Jobcentre Plus

The term “working in partnership” took on a new meaning this week when a group of organisations, keen to improve opportunities for parents, came together in a speed-dating style event.

Organised by Jobcentre Plus and Children’s Centres in North Tyneside and held at Burnside Community School, the event attracted great interest. Staff from Children’s Centres across the region were each able to spend 15 minutes with a dozen organisations; looking to provide parents with training, financial and employment opportunities. In return, those organisations found out more about the work of the Centres. Childcare partner consultant for Jobcentre Plus, Pam Sanders, was delighted it was so well received:

“I’m pleased I didn’t have the job of blowing the whistle every 15 minutes” she laughed, “as it seemed to have been blown a lot during the day. The idea, though, was to help children centre staff get a flavour of all the help that’s out there for parents. In addition, they made great contacts with these organisations so they can go back to them at any time if they need to know more”.

Lorraine Berlusconi from Wallsend Children Centre, helped to design the event:

“Speed-networking is a fairly simple format”, she said. “We had 12 different organisations sitting behind tables and sent a couple of our staff to each one in turn, moving them around every time the whistle blew. It forces you to be concise and to give out brief messages but it does give you a great overview of everything out there. Certainly the reaction of all those who attended was extremely positive”.

Val Bradley works at Longbenton Children Centre and was extremely enthusiastic about the day:

"It was excellent, I learnt something from each provider”, she said. “I’ve been in this role for a number of years and it shows that we still have a lot to learn." Meanwhile her new colleague, Sarah Hinshaw, added:
“It would have simply taken me years to have made so many good links.”

The day was also a demonstration on how several different organisations can work together to benefit their mutual customers. Delivery network co-ordinator for Next Step, Sue Reeve, took part in the day:

“This is a great example of how we can all meet up in a unique way and update each other about the range of support available to parents across the region. We can now take this back to our centres where we see parents on a daily basis and help promote awareness of these opportunities to them. ”

North Tyneside early years manager, Pat Lackenby, said:

 “Over the past 5 years, North Tyneside Council has fostered a positive working relationship with Job Centre Plus, which has resulted in many initiatives, such as offering childcare grants for those wishing to return to work and holding events to recruit local people into working with children. The Speed Networking Event has received excellent feedback from staff working in Children’s Centres and we are looking forward to rolling out the ideas”

Pam Sanders is looking forward to working with these partners on similar events elsewhere in the region and believes the speed-dating format might benefit others too:

“We are looking into whether this type of event might be useful for parents”, she said. “I think the idea will appeal because they can come along and find out a little about the different training courses, childcare help or financial information all together. And then afterwards can work with our Jobcentre Plus advisers to discuss what they need to get back into employment. So look out for more speed-dating events for some of our customers in September!”

Notes for editors

1. Photographs of the event are available from Steve.McCall@jobcentreplus.gsi.gov.uk

2. Jobcentre Plus, part of the Department for Work and Pensions, brings together employment and benefit services for people of working age and is a key element in the Government's objectives to help people based on ‘Work for those who can, support for those who cannot’. It provides a professional and modern service to meet the diverse needs of employers and those seeking work, including:

• Personal advisers to provide practical support and advice to help those in need find and keep work, including training provision and benefits guidance
  
• A dedicated service to support employers in filling their vacancies quickly and successfully, including the ability to place jobs online
  
• Ability to search for jobs both online and over the phone through Jobpoints in Jobcentre Plus offices, the Jobseeker Direct phone line and through the website
  
• Swift, secure and professional access to benefits for those entitled to them.

3. Customers can access Jobcentre Plus services through around 1,000 locations across Great Britain, including over 800 newly refurbished Jobcentre Plus offices. Touch-screen terminals and Customer Access Phones are also available in a further 120 sites such as libraries and local authority premises. Jobcentre Plus works with over 275,000 employers to place 17,000 people into work every week. Over 400,000 vacancies are listed each week on its website and more than 4m job search requests are received, making it the number one UK recruitment website.

4. For further information on the services that Jobcentre Plus provides employers and people of working age explore the Jobcentre Plus website.

Issued by Andy Collins at the Department for Work and Pensions North East Press Office.

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