Final Report - Employability in · PDF fileFinal Report . Clackmannanshire LEP ... strategy for Clackmannanshire, ... development and business growth and the recent achievements need

Clackmannanshire Local

Employability Partnership

Employability Strategy 2014

Rocket Science UK Ltd with Blake Stevenson Ltd

6 October 2014

Final Report

Clackmannanshire LEP: Employability Strategy

Contents

Executive Summary…………………………………………………………………………………………………1

1 Introduction ........................................................................................... 7

2 The context ........................................................................................... 9

3 Demand: Economy and employment ..................................................... 20

4 Unemployment in Clackmannanshire ...................................................... 30

5 The employability system and its performance .......................................... 47

6 The views of stakeholders ..................................................................... 73

7 Issues, challenges and priorities ............................................................. 78

8 Proposed workstreams .......................................................................... 84

9 Structures and resources for delivery ...................................................... 99

Appendix 1: Key elements of welfare reform ............................................ 104

Appendix 2 Distinctive industries ............................................................ 107

Appendix 3: Stakeholder interviews ........................................................ 109

Appendix 4: Scale and performance of employability support ..................... 110

Appendix 5: Wood Commission Recommendations: LEP leadership ............ 145

Richard Scothorne, Director

Rocket Science

2 Melville Street

Edinburgh EH3 7NS

[email protected]

07774 141 610

mailto:[email protected]

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Executive Summary Rocket Science (with Blake Stevenson) was commissioned to produce a refreshed

strategy for Clackmannanshire, building on the achievements of the last strategy which was produced in 2010. We have analysed economic, employment and unemployment

trends, explored the wider Scottish and UK policy context for the strategy, and reviewed the performance of employability services and programmes since 2008. This has identified a number of significant issues and trends which we have drawn on to develop 4

workstreams, identify priority client groups and make recommendations about the appropriate structure, brief and membership of the Local Employability Partnership to

take action forward and manage performance.

Our main findings are:

Clackmannanshire has made exceptional progress in terms of regeneration and

improving transport links. However, the recession had a particularly significant impact on the economy and jobs in Clackmannanshire and has opened up a gap

with the Forth Valley and Scottish levels of unemployment. Although unemployment has fallen with wider economic recovery, many of the main features of unemployment and employment have become relatively worse since the last

strategy. Without greater investment in employability or a significant change in what is being done (or both), there is little to indicate that these

trends can be reversed.

There is a shortage of local jobs for those seeking work in Clackmannanshire and

this gap is growing. It is important to sustain the partners’ efforts on economic development and business growth and the recent achievements need to be built

upon. The positioning of employment support as an integral part of the business growth approach represents good practice in a Scottish context. However, even the most successful effort on economic development is very unlikely to create the

number of local jobs needed to transform local employment prospects. There are some important implications of this, in particular:

o Residents need to widen their job search area outside Clackmannanshire in

order to enhance their chances of finding work

o Young people need to be helped to widen their horizons and develop the skills

and resilience they will need to thrive in communities outside Clackmannanshire where there may be a greater chance of them finding work

o The LEP needs to be working closely with adjacent LEPs to ensure that labour market insights and job search cover a wide area that can provide a greater

range of opportunities.

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The scale and depth of the problem requires a sustained strategic response of scale across Council Departments and partners in order to make the kind of

impact that is needed. There are substantial resources available for the task, mainly in terms of the wide array of front line staff engaging with priority client groups. Progress has been made in ensuring that the contribution that all services

and organisations can make to the employability agenda is recognised and acted upon, but we have identified some opportunities to further strengthen this.

This needs to be accompanied by even closer working relationships between

the employability service and employers with a sustained focus on

understanding the current and emerging skill and recruitment needs of businesses and ensuring that the match between these requirements and the skills, attitudes

and behaviours of candidates is assured.

The small scale of the population of the area means that it is possible to make a

significant impact on the problem (eg converging with Scottish averages) with a focused effort on priority client groups. For example, if an additional 30

school leavers last year had achieved positive outcomes, Clackmannanshire would have moved from 32nd in the list of Local Authorities to 1st in terms of positive outcomes achieved by school leavers.

There is a clear consensus among the partners that a priority remains (as with the

current Strategy) on action to help young people find fulfilling and sustainable work. The publication of the Wood Commission Final Report provides a clear focus for taking forward an approach on school/work transition. The Clackmannanshire

Alliance needs to take forward the Wood recommendations as they cut across the roles and responsibilities of a number of services and partners. But there are areas

which the LEP should lead on and we describe these in Appendix 4.

The difference between the current numbers of Modern Apprentices and the number that would be justified by Clackmannanshire’s share of youth unemployment is locally significant and there should be a sustained effort to

increase the number of young people in Clackmannanshire moving to Modern Apprentices by c50-75 per annum.

Clackmannanshire Works is a significant and well-appreciated part of the landscape

of support. It is important that it feels confident it is devoting time and effort to

those clients to whom it can make the most difference in order to maximise its impact and we propose some tools which can be used to raise this confidence.

The performance of the Work Programme is not significantly worse than in many

other areas but 81% of the people entering the programme complete the

programme two years later no closer to work – and indeed many will be further away with perished skills and damaged confidence. About 60 people every month

are now emerging from Work Programme onto the labour market after 2 years on the programme (and between 33 months and 36 months of unemployment). Since WP clients form by far the largest group of those unemployed in Clackmannanshire

it is important that the partners consider ways of:

o Helping to reduce the number of clients entering Work Programme

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o Providing additional support for those on Work Programme who may not be receiving the support they need to find work

o Providing appropriate support to those completing Work Programme.

Since most businesses in Clackmannanshire are micro-businesses (ie employ

fewer than 10 people) there is a need to ensure that appropriate support is in place to help them grow through recruitment. The current specialist HR support

available through Business Gateway appears to be working well, and there seems to be scope further to enhance this effort.

Given the need for a focused approach that is realistic in the light of current financial and staff resources we set out a strategy which builds on the last strategy and has 4 themes:

Driving the strategic focus – it is important to build on the partners’ recognition

of the scale of the issue and the depth of the problem and reinforce the importance

of cross Council and cross agency working. This will have a particular focus on young people and those who are long term unemployed or at risk of LTU. The

main task will be to draw on the role of all those front line staff who engage with clients who are unemployed, and ensuring that all organisations are achieving their potential for making an impact on unemployment.

