Manchester Work Clubs
Councillor Sue Murphy
Deputy Leader Manchester City Council,
Lead Member for Employment and Skills
VNG Annual Conference
June 17th 2014
Slide 1
The last five years:
A rapidly changing demographic
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The population has increased ahead of forecasts
It is increasingly ethnically diverse
New residents are having more children
There are more people in work
People are better educated
There are record numbers of graduates many of which
are choosing to live in the city centre and fringe
• At the same time however;
– High levels of worklessness; complex dependency and pockets
of deprivation remain
– Welfare reforms are changing neighbourhoods
– Unprecedented pressure on school places
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Background – MCC role in
employment support
• Leadership around supporting economic growth and
reducing dependency/cost but no statutory role
• Previously had national funding to plug gaps in nationally
managed services e.g. Jobcentre Plus
• Long track record of innovation in regeneration areas
Now use mainstream budgets.
• Public Service Reform – moving towards financial selfsufficiency, connecting communities to growth
• Focus on sustainability and flexible community delivery
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Work Clubs - Context
Introduced by the coalition government 2010/11 as part
of a new welfare reform programme.
• ‘Get Britain Working’ measures for new benefit
claimants including;
Work Clubs, volunteering and work experience to add
value to the Jobcentre Plus standard support
• The Work Programme – mandatory programme for
certain categories of mainly longer-term benefit
claimants, sub-contracted to large private sector
organisations
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Work Clubs – Concept and Context
• Voluntary participation for unemployed people
• A place for unemployed people to meet and exchange
skills, experiences, make contacts and get support to
move into work
• Demand- led, established and driven locally by
community groups, delivered in accessible venues
• ‘Big Society’ approach - creating a new generation of
volunteers to deliver community services
• Limited start up funding from government, initially in
priority areas
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Delivery
• No fixed delivery model from Government but minimum
expectation of support with job search and CV writing,
following referral from Jobcentre Plus
• Enhanced offer might include volunteering opportunities
within the Work Club or with partners, self-employment
support, training and careers Information, Advice and
Guidance
• Offer has changed over time e.g. Support to access
Universal Jobmatch – government tool to:
– upload CVs and search for/be matched to jobs
• Used by Jobcentre Plus to evidence ‘Claimant
Commitment’ – agreement by individual to take
measures to find work in return for receiving benefits so
some issues around fit with original principles of
voluntary participation
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Work Clubs in Manchester
• 60 local Work Clubs delivered by voluntary and
community sector, housing associations, adult education
services and other providers
• Mainly added to existing provision e.g. learning centres,
housing offices. Some supported by established
employment support services.
• City-wide specialist Work Clubs, e.g.
• Manchester Deaf Centre
• Booth Centre (homeless),
• Back on Track (drugs, alcohol, homelessness, mental
health, criminal convictions)
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Manchester City Council Support
• Raised awareness of work club model in local
communities.
• Grant funding to establish and develop
• Informal network/Facebook group and events to share
information, job vacancies and best practice
• Developed work club volunteer mentoring course with
Manchester Adult Education Service (MAES). Can also
place trained mentors into work clubs
• Training and license for Work Star tool which measures
the ‘journey of change’ for jobseekers
(www.staronline.org.uk)
• Quality benchmarking tool to identify strengths and
weaknesses and put in place support for work clubs
• Developing tools to collect data to evidence success for
future funding bids
• City-wide steering group – MCC, Jobcentre Plus and
MAES
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Research
• 2013 - Centre for Regional Economic and Social
Research, Sheffield Hallam University evaluation –
“Exploring the impact of Work Clubs in Manchester”
• Research methodology; in-depth interviews with
• 4 stakeholders
• 12 Work Club staff across 10 Work Clubs
• 14 Work Club participants
• Review of strategic and operational docs
• Analysis of monitoring data provided by the 10 Work
Clubs
• Categorised Work Clubs into three groups:
• Community based
• Specialist
• Established
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Communitybased
Specialist
Established
Staffing and
use of
volunteers
Entirely
volunteer led
Staff
experience and
expertise
Limited or no
previous
experience of
delivering
employment
support
Funding
Facilities
Target group
Limited or no
Community
General support
funding from
venues with
to local
JCP or
basic IT facilities residents
Manchester City
Council and little
other external
funding
Paid staff with
Limited or no
some volunteers previous
experience of
delivering
employment
support
Some funding
from JCP and
Manchester City
Council and
some recourse
to external
funding
Specialist
centres with IT
facilities.
Paid staff with
trained
volunteers
Funding from
JCP and/or
Manchester City
Council plus
significant
recourse to
other sources of
external funding.
Dedicated
Either general or
employment and niche support
training facilities
with fully
equipped IT
suites.
Significant prior
experience of
delivering
employment
support
Niche support to
groups with
particular needs
Cross referrals
in-house to nonemployability
provision e.g.
advice and
advocacy on
benefits, debt
and housing
Cross-referrals
in-house to
other
employability
provision.
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Research findings
Outcomes and achievements
Valuable soft outcomes for participants:
• Enhanced confidence, well-being and self-esteem
• Increased social contact and valuable peer support
• Support with a range of non-employment issues
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Research
Outcomes and achievements
Clients reported enhanced employability:
• Access to accredited training courses
• Experience through volunteering or work placements
• Enhanced IT skills
• Improved job search skills
• Additional vocational skills and qualifications
118 clients found paid work across 11 Work Clubs which
provided data
Good Value For Money:
• Estimated financial benefits of: £1,449,866 (income +
NHS cost savings)
• For every £1 invested, the 11 Work Clubs generated
£13.61 of value
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Research- What works well...
• Use of volunteers to support delivery
• Established expertise and facilities provides more
credibility to customers and partners
• Structured pathway of support crucial to enable
progression
• Local facilities within communities makes service more
accessible
• Partnerships with external agencies are crucial
• Broad skill sets, knowledge and attributes of Work Club
staff
• Understanding needs of particularly vulnerable clients
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...and not so well
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Lack of resources e.g. phones and laptops
Lack of time to develop networks e.g. with employers
Insufficient expertise: 'We're learning ourselves'.
Some volunteers who lack expertise and are not always
available
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Research conclusions
• Work Clubs operating on 'established' or 'specialist' model
better placed to achieve outcomes because of additional
time, resources and expertise
• ‘Community-based' Work Clubs lack this capacity and least
able to access support – training for staff, engagement with
external agencies and employers
• Work Clubs deliver valuable economic and social outcomes
• Voluntary, holistic and flexible service that complements
existing mainstream provision
• A little funding goes a long way….but long-term
sustainability key concern as public funding cuts continue
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