Council-led partnership helps over a thousand unemployed residents into work

An Islington council-led partnership has helped over 1,000 previously unemployed local people into work during the past year, according to a new report published today.

The report – published on the first anniversary of Islington’s 2014 Employment Commission – shows 1,023 residents have been helped to find jobs in 2014/15 – a significant rise from 816 the year before.

The new figures come as a direct result of intensive and tailored employment support – provided by Islington Council and a consortium of leading employment partners and community groups.

Almost 800 of these success stories can be attributed to the work of Islington's Learning, Skills and Employment Service. The service includes the council's iWork team, which, unlike typical generic and untailored employment support schemes, focusses on personalised coaching and mentoring of clients towards sustainable jobs.

As part of its efforts to implement the recommendations of last year’s Employment Commission, Islington Council and local employers have worked closely together to help over 100 unemployed residents secure work at the King’s Cross redevelopment site and create more than 300 jobs across the borough.

The council, Islington Clinical Commissioning Group, and Jobcentre Plus also recently established a scheme in which GPs can now refer consenting patients, who have been out of work for a long time, to specialist employment coaches, based in a number of local doctors’ surgeries. 

The report, ‘Making It Work Better’, sets out a strong call to the government for London councils to be awarded more power and control over local employment support schemes, which would enable councils to draw on their knowledge of London’s labour market, as well as their relationships with local employers.

Islington Council believes that devolving employment services to London will help to simplify the employment support and make such schemes better targeted.  

Leader of Islington Council, Cllr Richard Watts, said: “The fact that over 1,000 local people, who were unemployed a year ago, are now in work is great news and testament to what we can do together to overcome the very real barriers faced by our residents who are unemployed.

“There is still much to do of course, including helping the high numbers of people on Employment Support Allowance to get into jobs that work for them. We are convinced that it is local, not central, government, which is best placed to do this – not just in Islington but across London too.

“We have laid strong foundations for change and I am confident that the year ahead will see us as borough continue to make the Commission’s ambition and vision a reality for Islington.”

The publication of the report coincides with the launch of the 'Islington Aspires' website, a single place online where local employers can find out more about how to get involved in the local community by, for example, recruiting local people and apprentices, and paying staff the London Living Wage.

The independent Islington Employment Commission – the first of its kind in the country – was set up in January 2014 to tackle unemployment in the borough and was co-chaired by leading educationalist and entrepreneur Maggie Semple OBE and Cllr Robert Khan.

The Commission included representatives from business, charities, trade unions, the NHS, Jobcentre Plus and Islington Council. For a full list of commissioners see Notes to Editors.

The final report of the Commission was published on 26 November 2014 and is available via http://www.islington.gov.uk/advice/employment/employment-commission/report-recommendation/Pages/default.aspx.