Working at a wider scale. There is a significant local jobs gap and many young

people and others seeking work will need to widen their job search area and even move away (temporarily or permanently) if they are to gain fulfilling work. The practical questions raised by this are:

o What needs to be done in schools to help young people broaden their horizons and gain the skills and resilience needed to work elsewhere or to travel out of

the area for work? o What needs to be done in terms of providing labour market intelligence for a

much wider geographical area than Clackmannanshire? o How to help people overcome perceived and actual barriers involved in

travelling to work outside the area or moving elsewhere.

Placing employability firmly in the context of business growth. In other

words, the employability service will help its clients by developing an even stronger focus on the needs of employers and wherever possible ensuring that businesses get the recruits they need, when they need them. Work under this strand will

include: o Ensuring that all those working with businesses are identifying recruitment

and skills needs and opportunities o Enhancing the current service for helping clients prepare for selection

procedures and the first weeks in work. It would benefit clients if this is

seen as distinctive and involving different people – that is, it needs to replicate the very different environment of working with new people.

o Improving intelligence about the current and emerging needs of local businesses

o Co-designing bespoke training approaches with larger employers or groups

of employers.

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Enhancing and managing performance – ie how to get improved performance out of existing service provision and resources – and how to actively manage this

performance. One of the issues here is how to focus resources on those clients they can make the most difference to and ensuring that there is a collaborative effort across services around those clients furthest from work. The work involved

under this strand should include:

o Improving the quality and relevance of information and insights about job opportunities

o Implementing a joined up approach to school work transition to create more

progressive routes to work for young people, building on the recommendations of the Wood Commission. The initial focus would be on ensuring that all young

people leaving school are progressing to training, work experience or a job. o Focusing support on those vulnerable to long term unemployment in their first

12 months of employment – and providing less support to others

o Working with Work Programme Primes to enhance the support available for those who are on or emerging from Work Programme

o Supporting those particularly affected by welfare reform. Alongside this work there is a need to put in place improved ways of describing and

analysing the performance of the whole employability system to help the LEP manage it actively.

Our analysis of scale and need suggests that there is scope to focus the current effort on some clear priority client groups – which should be:

Young people, to minimise the number becoming unemployed. This will involve

schools, employers, parents, CC Education and Skills Development Scotland.

Those less than 12 months unemployed who are vulnerable to long term unemployment. This will involve JCP, Clackmannanshire Works and a range of Council Services.

Those for whom work is a realistic medium or long term objective but require a

complex array of support to get there. This will involve JCP, Clackmannanshire Works and a range of Council and other specialist services.

Those on Work Programme who need additional support, or emerging from the Work Programme still unemployed. This will involve Ingeus, Working Links, Triage

and local third sector organisations, JCP and CC.

Tenants of the Council who are most affected by the welfare reform changes.

This will involve the housing service of CC and local providers.

The focus of our Action Plan is on the identification of these groups and the focusing and aligning of support around them.

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The implications for the management structures for employability are:

The clearly described priorities of the Clackmannanshire Alliance on economic development and employability (as expressed in the SOA) and these should be reflected in the Alliance membership which should include SDS and DWP

The structure beneath the Alliance is simple and focused and contrasts favourably

with the complicated structure of some other CPPs. However, the working relationship between the Business Jobs and Skills Partnership and the Community Wellbeing Partnership needs to be much closer.

There is widespread agreement that the operational task of employability is

currently spread across a number of groups and there needs to be one operational group – the LEP – where all the significant issues around employability are discussed and where the performance of the whole employability system is

reviewed. The LEP should lead on:

o The operational aspects of delivering the skills pipeline and actively managing the performance of the providers making up the pipeline

o Coordinating the commissioning of employability services locally and ensuring that the services being bought (and the clients for whom the services are being

bought) make up a coherent and focused package o Reviewing and enhancing the performance of the whole employability and skills

system, and developing the systematic model presented in this report to aid this.

It will be important for the LEP to distinguish between barrier removal

(particularly at Stage 1) and job focused support (Stages 3-5) and we recommend that the LEP reports to the Community Well-being Partnership on the former and the Business Jobs and Skills Partnership on the latter.

The LEP should focus on achieving a small number of outcomes and ensure a

joined up approach to their achievement – ie it should have a focus on some target client groups rather than on programmes. To understand and drive their role in analysing and actively managing performance there needs to be some analytical

capacity that can be dedicated to this task on behalf of the LEP on a part time basis.

The Final Report of the Wood Commission is a significant document in terms of

action to strengthen the transition from school to work. The Report sets out a wide

range of recommendations. We do not feel that the LEP should be asked to lead the implementation of the Wood Commission recommendations. However, some of

the recommendations fall clearly into the brief of the LEP as proposed here and we describe these in detail in this report.

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The membership of the LEP needs to reflect the full range of tasks across the skills pipeline. LEP membership should therefore include:

o Clackmannanshire Council: Economic Development/Employment, Housing,

Social Care, Education, Finance and Corporate Services

o Clackmannanshire Third Sector Interface, Forth Valley College, NHS Forth

Valley, Skills Development Scotland, DWP/JCP.

The staff representing these organisations need to be senior enough to take and

drive decisions. This is an important role and they need to have their LEP role built into their Job Descriptions and have the time and responsibility to carry out this

role effectively.

The contribution of the Third Sector to employability in the area is widely

recognised to be vital but some elements of this contribution are relatively invisible. The full range of support it does and can provide needs to become

clearer, and untapped potential needs to be explored. The sector has much to offer in terms of innovative responses to need. In addition, CTSI’s role as the voice of the sector in Community Planning must be further developed to ensure that it is

fully representative and that routes for contributing to the strategic dialogue are clearer.

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1 Introduction Rocket Science (with Blake Stevenson) was commissioned to work with the

Clackmannanshire Local Employability Partnership to develop a new Employability and Action Plan for Clackmannanshire for the period 2014 to 2017.

Specifically, the brief required a focus on:

Reviewing which client groups the LEP should be focusing its resources on to ensure the greatest impact.

Assessing the impact of Welfare Reform, particularly the introduction of the claimant commitment and the roll-out of the Universal Credit, on local

employability services and how best the LEP should respond to these challenges in terms of the increased demand for employability services locally.

How better to engage with local providers of employability services to ensure there

is a more joined-up and effective local employability pipeline. Identifying the contribution of the third sector locally in terms of employability

services and integrating these resources into the local employability pipeline. Revisiting the purpose, role, membership and responsibilities of the LEP and its

relationship with other groups in the community planning structure, in particular

the Business Jobs and Skills Partnership Team and the Opportunities for All Partnership.

Ensuring that the new Strategy and Action Plan clearly contribute to the delivery of the local Single Outcome Agreement and that the new LEP Action Plan is realistic and achievable with lead agencies clearly identified.

