Innovations - Training scheme targets the vulnerable

Adam Branson, Regeneration & Renewal, 23 May 2008

The project provides groups such as single mothers, the long-term unemployed and young people leaving care with paid apprenticeships at Kier. It contacts potential apprentices using the council's benefits records and through recommendations from Burngreave New Deal for Communities partnership. Teresa Jolley, corporate social responsibility manager at Kier, answers our panel's questions.

Q: This isn't the way to hire the most obviously qualified candidate for the job. How does the scheme benefit Kier?

A: We find that if you show confidence in someone when others haven't, they will generally be very loyal. Also, our building maintenance contracts tend to last for ten to 15 years. With that sort of time frame, any firm bidding for work has to show that it is willing to commit to a city and its priorities. In Sheffield, although only 7,000 people claim jobseeker's allowance - which isn't particularly high - there are 27,000 people on incapacity benefits of some kind. Often they lack confidence and wouldn't stand a cat in hell's chance of getting a job if they had to go through the usual application and interview process. We get in contact and arrange an informal chat to establish what support they would require to get back into work.

Q: What sort of jobs do you find for people? Are they mainly labouring positions?

A: We're open-minded. We've provided apprenticeships in areas from IT to administration, as well as traditional trades such as plumbing and carpentry. One of our target groups is lone parents, most of whom are women who don't necessarily want to do physical work. We've trained people in more technical trades as well, such as surveying.

Q: How do you ensure that people are financially better-off on the scheme?

A: We do a complex benefits calculation to ensure that people always get a net benefit from working for us. That doesn't have to mean full-time work. One lone parent, for example, could work for only 16 hours a week if she was to keep the level of state support she needed. So we structured her hours so she could meet her childcare needs. The ultimate aim is to get people off benefits completely, but a lot of vulnerable people are nervous about this, so we help to manage the transition.

Q: Dealing with vulnerable people requires a lot of specialist skills. How do you ensure that your staff are best placed to provide support?

A: We provide staff with all the training they require. We do background checks on anybody who works on the programme, for example screening those who are to deal with children. Apprentices are also supported by a range of people. For instance, the young people coming out of care have a Kier supervisor who acts as a mentor and manager, as well as a dedicated officer from the council's care service and another from the training team. All the relevant people meet monthly to discuss how each apprentice is doing.

THE PANEL

Questions were composed with help from Andrew Delaney, head of regeneration at consultancy Lambert Smith Hampton, and Victoria Bradford, policy consultant at the Centre for Local Economic Strategies.

- Contact us If you know of an innovative scheme that merits closer scrutiny, email Adam Branson at adam.branson@haymarket.com.