The Future Jobs Fund is a government-funded national scheme creating jobs for young people approaching long-term unemployment.
In 2009, Norfolk County Council (NCC) secured a contract to deliver the scheme across the country, and aims to have created nearly 1,300 jobs by April 2011. The first placements are now coming to the end of their term, with many new employees finding jobs in a variety of sectors, either within the organisation that first employed them or as a result of their training and experience in the workplace.
All Trades Training (ATT) is a Norwich-based company offering specialist training to people in the construction industry. It operates a highly successful Future Jobs Fund programme that includes placements within the private sector. The company formed part of a consortium of 35 employers bidding for jobs in the fund; in the first round of delivery, ATT secured 40 positions for 18-25 year-olds who had been unemployed for some time. At the end of the first six-month contracts, ATT offered two appointees permanent roles within the company; they are now training to become fully qualified Tutor Assessors.
Ryan (23) and Jamie (20), arrived at ATT through the Future jobs Fund and began work and training as Construction Operatives. Ryan had been unemployed (apart from a brief spell of casual work) since leaving school with a level 2 NVQ, and has always wanted to work in construction; Jamie had been looking for a change of career following being made redundant from the retail sector. Both were referred to the scheme through the New Deal service at their local Jobcentres, and began their placements in late 2009.
“In our view, the placements are really a six-month interview”, says Maria Collins, Managing Director of All Trades Training, “and Jamie and Ryan rose to the challenge.” Their potential was quickly identified by the company, who put the new recruits through a range of training courses in skills vital to the construction trade. Now permanent employees, they are currently at the beginning of the A1 Assessors’ Course. “I definitely gained confidence”, says Ryan. And while neither of them quite expected to be taking on supervisory roles and delivering training courses, they are looking forward to meeting the challenge – and the opportunity.
Maria Collins speaks very highly of her two new employees, and of the expertise and support provided by the teams at Norfolk County Council and Investing in Communities IiC. Norfolk leads by a significant margin on delivery of the Future Jobs Fund across the region, and Norfolk’s Jobcentre Plus consistently performs strongly in terms of the total number of jobs filled by comparison with the rest of the country. Maria has nothing but praise for the delivery process of the scheme. “Hats off to Norfolk County Council”, says Maria. “They were fantastically helpful; the whold process was very positive.” Three Communications Days, organized by Norfolk County Council and Investing in Communities, brought together the consortium of employers with representatives from Jobcentre Plus and Connexions in a forum where questions could be answered and information shared to help spread best practice and share ideas. Maria found these particularly useful. “Communication throughout the process was excellent. And the expertise on offer – particularly in bid-writing – was outstanding.”