Employability - EU Funds Update
North Lanarkshire Council · 29 August 2022
Back to Enterprise, Growth and Fair Work Committee — 29 August 2022 and its agenda
Text extracted from the council's PDF. Layout and reading order may differ from the original.
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North Lanarkshire Council Report Enterprise, Growth and Fair Work Committee Does this report require to be approved? ☒ Yes ☐ No Ref JO’N/PK Date 29/08/22 Employability – EU Funds Update From Janie O’Neill, Head of Education & Families (South) E-mail oneillja@northlan.gov.uk Telephone 07790 894444 1. Background 1.1 Driving up the employment rate in North Lanarkshire is a cornerstone of The Plan for North Lanarkshire and ensuring employability support is available to all is recognised as a major contributor to both local economic development and tackling poverty. North Lanarkshire Council delivers large scale employability programmes across all Executive Summary This report seeks approval to negotiate an extension with the Scottish Government to the Council’s EU funded programme from December 2022 to June 2023. The report outlines the role of the EU funded programme in supporting employability services in North Lanarkshire and the steps involved in securing an extension. It also provides an update on the current labour market in North Lanarkshire and the new challenges created by the impact of the pandemic in the last two years as well as demonstrating the strategic context of the work of the employability team within some of The Plan for North Lanarkshire’s Programmes of Work. Recommendations It is recommended that Committee: (1) Acknowledge that the necessary steps are taken by Council officers to secure an extension of the current EU funded employability programme from December 2022 until June 2023. (2) Consider the information provided on the current labour market in North Lanarkshire. The Plan for North Lanarkshire Priority Improve economic opportunities and outcomes Ambition statement (11) Increase economic opportunities for adults by understanding, identifying, and addressing the causes of poverty and deprivation and barriers to financial inclusion
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communities, and these are targeted on supporting those unemployed and underemployed residents who face additional barriers to entering the labour market. These programmes support a range of groups, and all have the aim of securing fair and sustained work for residents. Reducing poverty is central to each of these programmes and, in line with The Plan for North Lanarkshire, including all residents in the economic growth of our area is viewed as central to the work on employability. 1.2 Over half of the Council’s employability support to residents is funded from its EU funded programme through an agreement with the Scottish Government. This funding comes from the European Social Fund (ESF) and the current programme, known in North Lanarkshire as ‘Prospects for You’, is funded until December 2022 with a focus on engaging unemployed residents with at least two barriers to getting work. As part of the withdrawal agreement from the EU it was agreed that existing commitments to EU funded projects could remain in place past the UK withdrawal date of 31 January 2020. 1.3 In North Lanarkshire the programme is led and co-ordinated by the Council’s employability team which also provides the key function of engaging employers onto the programme. Routes to Work Ltd are funded to provide specialised case worker support to unemployed residents as well as support with accessing vocational training and the short-term costs associated with moving from benefits to employment such as childcare and travel. They also provide in-work support for up to 6 months for those participants that require it. The External Funding team within Enterprise and Communities are also funded through ESF to provide a compliance and verification role on the distribution of the funding. The programme is co-funded by the Council and EU with 46% of funding coming from the EU and has an annual cost of around £4.5 million and funds the 82.44 fte staff delivering the programme as well as the other costs associated with training for participants, wage subsidies to employers, childcare, and vocational qualifications. 1.4 In recent years employability support has also been significantly bolstered by increased levels of funding from the Scottish Government through its No One Left Behind, Parental Employment Support and Young Persons Guarantee funding and these have been integrated and aligned with the existing EU programme to broaden its range and deepen its penetration into under-represented groups in the labour market. 2. Report 2.1 The Scottish Government have indicated to North Lanarkshire Council that there is an opportunity to extend the operational delivery of the EU funded employability programme from December 2022 until June 2023. The negotiation of the extension would involve reprofiling the financial commitment and grant as well as the outcomes from the programme. Given the EU, via the Scottish Government, would continue to fund 46% of activity this would provide continued large-scale activity for another six months. 2.2 In terms of the scale of activity that could be expected, in 2021/22 the programme engaged with over 1,300 residents and supported 715 into employment and in 2022/23 is expected to engage with over 1,500 residents and support 869 into work with at least 70% sustaining employment for six months. Alongside the additional jobs that could be secured with an extension it also allows additional time for the transition to the next phase of employability support to be developed.