What we have done

Our work has involved the following tasks:

Reviewing the existing documentation and information on evidence, approach, strategy and performance

Detailed analysis of the evidence on economic and employment/unemployment

trends and issues

Careful interrogation of performance data and specifically that available from

Clackmannanshire Works which is able to provide the most detailed insight into client status and progress.

Consulting with local stakeholders including the LEP partners, providers, employers and third sector contributors.

Running a workshop for the Opportunities for All Partnership and the Business,

Jobs and Skills Partnership Team to explore and discuss our initial findings and

conclusions.

Running a workshop with the LEP to explore our initial recommendations.

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This Report is structured as follows:

We describe the context in terms of policy trends and their practical implications in Chapter 2

In Chapters 3 and 4 we describe the current situation in terms of economic, employment and unemployment trends in Clackmannanshire

In Chapter 5 we describe the structure of the employability and skills ‘system’ in

Clackmannanshire as a basis for managing its performance and summarise our

findings from our review of the current range and performance of employability interventions (the full analysis is set out in Appendix 2)

In Chapter 6 we report on our interviews with stakeholders, identifying the main

themes and issues raised.

In Chapter 7 we describe the issues, challenges and priorities that we have drawn

out from the evidence and interviews, and in Chapter 8 we set out our proposed recommendations in terms of themes, workstreams and priority groups.

In Chapter 9 we consider the implications for the structure of the management of the strategy and how the LEP can align and structure resources to implement the

strategy.

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2 The context

In this chapter we set out the context against which this strategy is being

developed and which will form the background to its implementation.

We have structured this around four main themes:

The Referendum on Independence and the likely practical consequences in

the area of employability and skills.

Current issues and trends in terms of national unemployment programmes and in particular procurement trends and Work Programme 2.

Welfare reform and is consequences and implications.

Issues around local partnership and joined up service delivery. Understanding this context is important as the Clackmannanshire strategy needs

to be robust in the light of current and emerging issues and trends.

The Referendum and its practical consequences

Although the outcome of the Independence Referendum is now clear it remains unclear how employability funding and services will be devolved. The Scottish White Paper ‘Scotland’s Future’ identified two particular areas of policy and

practice development that are likely to move forward.

A focus on early intervention and a strong link with education “Employment services in an independent Scotland will be built on the principle of

"early intervention", and seek to prevent individuals from becoming long-term unemployed with all of the associated problems for individuals and for society. An

early assessment of needs can provide support when required rather than after nine or 12 months as happens under the current system.”

The last sentence is a reference to Work Programme and the view that much more attention needs to be spent on stopping people becoming long term

unemployed through early intervention. The UK is one of the few advanced western countries not to have a system of identifying those unemployed people who are particularly vulnerable to long term unemployment and providing them

with much earlier support. The most effective systems involve a combination of data-based predictive indicators and the professional judgement of an

experienced personal adviser. There is some thinking going on about this which draws on international good practice and models based on upfront investment paid for by later savings. DWP has looked at this several times – but never acted

on it, mainly because of concerns about ‘deadweight’ (ie paying for support when the client would have found work without it).

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However, last year they published research on an approach which appeared to offer a significant return on investment and we have drawn on this in developing

our recommendation to introduce a more systematic way of focusing interventions in Clackmannanshire by identifying short term unemployed people

who are most at risk of long term unemployment. It is important to note that the Scottish Government sees employer engagement

with schools as part of such an early intervention approach – in other words, transforming the connection between school and work and ‘making work visible’

for those at school. The Wood Commission Final Report recommends a range of actions to help those at school relate much more closely to the world of work and in parallel to this Skills Development Scotland has been developing a framework

for employer-school engagement. This is part of a wider drive by Local Employability Partnerships to become more strongly demand driven and to see

employability support as part of a wider business support and recruitment service.

Integration of skills and employability

“Following independence, we will bring together job matching, employability training and career guidance, currently being delivered separately in Scotland by

the Department for Work and Pensions and Skills Development Scotland. This will allow local service delivery to be customised more closely to the needs of individuals. We will also aim to provide more tailored and coherent provision and

increase the involvement of the Third Sector.”

There is a clear consensus around doing this in Scotland and it is probable that at least the support and information role for unemployed people provided by DWP/JCP would be devolved. This will have significant implications for services

for 16 and 17 year olds who currently fall outside the remit of JCP. This would resonate with growing concerns about the effectiveness of the current school

work transition and the reduction in face to face support for this group by Skills Development Scotland. However, JCP has seen a similar reduction in its ability to provide face to face support and it remains to be seen how this discussion can

find expression in a service which can make a significant difference to young people.

The explicit reference to the Third Sector is significant. However, with the exception of the Wise Group (and to a lesser extent CEiS and Claverhouse

Group) there are no large scale third sector providers in the area of employability in Scotland – though there is a wide range of small local third sector providers –

some of which play a role in supply chains including Work Programme, Employability Fund and LA funds.

At least as significant as the structure of a further deal on devolution will be the attitude of the Scottish Government to the outsourcing of public services such as

welfare to work, which we reflect on in the following section. But this needs to be set against the wider UK context in the short term.

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National procurement trends

The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) commissioning has resulted in a significant rationalisation of the welfare to work market, with fewer, bigger

providers since the introduction of Flexible New Deal in 2009, and following the DWP commissioning strategy in 2008. This has been a painful process over the

past 6 years, and DWP are unlikely to reverse this trend. DWP currently commissions third-party welfare-to-work activity with potential

total contract values of over £1bn per year. The DWP 2013 Commissioning Strategy consultation confirms the intention to continue to use large scale,

nationally commissioned services, while understanding the importance and value of local commissioning of specialist services.

In the Commissioning Strategy consultation DWP state that it “would expect to see further consolidation of our existing suppliers and more new entrants – at

prime level and within the supply chain too.”1

It is likely that DWP will “retain national commissioning, using current or similar size CPA areas to preserve economies of scale”, certainly in England2. DWP’s future welfare-to-work portfolio is likely to include large scale, national

services, with some much smaller-scale procurement of specialist services which DWP will commission directly through the Jobcentre network, operating at sub-

national level. However, in contrast, there are many stakeholders that would like to see local

commissioning of employment services, for example at a Local Enterprise Partnership level in England. The eight Core Cities in England are campaigning

for local commissioning of Work Programme 23, while others are campaigning for local commissioning of support for ESA clients.

