Only 22% of people on Work Programme in Halton ready for employment

Sep 8 2011 by Mark Smith, Runcorn and Widnes Weekly News

ONLY just over half of people in Runcorn enrolled on a delayed back to work scheme have started their course, compared to 100% in Widnes.

The new Work Programme was introduced this summer and is aimed at helping people on benefits back into jobs over a period of up to two years.

But the scheme has already suffered delays due to IT issues creating a backlog of people waiting to be seen.

And only just over one in five people taking part are considered ready for work.

The project is being run by private sector providers A4e and Ingeus and the number of people referred has been 60% higher than expected.

Of the 216 Runcorn jobless referred to Ingeus since its launch on June 27, only 99 (56%) have actually started, compared to all 44 Widnes referrals.

Of the 127 people seen to date approximately 22% are classed as ‘job ready’.

According to a Halton Council report, many have numerous constraints preventing them moving into employment including long term unemployment (two years or more), substance misuse and health conditions.

The delivery of the contract for A4e was expected to commence on June 1 but did not go live until July 11 because of data security issues.

So far 31 jobseekers have been seen but only 22% are considered ready for the workplace.