Portfolio Holder for Education and Skills said: “This is great news for local people and businesses in Nottingham. Despite cuts to budgets, Nottingham City Council continues to work hard to safeguard vital employment and skills services in the city. Securing external funding will allow the council to continue supporting unemployed residents and increase employment opportunities in the city.
“I am also proud of the work being done by the Nottingham Jobs service to shape the activity taking place across the region and with partners. Sharing the expertise of the unique Nottingham Jobs service, which is well established in Nottingham, demonstrates our commitment to giving people the help they need to find employment.”
Local job seekers are also being encouraged to join the thousands of local people registered on the Nottingham Jobs website to find out about the latest job vacancies. Registration on www.nottinghamjobs.com is free, quick and easy and provides access to online application forms and the opportunity to sign up for regular job updates by email.