This has resonances in Scotland with the evolution of Local Employability Partnerships (LEPs) in each of the 32 Local Authorities, 16 of which to date

(including Clackmannanshire) have now adopted the strategic skills pipeline approach. Some of the stronger LEPs have put in place coherent integrated responses to the bidding for the Employability Fund of Skills Development

Scotland and one possible future would be for any devolved welfare to work money to be played out through LEPs – or combinations of LEPs that make more

sense in terms of local labour market areas. Our own expectation is that city based amalgamated LEP areas will form the basis for any future Scottish commissioning – in other words we expect to see a strengthening of a ‘city

region’ approach in terms of commissioning and a range of other joined up strategic service delivery models.

1 https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/225753/dwp-commissioning-strategy-2013.pdf 2 Evolution not Revolution, ERSA, December 2013 3 http://www.corecities.com/sites/default/files/images/publications/Step%201%20Boosting%20Skills%20and%20Jobs%20(2).pdf

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There are clear implications for the LEP in Clackmannanshire in terms of the scale at which action needs to be taken in order to make sense in terms both of

Scottish commissioning and creating a practical response around travel to work areas.

‘Work Programme 2’

There has been much debate and discussion on ‘Work Programme 2’ in recent months. Some of the key points to note are:

Outcome based payment models are very likely to remain Competition between providers within a CPA is likely to remain

A differentiated payment mechanism will most likely be in place, but may be more sophisticated and tailored to client characteristics

Service for disabled clients may be delivered differently, and may even be commissioned separately.

The achievement of sustained employment as an outcome will continue to

be important Incremental progression towards longer term economic independence of

claimants will be a feature, possibly linked to Universal Credit and increasing earnings / declining benefits

Better integration with skills provision is very likely, and may form part of the funding formula and output targets (note that this is reflected in very similar intentions for a Scottish approach in the Scottish Government’s

White Paper). Recent changes at DWP are notable – the shift of responsibility for the

Work Programme to the Commercial Directorate with a consequently tougher commercial approach (the first deliberate signal of which has been Newcastle College Group losing their WP contract in one of their 3 CPAs) –

and a recognition that lower client referrals to WP is producing some perverse payment outcomes, which makes it is likely that DWP will want to

re-negotiate existing WP contracts. The devolution of Work Programme has formed part of some statements on the

content of future action. However, this needs to be interpreted with care. Much of the up-front funding of Work Programme came from the Prime Contractors –

who were then repaid on the basis of the results achieved. If a future Scottish Government designs a different kind of national model to support long term unemployed people (eg one that uses third sector leads instead of private sector

leads) this will change the scale and profile of resources involved. In the short term the likelihood is that current Prime Contractors will have their contracts

extended for a year until April 2016. This may provide time for a Scottish approach to long term unemployment to be fashioned – which is likely to be more locally collaborative and involve greater third sector involvement. This is

clearly directly relevant to this strategy for Clackmannanshire and means that the LEP should start thinking about these medium term issues in terms of its

shorter term actions.

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Welfare reform Welfare reform provides a vital element of the context for this strategy as it is likely to reduce the income of many of those who are out of work or in low paid

work and increase the demands placed on employability services across the UK. Its combination of benefit cuts, benefit changes and restructuring particularly

affect those with disabilities or are otherwise distant from work so the demands on employability services in Clackmannanshire are likely to increase – and the profile of those seeking support will be at the ‘harder to place’ end of the

spectrum.

The main components of the changes are set out in detail in Appendix 1. The elements of Welfare Reform which are relevant to Clackmannanshire, are feasible to study, and can be realistically addressed through an employment intervention

are:

Cumulative impact of changes to uprating and threshold adjustments in JSA (inc premia), ESA (inc premia), Child Benefit, Child tax Credit, Non-Dependent Deductions to Housing Benefit between 2010/11 and 2014/15

Those ineligible for ESA who were previously claiming Income Support, Severe Disablement Allowance or Incapacity Benefit

Those ineligible for PIP who were previously claiming DLA Those affected by the Benefit Cap.

The best source of data for targeting those most affected by welfare reform will be Clackmannanshire Councils database on its own tenants (there are some

3,250 LA tenants who are receiving housing benefit). This would enable the Council to target those tenants who are likely to be more affected with more intensive employability related support.

One of the key elements of welfare reform is Universal Credit which is being

introduced between 2013-2017. Universal Credit represents a major reform to the benefits system in itself. A range of benefits will be merged into a single

benefit paid to those in work and out of work alike. Nothing is straightforward about Universal Credit. UK-wide there will be millions

of winners and millions of losers in financial terms and in terms of incentive to enter/increase work. Overall, the Universal Credit aspect of welfare reform will

result in a small net gain for an average household and will be progressive in that poorer households will, on average, gain more from the changes.4 Of more concern is the administration and delivery of Universal Credit which introduces

new uncertainties. There are now significant doubts about whether and when Universal Credit as originally designed will be fully implemented: the original

timescale for implementation has slipped significantly and the scale of implementation has been severely reduced.

4 DWP Universal Credit Impact Assessment

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Under the proposals Universal Credit will be paid:

Monthly in a single payment to a nominated single member of the household (although appeals can be made to change the person and

frequency temporarily). By BACS into a transactional bank account by default (although payment

can also be made at a high street Payment Point).

The direct payment of benefit to social landlords will cease for most claimants,

apart from those deemed vulnerable. In 2014 50% of claims will be made online, rising to 80% by 2017.

It is widely believed5 that the direct payments to tenants (rather than landlords) of housing costs will lead to increased rent arrears. While this is a new

introduction for social tenants it is the same as the current process for private tenants receiving LHA. As with LHA, Alternate Payment Arrangements will be available for some claimants.

Online claims will be made by most Universal Credit claimants, which may prove

difficult for a small proportion but a large number of individuals in Clackmannanshire without access or capability to make their own claim online.

Local support providers (e.g. CAB, hostels, and Local Authorities) will receive some funding to support claims under DWP’s Local Support Services Framework.

Payments of Universal Credit will normally be monthly and will have a delay on the first payment of up to 45 days6 which may have implications in terms of:

Household budgeting Ensuring there is money left to pay housing costs

Waiting up to 38 days from a successful claim before receiving the first payment.

Some “personalised budgeting support” will be available through the Local Support Services Framework.

Universal Credit introduction has been delayed and it currently only applies to a

limited number of (single) clients in pathfinder areas. The “National Progressive Rollout” is expected to be complete by 2017 although further delays are likely before all 8m anticipated claims are active.

For existing claimants there will be transitional protection, where if a claimant

would have received more under the existing benefits system during 2013/14 than under Universal Credit, they will continue to claim at the higher rate until a significant change in circumstances for the household.

5 http://www.housing.org.uk/media/press-releases/rent-arrears-could-rocket-over-50-under-new-welfare-plans/ 6 7 day waiting period, 31 day claim period, 7 day payment period. http://stats.cesi.org.uk/events_presentations/Welfare_reform/S5_Felicity_Ridgway.ppt http://www.parliament.uk/briefing-papers/SN06694.pdf

http://stats.cesi.org.uk/events_presentations/Welfare_reform/S5_Felicity_Ridgway.ppt

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The impact on Clackmannanshire of the main welfare reform changes has been assessed by Sheffield Hallam University and is described in Figure 1 overleaf.

This is a vital part of the context for this strategy as it shows the scale of the impact on individuals and the numbers of households that are involved. Using

the Council’s own housing databases the LEP will be in a position to target those who are most affected with more intensives employability related support, as some other Councils are now doing.

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No. of households

affected Estimated loss

£m per year

No. of households affected per

10,000

Financial loss per working age

adult £ per year

Housing Benefit: Local Housing Allowance

700 1 320 21

Housing Benefit: Under-occupation ('bedroom tax')

900 0.6 420 17

Non-dependant deductions

300 0 130 10

Household benefit cap

30 0.1 11 4

Council Tax Benefit

- 0 - 0

Disability Living Allowance

600 2 170 51

Incapacity benefits

1,800 6 530 181

Child Benefit

6,500 2 2,930 70

Tax Credits

4,100 3 1,840 100

1 per cent uprating Total Impact

Estimated loss £m per year


adult £ per year Estimated loss

£m per year


adult £ per year

3 98 18 553

Figure 1: The impact of welfare reform on Clackmannanshire [Source: Sheffield Hallam University: The impact of welfare reform]

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Current changes in partnership structures and focus

The Scottish Government is placing increasing significance on the role and performance of Community Planning Partnerships. They are seen as being at

the heart of public service reform and instrumental in joining up delivery and designing services aligned with local priorities and needs. It is clear from recent

policy announcements that this significance can only grow and that demands for high performance from CPPs will also increase – not least as the Audit Commission and the Auditor General for Scotland roll out their audits of CPPs.

The significance of aligning resources around key priorities to enhance impact is underlined as resources continue to reduce in real terms and demands on

services increase.

The expectation is that CPPs will have highly collaborative approaches to the development of strategies and the implementation of plans to enhance their impact on communities with a particular focus on service integration and tackling

social and health inequalities.

The Scottish Government and COSLA have consistently stressed the significance of Community Planning and the Government see it as the main vehicle for effective public service reform.

The context around Community Planning is changing quickly:

The Community Empowerment and Renewal Bill (expected in October

2014) is likely to create some significant opportunities for supporting

effective community based action – in the Government’s words the purpose of the Bill is to ‘…support communities to achieve their own goals

and aspirations through taking independent action and by having their voices heard in the decisions that affect their area.’

The Community Empowerment Bill is also likely to cover some significant proposed strengthening of Community Planning, specifically in terms of:

o Placing increased emphasis on the planning and delivery of outcomes

o Putting CPPs and their roles and responsibilities on a statutory basis

o Placing new duties on partner bodies so that the CPP can fulfil its responsibilities, and so that each partner’s role in community

planning is fully reflected in its own governance and accountability arrangements.

The Draft Community Empowerment and Renewal Bill sets out the proposed core duties of a CPP – which should be to:

o Develop and agree a common understanding of local needs and opportunities and develop common and shared outcomes for the

CPP area o Develop an effective, shared approach for achieving those

outcomes - identifying who will do what, by when, and with what

resources o Manage performance to ensure improvement of outcomes

o Scrutinise and challenge all partners‟ contributions to the delivery of the agreed shared priorities

18


o Provide strategic oversight of arrangements for partnership working in the CPP area

o Report to communities and other stakeholders on the delivery of agreed priorities and the effectiveness of community planning in the

area o Consult and engage with the third sector and the business

community on the outcomes to be achieved and how they can best

be delivered o Consult and engage with communities in identifying and prioritising

the outcomes that are to be delivered and ensure that community engagement is properly planned, resourced and integrated across partners.

The Draft Bill also proposes the development of what looks like a

Community Plan to complement the SOA: In our view, the bulk of these core duties could be delivered by putting the need for CPPs to develop and ensure delivery of a shared plan for outcomes (i.e something similar to a

Single Outcome Agreement) in the CPP area on a statutory basis.

The Children’s Bill provides for more joined up services around every child and their progress.

The bringing together of health and social care services creates significant

local opportunities to join up not just these two areas of work around the

needs of individuals but to join both up with other agendas such as employability. The risk is that integration creates a ‘parallel strand’ of

service integration outside the Community Planning system which could significantly reduce its potential impact. The Government’s consultation document on the integration proposes that the Health and Social Care

Partnership will be a partner in each CPP and therefore be in a position to play a full part in driving the implementation of the strategy.

The main focus of the Health and Social Care Partnerships will be on

vulnerable individuals of all ages – though clearly the vulnerable elderly

will form a significant group. It will be important for the CPP over the next 12 months to create an effective context that will support wider

joining up around the needs of these individuals and households - including children’s services, housing and welfare.

The 2013 announcement by the Scottish Government that it will be transferring responsibility for the planning and delivery of community

justice services from Scotland’s eight Community Justice Authorities to the 32 Community Planning Partnerships (CPPs). In the words of the Government, “This will ensure criminal justice social workers maintain

their links with colleagues in local authorities, while developing stronger links with partners in areas like health, housing and welfare to

improve how they work together to tackle re-offending.” This creates a specific opportunity for CPPs to join up all the facets of support and service provision that can reduce reoffending and help those offending make progress to and through work.

19


There is therefore a lot going on that is directly relevant to the creation of a joined up strategy on employability for Clackmannanshire. Entirely consistent

with this direction of travel is the expected integration of Social Work (led by Clackmannanshire Council) and Education (led by Stirling Council) between

Clackmannanshire Council and Stirling Council: for both of these a full business case is currently being put together.

Our main conclusions from these issues and trends that are relevant to the creation of a new Employability Strategy for Clackmannanshire are:

The Scottish Government is raising its expectations of Community

Planning Partnerships and expecting them – particularly after the initial

CPP audits by Audit Scotland – to focus on a small number of local priorities and drive joined up working around these to enhance impact.

Given the clear focus of the Clackmannanshire SOA on economic development and employability it could be expected that the CPP would play a strong leadership role in driving the implementation of the strategy.

Whatever the outcome of the Referendum on September 18th there are

likely to be some significant structural changes though these will take time to design and implement. The most significant of these – if approved

– would be the merging of JCP support services and SDS.

There may be scope to influence at a Scottish level the design and

delivery of a successor to the Work Programme – but the stronger influence of the Scottish Government in this may lead to changes in

contract leadership and specifically the significance of the third sector in its delivery. The creation of a stronger collaborative approach between LEPs and Work Programme providers should not be ruled out and the

partners may feel it would be useful to explore possible joint action under the current programme. The Third Sector in Clackmannanshire has an

important role to play in this conversation.

Welfare Reform is increasing the demands on local employability services

as more people are being asked to actively pursue a route to work. The strategy needs to be clear about how the partners should respond to

these demands – and in particular how to support those most affected by the changes.

Finally, the moves towards joint services with Stirling in terms of Social Services and Education not only links to our finding that many will need

help to extend their horizons and their job search areas if they are to find work – but also has significant implications for how best to implement a joined up approach around school-work transition (not least in terms of

implementing the Wood Commission recommendations).

20


3 Demand: Economy and employment

In this Chapter we explore the demand side of the employability equation: what

is the scale and nature of employment within Clackmannanshire itself and in the wider job search area? We also explore the trends in employment and describe

where job growth may come from and the implications for the local approach to employability.

Clackmannanshire has a very distinctive economy. It has the majority of the Scottish bottle industry and a large proportion of the British capacity. The future

of the 600 people employed in the plant, which is relatively large in global terms, hinges on the economics of glass-making, packaging and logistics (Owens-Illinois is the largest glass container maker in the world, with 77 plants

and 22,500 employees).

Other industries define a very individual profile for Clackmannanshire, which as a small area has a highly specialised economy. From a national roster of 739 industries, 55 have more than twice as many employees in Clackmannanshire as

would be normal for Britain, and 6 have more than ten times as many. These are in and around the trade in alcoholic drinks, including especially packaging.

They represent more of a ‘cluster’ in the industrial sense than anywhere else in Scotland: other geographic concentrations tend to be in a more restricted group

of industries, whereas Clackmannanshire’s extends from whisky to beer, from paper to glass, and encompasses agents and wholesalers, warehousing and

transport, and recycling. A great deal of information and skills exchange between the components of this cluster is likely to be already taking place, but it makes sense for the partners to support and facilitate this where they can do so.

Other key industries include clothing and upholstery (remnants of Scottish

strengths), retailing and construction. Up to a point the area is trading on geography, with the advantage of being a central place. In Appendix 1 we set out the detail of the most distinctive sectors of the local economy.

The distinctive profile of the economy probably lies behind the distinctive impact

of the recession (Figure 2). This shows that the decline in the economy (as measured by Gross Value Added) declined faster and much further than in any of the neighbouring areas – indeed, the trough of the decline is twice as deep as

that for Scotland as a whole. Although there has been some recovery since, the gap created by that very steep fall in GVA has not been recovered. So, while the

pattern of recovery is matching that in other areas, it is starting from a lower base – and the gap does not appear to be closing.

21


Figure 2: Responses to the recession – Clackmannanshire compared with neighbouring

areas and Scotland [Source: Cogentsi for Rocket Science using DREAM model calibrated

using Scottish GDP statistics)

The previous strategy reported that the data from 2009 placed

Clackmannanshire as the fourth worst local authority for jobs density in Scotland. Figure 3 overleaf shows how the local authority is now placed third worst, after the most recent data from 2012 showed a decrease in jobs density,

down to 4104 jobs for every 10,000 working age people.

0.88

0.90

0.92

0.94

0.96

0.98

1.00

1.02

Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Q1 Q2 Q3

2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014

Vo

lum

e in

de

xSome recession experiences - estimated real GVA

Clackmannanshire

Scotland

Glasgow

Falkirk

Edinburgh

Stirling

Perth and Kinross

Provisional:based on reweightingScottish GDPto reflect localstructures

Ref: E:\DATA\SGDP\scotgdp2013q1extended.xlsx recession experience (2)

22


Local Authority Jobs per 10,000

Working Age People (2012)

Local Authority Jobs per 10,000

Working Age People (2012)

East Renfrewshire 3298 Dumfries and

Galloway 6072

East Dunbartonshire 3593 Aberdeenshire 6126

Clackmannanshire 4104 Renfrewshire 6223

East Lothian 4132 Eilean Siar 6356

North Ayrshire 4423 South Ayrshire 6394

Angus 4683 West Lothian 6434

East Ayrshire 4967 Perth and Kinross 6506

Midlothian 5015 Scotland 6985

West Dunbartonshire 5049 Highland 6997

Inverclyde 5258 Stirling 7166

Fife 5383 Argyll and Bute 7194

North Lanarkshire 5453 Dundee City 7394

South Lanarkshire 5648 Orkney Islands 7524

Scottish Borders 5729 Shetland Islands 9045

Falkirk 5857 Glasgow City 9261

Moray 5921 City of Edinburgh 9553

Figure 3: Jobs Density in Scottish Local Authorities and Scotland [Source: NOMIS –

Business Register and Employment Survey and Population Estimates]

Figure 4, taken from the previous strategy, shows both how employment growth

in Clackmannanshire exceeded that of Forth Valley and Scotland from 2006 and how the decrease in employment in 2009 had been smaller.

Figure 4: Employment in Clackmannanshire, Forth Valley and Scotland (2004=100)

[Source: Sutherland et al. (2011) Employability Strategy and Framework for Action for

Clackmannanshire - data from NOMIS – Annual Business Inquiry, Business Register and

Employment Survey]

23


Figure 5 provides an update on this data, using 2009 as a new starting point. It shows how employment fell sharply in 2010, exceeding the proportional falls in

both Forth Valley and Scotland. A further fall puts employment in Clackmannanshire in 2012 substantially below that of 2009. What this means is

that the gap in employment between Clackmannanshire and Forth Valley and Scotland has been widening every year since the recession.

Figure 5: Employment, Clackmannanshire, Forth Valley and Scotland (2009=100)

[Source: NOMIS - Business Register and Employment Survey]

Vacancies

Clackmannanshire’s increasing unemployment/vacancy ratio up to 2010 was

highlighted in the previous strategy. Figure 4 includes ratios from the most recent data in November 20127. This shows that the unemployment/vacancy ratio for November 2012 has fallen substantially to 6.4, which is now lower than

the ratio in November 2008.

A substantial increase in vacancies combined with the fall in claimant numbers has allowed Clackmannanshire to make very good progress in this regard: this is consistent with the wider economic recovery but Clackmannanshire’s

improvement was, proportionately, more substantial than in either Forth Valley or Scotland. However, it is still higher than Forth Valley (4.1) and Scotland (4).

