The Pro-active Initiative was piloted with Routes to Work Ltd, which provides a range of community-based services to unemployed people. Over 1,400 "lost" clients who had originally contacted the company but were no longer seeing a key worker were identified and sent a mail shot. The details of those that did not respond were passed to Northline, which followed them up by phone and generated 140 "returned" clients to the service.
The success of the pilot has led to Northline making sustainability checks with clients who have found employment through the North Lanarkshire's Working employability framework to ascertain if they are still in employment six months later and, if not, refer them back into the model. Analyzing those people who are no longer employed allows for better targeting of aftercare services through dedicated key worker support and access to the Discretionary Fund and Childcare Development Fund which can provide a range of support from travel costs to childcare to help with tools and clothing to help with bills before a first pay comes through.
The project developed for "lost" clients will be repeated within a particular geographical area or with clients who were receiving a specific benefit.
Under the Reactive Initiative, Northline receives calls made to a freephone number from people interested in engaging with employability services. Calls can be received from agencies wishing to refer one of their clients, or by someone who wishes to self-refer. The freephone number has been supported by a range of marketing activity which has included a Men Into Childcare campaign for over 50s broadcast by Real Radio and a texting campaign in conjunction with Radio Clyde. Between August 2008 and April 2009, 769 calls had been received by the service.
Due to benefit changes and the increased number of people claiming Job Seekers Allowance, more calls have been received from people needing CVs. In response, dedicated CV workshops have been run through the Council's Adult Literacy and Numeracy teams.
Specific systems were devised for both projects and Northline staff receiving training on the variety of employability services that are available, including regular updates on how to handle calls generated by particular campaigns. Every call received has been listened too, and where necessary, new protocols and procedures have been devised to handle the more unusual ones.
Further information
For more information, please contact:
Ian Hunter
Economic Development Officer
Chief Executive's Office
North Lanarkshire Council
Civic Square
Windmillhill Street
Motherwell, ML1 1AB
Tel: 01698 302707
Email: hunteri@northlan.gov.uk
