Morag Sweeney liases with a wide range of external partners to ensure Jobcentre Plus plays a key role in the social and economic regeneration of the city of Glasgow. Contact:

Glasgow District Background

Glasgow District is one of 6 Jobcentre Plus Districts in Scotland, covering the area within the Glasgow City Council boundary. The Glasgow labour market has changed significantly over the last 30 years. In the early 70’s nearly 50% of jobs were in construction or production. Glasgow has reflected the national trend in labour market changes and now there are less than 25% of these jobs. The majority of jobs are now in the service sector. Over the last 20 years, Glasgow has become a major hub of the Scottish economy.

Our Customers

Employers

Jobcentre Plus District is committed to helping you fill your vacancies quickly with the people you need. The organisation is being developed to reflect the needs of employers by utilising targeted employer engagement strategies that will ensure services are delivered through channels appropriate to each employer group.

Candidate interview facilities are available at many Jobcentre Plus offices, however, should you wish to hold interviews at an alternative venue, our staff can provide assistance on the day, for example, receptionist duties.

Examples of satisfied employers:

• Feedback from Marks & Spencers: "During my 2 years in recruitment within Your M&S store in Glasgow, Jobcentre Plus have been a great help in providing a facility to offer information to potential clients for work within our Company. I talk and meet regularly with the Employer Engagement Team in City Jobcentre who have given me great support at various recruitment stages. They are very professional and always demonstrate their ability to meet our needs, quickly and efficiently and are consistent throughout the year especially a peak times".
• "Jobcentre Plus and NHS Greater Glasgow & Clyde collaborate closely in a variety of areas from displaying our vacancies on the Jobcentre Plus web site to recruiting applicants for our pre-employment training programme which helps long-term unemployed and disadvantaged people into employment. Jobcentre Plus colleagues work hard to understand the requirements of the Health Service and to respond effectively to those needs".

To advertise a vacancy through our network of jobpoints and on our internet site, please call the Employer Direct vacancy notification line on 0845 601 2001. Linda Laird, Employer Engagement Team Manager will be happy to provide you with any further information on Jobcentre Plus services. Contact:

Key initiatives include:

Pathways to Work

The Green paper titled Pathways to Work Helping People Into Employment set out the strategy for enabling people with health conditions to move into work and so become and remain independent.

Glasgow was one of the very first Jobcentre Plus Districts in the UK to deliver Pathways as a mainstream programme from 31 October 2005. Glasgow offers a whole range of additional financial, healthcare and jobsearch support to Incapacity Benefit customers through a new network of IB Personal Advisers (IBPA). Glasgow works closely with NHS and other partners to ensure that we help this particular client group overcome the multiple barriers they face in getting back to work.

Pathways to Work includes a commitment to work with employers as well as customers to make the transition to work as successful as possible and to match customers to vacancies more accurately. In-Work Support is part of this programme and is delivered partly by Jobcentre Plus Advisers and partly by external providers.

Employment Zones

Employment Zones (EZs) began operating in April 2000 in specific areas of the country, they were designed to help long term unemployed people aged 25 or over find sustainable employment. The 2002 Spending Review White Paper and the Pre-Budget Report announced the extension of the EZ approach to lone parents and to New Deal 18-24 returners and the testing out of multiple provider arrangements in certain EZs. Extending EZs is an acknowledgement of how well they have performed since their introduction. On average, EZs are placing 40% of participants into jobs of 16 hours or more per week. 80% of these jobs go on to last for 13 weeks or more.

As of April 2004 Glasgow moved to multiple provision. The Providers are Working Links with 50%, Reed in Partnership 25% and Wise Group Consortium 25%. 

For mandatory EZ eligible jobseekers living within EZ areas, EZ takes precedence over other programmes. EZs are managed by the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) and run by EZ Contractors from the public, private and voluntary sectors. Jobcentres have an active part to play in identifying and referring jobseekers aged 25 and over and New Deal 18-24 returners to EZs.

For the mandatory categories, customers are randomly allocated by National Insurance Number via an IT Tool to one of 3 providers. In Glasgow these are Reed in Partnership, Working Links (the previous sole provider) and Wise Group. Reed in Partnership delivered the Single Parent Employment Zone up to 13 November 2005. From 14 November 2005 all three providers could access these customers.

District Partnership Structures

Partnerships

Glasgow District Partnership activity is divided into 2 key elements – strategic and local. Strategic partnerships are those which affect Glasgow District as a whole and local partnerships are those which local Jobcentre Plus managers maintain in order to meet the needs of the specific geographical community.

Examples of Current Partners:

• Inland Revenue
• Careers Scotland
• Scottish Government
• Scottish Enterprise Glasgow Gatekeeper
• Glasgow Chamber of Commerce
• Glasgow City Council
• Greater Glasgow Health Board