An employment partnership which has led to over 450 jobs for Tameside Jobseekers was celebrated last week at the new Ashton Moss development.

The Tameside Employment Partnership, which consists of representatives from Jobcentre Plus, Tameside MBC, Ashton Renewal, First Step (ERP) and Connexions, was formed in 2002, to assist in the recruitment for the new Sainsbury’s store, and to ensure that local residents who had previously faced barriers into work, were able to compete more effectively for the new jobs on offer.

The Sainsbury’s recruitment drive was a heralded a great success and since then the employer partnership has helped secure over 450 jobs for local Jobseekers, with a wide range of on site employers including; Brewers Fayre, Hollywood Bowl, Cineworld, Frankie & Benny’s and KFC.

Jobcentre Plus National Sales Director, Chris Bloor visited Ashton Moss to celebrate the success of the partnership, and to meet with some of the employers who had benefited from the work of the partnership.

Chris said: "The Tameside Employer Partnership has proved to be a real success, and Jobcentre Plus is committed to working with its partners to ensure that we continue to meet the recruitment needs of the employers on site.

"All the employers are particularly interested in employing people from the Ashton area, and with our in depth knowledge of the local labour market, Jobcentre Plus is ideally placed to find the right person for the right job."

Cllr Kieran Quinn, Executive Member for Economic Services said: "In a short space of time the success of the Tameside Employer Partnership has meant that 90% of local jobs have gone to local people. One of the council’s key concerns is bringing employment into the borough and we want to ensure that the job opportunities on offer continue to reach as many local people as possible. This has been achieved by the Partnership and I am pleased that through the Partnership we can carry on and successfully meet the needs of employers locally."