Employment and skills signposting - Streets Ahead
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In Liverpool, we recognise that some of our residents need help to find out what jobs and training courses they can do. They also need help to actually find a work or training placement which can remove them from being classed as unemployed.
'Streets Ahead' is a new idea aimed at getting Liverpool people back into work. Its vision is:-
"...to improve the quality of life for people in Liverpool by making them aware of the guidance support, financial help and opportunities available to them; enabling them to make informed choices and give them the confidence to achieve their aspirations."
Streets Ahead is a flexible outreach project based in Liverpool's five priority neighbourhoods where there are high levels of unemployment.
As part of the project, our staff visit people in their own homes, schools and community centres within these areas to offer free help and advice on a wide range of issues.
This can be as varied as how to access training for work, or how to make your home safer.
The Streets Ahead staff also organise meetings at local jobs cafés, including some in local health centres where they attend local events promoting Streets Ahead and what it can do for residents.
For example, a teddy bear's picnic was arranged for lone parents, highlighting the opportunities available to them both within the jobs market; and the financial incentives and support through childcare.
Without input from specialist advisors at this event, many lone parents would have remained unaware of the range of support and services available to them. As a direct consequence of this project, many lone parents have now found work and are accessing free registered childcare provision across the city.
In the 12 month period from April 2007 to March 2008, Streets Ahead staff, working alongside the JETs, visited 3,646 residents in their own homes to point them in the right direction to access training schemes or jobs, or otherwise giving advice about benefit entitlements and allowances to help them realise they will not be financially worse off for taking up training or employment opportunities.
In January 2005 the Streets Ahead scheme was highly praised by Ed Milliband, then chairman of the Council of Economic Advisers at HM Treasury and close aide to Gorden Brown who was Chancellor at that time, for the innovative way in which it was tackling social exclusion in communities.
Some examples of how Streets Ahead works are:-
- Example 1
A lone parent from our Black and Minority Ethnic community had found her own job three months previously. However, she was under threat of losing her job due to a breakdown in her child minding arrangements which were reliant on a friend looking after her pre-school age child.
Streets Ahead had put leaflets through the letterboxes in her street with information on all services they provide. As the woman was desperate due to her employer's tight deadline to resolve her situation, she rang the Streets Ahead team for help.
The team immediately referred her to the action team for Jobs and Jobcentre Plus (JCP). The Lone Parent Advisor at JCP contacted the woman and found that she had not claimed working tax credits or her childcare enhancements, as she had no idea that these benefits existed. The advisor was able to put in place appropriate support measures for the client. Tax credits were awarded, childcare was found and the woman kept her job.
This particular client is now £185 per week better off, with her child in registered childcare while she is working. Not only did it help her to keep her job, but it has resulted in her child being raised in a working environment and receiving qualified pre-school care.
The woman was amazed at the help and support available to her both financially and personally; she had not known that any of these services were on offer.
- Example 2
The Streets Ahead team came across a female client who had been receiving Incapacity Benefit for a number of years. She had health problems which she felt prevented her from returning to work.
The Streets Ahead team sent her to see trained advisors in a number of agencies including JET, Jobcentre Plus and Maatwerk (who offers support for people with disability and health conditions) to help her with training, confidence building and guidance. After a number of weeks of intensive support, the woman was sent to an interview for a full time retail position, at which she was successful.
With the continued help of the advisors, the woman is still in work. She received full support with her in-work benefits and other money. She said that she had previously felt trapped in a position where she would never work again due to her health condition, caught in a benefits trap and could therefore not afford to work. She had not been aware of the tax credits she could get.Without the help of the Streets Ahead team, this client would most likely have remained on benefits until retirement age.
- Example 3
A lone parent in the Liverpool South area was very upset when the team knocked on her door. She had a young baby who was teething, and had not slept for several days. She invited the team into her home and they gave her help and advice regarding local support groups. The woman said that she would like to work, but was unable to as she had no family or anyone to help her look after her children.
The team gave her advice on the opportunities and services available to her and sent her to a Lone Parent Advisor at Jobcentre Plus. An appointment was made, and when the woman turned up she brought her sister with her, who was also a Lone Parent.
The advisor referred both women to local call centre training and arranged and paid for childcare while the training took place under New Deal.
After completing training the original woman found a job in the city centre for a German Bank, earning £16,000 per year. Her sister also found a job at a local call centre. Both women were helped with continued childcare, applications for tax credits and other in work benefits they qualified for.
While the ultimate focus of this project is employment, it recognises that there are many different barriers to employment. By moving away from a 'one size fits all' approach, we are bringing together mainstream services in a way that makes a real difference to people living in disadvantaged areas across the city. Not only does Streets Ahead provide a better service for local residents, it also helps in the regeneration of local communities.
Streets Ahead will continue to deliver this unique multi-agency approach. It wants to improve the quality of life for people in Liverpool by making them aware of opportunities and help available to them. It also enables them to make informed choices and give them the confidence to achieve their aspirations.
More information:
If you want to know more about the programme, you can download the Streets Ahead document![(PDF [1.1Mb] opens in new window)](/images/PDF.gif)
. This document is an Adobe PDF. If you have problems accessing PDFs you can
Contacts:
If you would like to know more, or would like to talk to us about how we can help you get back to work without being disadvantaged by losing benefits, contact the Streets Ahead co-ordinator for your area:
- Alt Valley - Glyn Gates (Tel: 0151 233 1925).
- Eastern Link - Paula Kearns (Tel: 0151 906 6860).
- Liverpool Atlantic (North Liverpool) - Glyn Gates (Tel: 0151 233 1925).
- South Central - Lynn Aldridge (Tel: 0151 726 1634).
- South Liverpool - Paul Scarth (Tel: 0151 448 1131).