District Manager

Jim McGonigle is the District Manager for Edinburgh, Lothians and Borders.

External Relations Manager

Lindsay Geddes is the Business Development Manager for Jobcentre Plus in Edinburgh, Lothians & Borders.

Partnership Manager

Alistair McInnes is the Partnership Manager for Jobcentre Plus in Edinburgh, Lothians & Borders.

Background

Edinburgh, Lothians and Borders is a widespread district with a population of just over 939,000. Employment within the district reflects the diversity of the area with finance, information technology, business services, local and central government within Edinburgh, farming, fishing and manufacturing in other locations and retail and tourism spread throughout the district. The Borders and East Lothian are rural in nature and the decline of the mining industry has seen Midlothian and West Lothian expand into the hospitality and retail sectors. Circling the City of Edinburgh, increasing numbers of Lothian and Borders residents are commuting to the Capital to work. Edinburgh has a buoyant economy with strong employment bases and contains 11 of the most affluent wards in Scotland but it also contains several Wards at the lower end of the poverty spectrum.

Within the district there are 13 Jobcentre Plus offices.

The district covers 5 Local Authority areas. The current unemployment rates which are based on unemployed as a percentage of working age population are as follows:

• Scottish Borders 1.6%
• East Lothian 1.4%
• Midlothian 2.1%
• West Lothian 2.4%
• City of Edinburgh 2.3%

Partnership Working

On a District wide basis we have formed partnerships with organisations in the public, private and voluntary sector who we work with closely in order to complement the services we offer. In broad terms, we work closely with the following organisations: