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first year of the Scheme in 1997-8 was a development year during
which a comprehensive range of stakeholders were involved in helping
to identify the barriers preventing employers from recruiting long-term
unemployed people and to contribute to the development of solutions
to overcome the barriers.
The final project to implement the Bridging the Gap Scheme has been
developed in close consultation with the Employment Service to ensure
that it complements the New Deal programme launched following the
election of the Labour Government in 1997.
The Bridging the Gap Project
The project provides a supportive community based service to enable
long-term unemployed people to prepare themselves for work and develop
skills relevant to the needs of local employers. At the same time
Bridging the Gap staff work with local employers to persuade them
to fill vacancies with people who are long-term unemployed. When
a successful match has been achieved to place an unemployed person
on a job vacancy Bridging the Gap staff can provide 'in work' support
to both former unemployed people and their managers to ensure that
employment is successful and sustained.
Bridging the
Gap works alongside the government's New Deal programme. Bristol
and South Gloucestershire was selected to run a pilot scheme for
people aged 25+ who have been unemployed for more than 18 months.
Bridging the Gap staff provide a complementary community based support
for New Deal clients, and also focuses on people in the age-group
who are ineligible for support because they are not registered as
unemployed. (One aspect of the project, we particularly want to
develop, is to provide support for both partners in a family, only
one of whom will have been registered unemployed and eligible for
New Deal) Matching monies from the European INTEGRA programme to
provide a comprehensive package of support for clients will top
up SRB funds.
Bridging the Gap works with employers to demonstrate how they can
successfully recruit long-term unemployed people and integrate them
into their workforce. It is hoped to achieve long-term changes in
the recruitment and employment practices of some of Bristol's most
important employers. We also want to show how we can complement
and add value to a mainstream programme such as New Deal. The impact
of the project is to be monitored throughout by a team from the
Universities of Bristol and the West of England.
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About
Bridging the Gap
Bridging the Gap is a novel and innovative employment and training
support project, which is delivered on an outreach basis within
the community. The project is unique in the level of one-to-one
continuous support offered to clients, with no time restraints on
how long a client is with the organisation. This means the project
succeeds in working with disadvantaged ‘hard to reach’
clients, where many projects (including statutory support) fail.
Provision is client focused, and tailored to individual need. It
is not dependent on sub-contracts with other organisations where
little linkage exists between sub-contractors, nor is it a project
where there is no holistic overarching support. Where clients are
referred to partner agencies for specialist support they continue
to have contact with, and support from, their Community Support
Worker.
Bridging the Gap is recognised as being extremely successful in
adding value to mainstream Government programmes due to it innovative
approach, the relationships it is able to build with it’s
clients and the nature of the support on offer.
The key
Strengths of Bridging the Gap were identified by the team as:
• Non-statutory organisation - clients less suspicious about
the support on offer;
• Non-bureaucratic - team members given responsibility to develop
flexible 'package' of support for clients;
• Relatively 'flat' management structure - responsibility for
own workload which builds staff motivation and confidence;
• Autonomy for own client caseload - opportunities to make own decisions,
be creative and use initiative;
• The relationship with clients - the perception is that the
Support Workers are supportive of clients and are acting on their behalf.
Clients are 'quite honest about their lives';
• Perception of the project from Jobcentre Plus Advisers -
when clients are referred on they are listened to and supported;
• Grant funding available - which acts as a 'carrot' for referrals
to the project, and opens up opportunity for wider discussions with clients
on what the project can offer;
• Enthusiastic and supportive management dedicated to ensuring
the project succeeds and moves forward.
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