Highland, Islands, Clyde Coast & Grampian District

Overview

Our District covers the largest geographical area of any Jobcentre Plus District in Scotland. We have Jobcentre Plus offices based in West Dumbarton, Argyll & Bute, Renfrewshire, Grampian, Highland, Western Isles, Moray, Orkney and Shetland. In total, 29 Jobcentre Plus offices offer an integrated service to customers across the District.

Our Jobcentres are linked to Benefit Delivery Centres based in Aberdeen, Clydebank, Greenock and Inverness.

The labour market is extremely varied and includes almost everything from airports (larger ones at Glasgow, Aberdeen and Inverness to smaller ones in Kirkwall, Lerwick and others), engineering, hospitality, retail, care, call centres and oil industry related occupations in the North East. The Local Authority and NHS are large employers in all areas.

Glasgow Airport provides a large number of retail, hospitality and service vacancies within Renfrewshire. Braehead shopping centre in Renfrew, has brought regeneration and jobs to an area previously derelict.

Argyll & Bute mainly rely on seasonal recruitment in the tourism sector as well as call centres and the care sector.

Moray, Orkney and Shetland’s main industries are farming and aquaculture; salmon, white fish, and shell fish. The largest oil port in Europe is based in Sullom Voe, Shetland.

In Grampian, there are more than 400 internationally owned companies operating in the City of Aberdeen, and more than 800 technology based companies throughout the area. Great economic wealth has been built on the success of the offshore oil & gas industries. Traditional fishing & farming are still important employment sectors alongside the newer high-tech businesses.

Inverness, as well as being an administrative centre, is developing as a centre for high technology manufacturing. Tourism and the service sector dominate the local economy in Nairn, Inverness, Ross & Cromarty, Caithness, Sutherland and Lochaber.

In West Dunbartonshire, historically employment was generated by shipbuilding, heavy industry and the whiskey industry. Recent changes have seen a move to retail, care, tourism and call centre sectors.

District Manager

John Dennison is District Manager for Highland, Islands, Clyde Coast and Grampian. Based in Inverness he can be contacted by:

Email: John.Dennison@Jobcentreplus.gsi.gov.uk
Telephone: 01463 663593

External Relations Manager

Susan Johnston, District External Relations Manager is based in Inverness, contact by:

Email: susan.c.johnston@jobcentreplus.gsi.gov.uk
Telephone: 01463 663662

Partnership Working and Local Partnership Managers

The District is made up of three cluster areas. Each area has their own Local Partnership Manager responsible for developing productive working relationships with external organisations in order to establish effective ways of working together. Partnership Managers are also involved in taking the childcare agenda forward for the District by working in partnership with Local Authorities, Childcare Partnerships, employers and other relevant agencies. The aim is to remove the childcare barriers for parents who want to work, train or study.

Some examples of current Partners:

• Careers Scotland
• Chamber of Commerce
• Community Learning and Development Partnerships
• Highland Employer Coalition
• Highland & Islands Enterprise
• Local Authorities
• NHS
• Voluntary Sector

If you or your organisation wish to find out more about what we do and our work with partners please contact our Local Partnership Managers:

Renfrewshire, West Dunbartonshire & Bute

Local Partnership Manager – Yvonne O’Hara based in Paisley:

Email: Yvonne.O’Hara@Jobcentreplus.gsi.gov.uk
Telephone: 0141 800 2026

Grampian, Orkney & Shetland

Local Partnership Manager - Anne Law based in Ebury House, Aberdeen:

Email: anne.law2@jobcentreplus.gsi.gov.uk
Telephone: 01224 804508

Highland, Argyll & Western Isles

Local Partnership Manager – Jamie MacDonald based in Inverness:

Email: Jamie.MacDonald@Jobcentreplus.gov.uk
Telephone: 01463 888171