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2.3 The UK Government’s replacement for EU funds is the Shared Prosperity Fund and the overall strategy in terms of externally funded employability programmes is to transition these as smoothly as possible in 2023/24; however, that is the year there is most demand on that source of funding. Therefore, maintaining the existing EU funding for as long as possible will lessen the demand on that source. The negotiation with the Scottish Government would aim for a conclusion by 30 September 2022 and would require consultation with finance colleagues as well as the ALEO, Routes to Work Ltd, to develop the revised financial profile and outcomes. Current Labour Market and Strategic Context 2.4 The impact of the pandemic on the national and local labour market has created new challenges for employers and those out of work. The North Lanarkshire claimant count, which acts as a measure of unemployment, was 14,415 (6.6%) people in March 2021 compared with 8,225 (3.8%) in March 2020, a 75% increase on the pre-pandemic level. However, in May 2022 it has decreased to 8,050 (3.7%). On the face of it this is good news but behind the unemployment figures real challenges are apparent. As 2021/22 progressed it became clear that a significant number of people, mainly older workers and the majority women, had left the labour market either through early retirement, health concerns or to take up caring responsibilities. These factors, combined with the rapid re-opening of the economy through 2021/22 led to staffing shortages across a range of sectors with jobs available, especially at entry level, for those who were job ready or even nearly job ready. 2.5 The number reported as ‘long term sick’ in North Lanarkshire has increased from 14,900 in December 2019 to 29,400 in December 2021 and the number reported as ‘looking after family/home’ in the Council area increased from 8,500 to 13,000 in the same period. While unemployment is lower than pre-pandemic levels the number of people in the workforce in North Lanarkshire has reduced from 174,000 (78.1%) in December 2019 to 159,300 (71.1%) in December 2021. The other concerning national trend is that despite falling unemployment, long-term unemployment remains above pre-pandemic levels; with the long-term unemployed now accounting for 35% of all those unemployed (compared with 28% two years ago). Short-term unemployment is at its lowest ever level. For those in work there are also concerns as pay growth remains well below inflation in many of the sectors predominant in North Lanarkshire with the rising cost of living affecting the financial benefits of employment and labour shortages and rising costs and supply chain challenges affecting employers plans for recruitment and business development. So, despite a fall in unemployment in the area there is higher worklessness, negative pay growth and continued labour shortages for businesses and these factors will have a continued and sustained impact on the demand for Council services. From an employability perspective this reinforces the view that in the short term the most effective contribution to be made is to support participation in the labour market for those for those out of work to get back in and have employability programmes open to all of those who are out of work, not just those claiming Universal Credit. 2.6 In terms of the Council’s strategic response the employability team play a role within the Workforce for the Future, Programme of Work P077.1, which has a broad range of workstreams focused on ensuring that every resident has access to the support and advice they need to secure fair and sustained employment or training in North Lanarkshire. This group is also engaged with employers to make sure that the advice and support delivered meets their current and future needs in terms of skills and labour supply. Support into Employment is one of the key actions within the Council’s Economic Recovery Plan, part of the Programme of Work P022.1, and this has re- orientated existing employability programmes to ensure they are directly supporting
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residents with all aspects of employability affected due to the pandemic impact. A key contribution made by the team is also to the Programme of Work P005.2, Tackling Poverty through its general work on increasing residents’ incomes from employment and specifically through its work on Parental Employment Support to combat child poverty. 3. Measures of success 3.1 An extension to the EU funded programme is negotiated to extend the end date until June 2023. 4. Supporting documentation 4.1 None. Janie O’Neill Head of Education & Families (South)
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5. Impacts ( http://connect/report-template-guidance ) 5.1 Public Sector Equality Duty and Fairer Scotland Duty Does the report contain information that has an impact as a result of the Public Sector Equality Duty and/or Fairer Scotland Duty? Yes ☐ No ☒ If Yes, please provide a brief summary of the impact? If Yes, has an assessment been carried out and published on the council’s website? https://www.northlanarkshire.gov.uk/your-community/equalities/equality-and-fairer- scotland-duty-impact-assessments Yes ☐ No ☐ 5.2 Financial impact Does the report contain any financial impacts? Yes ☒ No ☐ If Yes, have all relevant financial impacts have been discussed and agreed with Financial Solutions? Yes ☒ No ☐ If Yes, please provide a brief summary of the impact? All costs associated with the potential extension to the EU funded programme are matched by CE714 NLC Match Funding allocated to employability projects. 5.3 HR policy impact Does the report contain any HR policy or procedure impacts? Yes ☐ No ☒ If Yes, have all relevant HR impacts have been discussed and agreed with People and Organisational Development? Yes ☐ No ☐ If Yes, please provide a brief summary of the impact? 5.4 Legal impact Does the report contain any legal impacts (such as general legal matters, statutory considerations (including employment law considerations), or new legislation)? Yes ☐ No ☒ If Yes, have all relevant legal impacts have been discussed and agreed with Legal and Democratic Solutions? Yes ☐ No ☐ If Yes, please provide a brief summary of the impact? 5.5 Data protection impact Does the report / project / practice contain or involve the processing of personal data? Yes ☐ No ☒ If Yes, is the processing of this personal data likely to result in a high risk to the data subject? Yes ☐ No ☐ If Yes, has a Data Protection Impact Assessment (DPIA) been carried out and e- mailed to dataprotection@northlan.gov.uk Yes ☐ No ☐ 5.6 Technology / Digital impact Does the report contain information that has an impact on either technology, digital transformation, service redesign / business change processes, data management, or connectivity / broadband / Wi-Fi?
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Yes ☐ No ☒ If Yes, please provide a brief summary of the impact? Where the impact identifies a requirement for technology, has an assessment been carried out (or scheduled) by the Enterprise Architecture Governance Group (EAGG)? Yes ☐ No ☐ 5.7 Environmental / Carbon impact Does the report / project / practice contain information that has an impact on any environmental or carbon matters? Yes ☐ No ☒ If Yes, please provide a brief summary of the impact? 5.8 Communications impact Does the report contain any information that has an impact on the council’s communications activities? Yes ☐ No ☒ If Yes, please provide a brief summary of the impact? 5.9 Risk impact Is there a risk impact? Yes ☒ No ☐ If Yes, please provide a brief summary of the key risks and potential impacts, highlighting where the risk(s) are assessed and recorded (e.g. Corporate or Service or Project Risk Registers), and how they are managed? The risk attached to the proposals is covered within the risk register for Employability Services in relation to compliance and draw down of external funding.