The absence of more recent data means that the progress made since Nov 2012 is not known. As the previous report notes, however, only a minority of vacancies may be reported to Jobcentre Plus.

7 Jobcentre vacancy data collection was discontinued after November 2012.

88

90

92

94

96

98

100

102

2009 2010 2011 2012

Clackmannanshire Forth Valley Scotland

24


Figure 6: Ratio of Claimant Count to Jobcentre Plus Live Unfilled Vacancies [Source:

NOMIS – Claimant Count and Jobcentre Vacancies]

In Figure 7 we compare the number of JSA Claimants per unfilled jobcentre

vacancy between Clackmannanshire and four adjacent areas. What this shows is that in November 2012 all these areas had a ratio which was significantly lower

than Clackmannanshire.

Local Authority Numbers Ratio

West Lothian 1,553 1.6

Stirling 555 3.4

Fife

2,782 3.5

Falkirk

1,070 4.0

Clackmannanshire

259 6.4

Figure 7: Comparison of ration of claimant count to Jobcentre Plus live unfilled

vacancies [Source: ONS vacancies - summary analysis, November 2012]

Figure 7 also shows the value of helping those seeking work in Clackmannanshire of widening their job search area – both in terms of the scale

of unfilled vacancies in adjacent areas – and the ratio of those seeking to the number of these vacancies. To explore this issue (where are the jobs for those living in Clackmannanshire?) we need to explore commuting patterns and trends

and understand in more detail the structure and trends in employment in Clackmannanshire.

0.0 5.0 10.0 15.0 20.0 25.0 30.0

Clackmannanshire

Forth Valley

Scotland

Nov-08 Nov-10 Nov-12

25


Commuting patterns and trends for Clackmannanshire

The previous strategy noted that the proportion of employed residents commuting out of their local authority area in 2001 may now be significantly

different due to the creation of the new bridge and reopening of the Stirling – Alloa – Kincardine rail line. We have analysed the detailed data now available from the latest (2011) Census and the findings are set out in Figures 8 (for

females) and 9 (males).

Figure 8:Work places of residents in Clackmannanshire (Female) [Source: Analysis of

2011 Census]

Clackmannanshire, 4 681

East Ayrshire, 1

East Lothian, 6

East Renfrewshire, 1

Falkirk, 733

Fife, 394

Highland, 1Inverclyde, 2Midlothian, 10

North Ayrshire, 1

Perth and Kinross, 147

Scottish Borders, 1

South Ayrshire, 4

South Lanarkshire, 24

Stirling, 3 142

Aberdeen City, 8

Aberdeenshire, 4

Argyll and Bute, 4City of Edinburgh, 263

Renfrewshire, 10

West Dunbartonshire, 12

West Lothian, 91

Angus, 4

Dundee City, 18

North Lanarkshire, 84

East Dunbartonshire, 14

Glasgow City, 180

Workplaces of Clackmannanshire residents - 9840 FEMALES

Source: Census 2011 (NRS)

Ref: E:\PROJECTS\P269 Clacks LM\nomis_2014_08_25_161749.xlsx /femalepie

26


Figure 9: Work places of residents in Clackmannanshire (Male) [Source: Analysis of

2011 Census]

What Figures 8 and 9 show is that:

More than half of both men and women who are resident in Clackmannanshire work outside the area – mainly in Stirling, but also in Falkirk, Fife, Edinburgh, Glasgow and Perth and Kinross.

The commuting pattern of women is much less extensive than that of

men, with more working in Clackmannanshire and places closer to Clackmannanshire.

This highlights the shortage of local jobs, the appeal of the area as a place to live (and commute elsewhere for work) and the need for those seeking work to

broaden their horizons to enhance their likelihood of finding a job.

Clackmannanshire, 3 652

Dumfries and Galloway, 1

East Ayrshire, 3

East Lothian, 10

East Renfrewshire, 3

Eilean Siar, 1

Falkirk, 925Fife, 513

Highland, 12Inverclyde, 2

Midlothian, 24

North Ayrshire, 4

Perth and Kinross, 208

Scottish Borders, 1

Shetland Islands, 7

South Ayrshire, 5

South Lanarkshire, 71

Stirling, 2 308

Aberdeen City, 22

Aberdeenshire, 10

Argyll and Bute, 48

City of Edinburgh, 418

Renfrewshire, 43

West Dunbartonshire, 12

West Lothian, 185Angus, 12

Dundee City, 38

North Lanarkshire, 221

East Dunbartonshire, 21

Glasgow City, 342

Workplaces of Clackmannanshire residents - 9122 MALES

Source: Census 2011 (NRS)

Ref: E:\PROJECTS\P269 Clacks LM\nomis_2014_08_25_161749.xlsx /malepie

27


Business structure

As elsewhere in Scotland, most of the businesses in Clackmannanshire

are micro-businesses, that is, they employ less than 10 people.

NUMBER OF VAT and/or PAYE BASED ENTERPRISES in 2013

No of employees 0 - 9 10 - 49 50 - 249 250 + TOTAL

Clackmannanshire 835 115 10 5 965

PROFILE OF VAT and/or PAYE BASED ENTERPRISES BY SIZE in 2013

Clackmannanshire 86.5% 11.9% 1.0% 0.5%

SCOTLAND 87.0% 10.8% 1.7% 0.4%

Figure 10: Numbers and proportions of registered businesses in Clackmannanshire

[Source: UK Business: Activity, Size and Location – 2013, ONS]

Roughly half (53.3%) of all businesses in Scotland are unregistered. If we apply

this proportion to Clackmannanshire it means that that there are very roughly 1,100 unregistered businesses in Clackmannanshire. If we assume, not

unreasonably, that all of these are micro-businesses, this makes the total population of micro-businesses of the order of 1,935. There are no data at Local Authority level for unregistered businesses so we stress that this is a rough

estimate.

At the UK level there has been a significant increase in enterprise numbers over the last 3 year – most of this has been in the form of businesses without employees (Figures 11 and 12) What these figures show is that most of the

recent increase in business numbers has been among unregistered businesses.

Figure 11: Estimated number of private sector enterprises in Scotland [Source: Scottish

Government Statistics 2013]

28


* In 2003 Primary Care Trusts and National Health Service Trusts were reclassified from the private sector to the central government sector. 1: Improvements to HMRC computer systems resulted in a discontinuity in 2012

Figure 12: Change in the number of UK private sector businesses by size band, 2000 –

2013 (indexed) [Source: BIS, Business Population Estimates for the UK and Regions

2103 and ONS GDP data]

According to the Scottish Government ‘Between March 2012 and March 2013 the estimated number of enterprises increased by 0.5% (1,745 enterprises).

Unregistered enterprises (the smallest businesses that have an annual turnover

below the VAT threshold of £77,000 and do not have employees) accounted for the majority of the rise in the total number of enterprises between 2012 and

2013. The number of unregistered enterprises increased from 181,775 in 2012 to 183,055 in 2013 – an increase of 1,280 micro businesses (0.7%).

Having fallen between 2009 and 2011, the number of registered enterprises

(those registered for VAT and/or PAYE) increased by 0.3% (470 enterprises) between 2012 and 2013, the second increase in successive years. The rise in

registered enterprises over the latest year was driven by an increase in the number of small (0 to 49 employees) registered enterprises – up 0.2% (385 enterprises) between 2012 and 2013.’

8

8 http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Topics/Statistics/Browse/Business/Corporate/KeyFacts

29


On the basis of these findings it is reasonable to assume that the bulk of recent enterprise formation in Clackmannanshire has been among unregistered

businesses which have no employees. This potentially creates a market for business expansion as the economic recovery strengthens. This has important

implications in terms of where jobs may come from – and the need for HR related support (currently provided through specialist assistance offered by Business Gateway in Clackmannanshire). This tallies with what organisations

supporting businesses in the area told us.

30


4 Unemployment in Clackmannanshire

Introduction

In this Chapter we analyse the current scale, profile and trends in

unemployment in Clackmannanshire (ie the ‘supply side’). This, together with our assessment of employment trends allows us to understand the so called ‘jobs gap’ in the area – that is, the number of jobs that are needed in addition to

those already existing to provide for those seeking work locally.

We have updated the analysis provided in the previous strategy (black and white Figures) and added some further insights (colour Figures) that allow us to draw out the most important features of both the demand side (the scale and nature

of local jobs and the trends in this) and the supply side (what kind of people are unemployed and how many of them are there). This analysis forms the basis for

the development of the proposed employability strategy – together with the content of Chapter 5 which focuses on the scale, nature and performance of current provision for those seeking work, and Chapter 6 which sets out the views

of the main stakeholders.

Worklessness The labour market analysis completed for the previous strategy showed how

Clackmannanshire had been performing well at reducing DWP out-of-work benefit claimant numbers (mostly comprising Jobseekers Allowance (JSA),

Incapacity Benefit (IB), Employment Support Allowance (ESA) and Income Support (IS)) before the economic downturn struck from 2008 onwards.

Figure 13 (overleaf) takes its starting point as November 2008, in the first year of the downturn. It shows how the number of claimants, after rising further,

plateaued and then fell from 2011, with the most recent data showing that numbers are now lower than five years before. The performance of Clackmannanshire has paralleled Scotland and Forth Valley.

31


Figure 13: DWP Benefit Claimants, Clackmannanshire, Forth Valley and Scotland (Nov

2008=100) [Source: NOMIS – DWP Benefits]

A more detailed assessment of unemployment levels through claimant count data (Figure 14) shows that Clackmannanshire was particularly badly affected by

the recession of 2008 onwards. Although the Clackmannanshire rate had been higher than that for Scotland for some time, during the first year of this recession a much wider gap emerged which continued to widen before closing

slightly from 2011 onwards. Our interpretation of this was that the recession hit a local economy with a number of businesses that were already fragile in terms

of long term demand trends, and the recession therefore created a ‘tipping point’ for many sources of work. This gap may now be entrenched unless it is possible to recreate the jobs in other sectors:

Figure 14: Claimant count rates of the resident working age (16-64) population

[Source: NOMIS – claimant count – age duration with propotions].

85

90

95

100

105

110

Nov-08 Nov-09 Nov-10 Nov-11 Nov-12 Nov-13

Clackmannanshire Forth Valley Scotland

0%

1%

2%

3%

4%

5%

6%

Claimant Count Rate (proportion of 16-64 resident population)

Clackmannanshire Scotland

32


As measured through the Annual Population Survey the pattern of unemployment in Clackmannanshire has followed a slightly different trajectory –

but the current position is the same with a more substantial gap emerging between Clackmannanshire and Scotland as a whole (Figure 15).

Figure 15: Unemployment rates of the working age (16-64) population [Source:

Annual Population Survey data (NOMIS). Error bars show 95% Confidence Intervals]

Youth unemployment rates and the rates for those aged 25-49 (as assessed by claimant count rates) have remained particularly high in Clackmannanshire, compared with Scottish levels (Figure 16 overleaf). These lines are converging

in both Clackmannanshire and Scotland, but the gap remains wider in Clackmannanshire.

0.02.04.06.08.0

10.012.014.016.018.0

Unemployment Rate - 16-64 Population


33


Figure 16: Claimant count rates by age [Source: NOMIS – claimant count – age duration

with propotions].

0.00%

2.00%

4.00%

6.00%

8.00%

10.00%

12.00%

Claimant Count Rate - Clackmannanshire

Aged 16-24 Aged 25-49 Aged 50-64

0.00%

2.00%

4.00%

6.00%

8.00%

10.00%

12.00%

Claimant Count Rate - Scotland

Aged 16-24 Aged 25-49 Aged 50-64

34


Changing Nature of Client Groups

Figure 17 shows the percentage change in claimant numbers for three groups between 2005 and 2010, as presented in the previous strategy.

Figure 17: % Change in DWP Benefit Claimants, May 2005 - May 2010 [Source: Sutherland et al. (2011) Employability Strategy and Framework for Action for

Clackmannanshire – data from NOMIS – DWP Benefits]

Figure 18 updates these statistics, showing the shift to significant reductions in numbers across all benefits between May 2010 and November 2013 (the most

recent data available).

Figure 18: % Change in DWP Benefit Claimants, May 2010 – November 2013 [Source:

NOMIS – DWP Benefits]

-35 -30 -25 -20 -15 -10 -5 0

Job Seeker

IB/ESA

Lone Parent

Total

Clackmannanshire

Forth Valley

Scotland

35


Figure 18 shows:

There has been a substantial decline in the overall numbers claiming DWP

out-of-work benefits in Clackmannanshire, as elsewhere across Scotland

Falls have occurred for all three claimant groups, with the largest

percentage reduction occurring in the lone parent category

Clackmannanshire has experienced greater proportional reductions than

those of Forth Valley for all three groups and marginally greater

proportional reductions than Scotland overall (but, as seen above, the

claimant rates remain significantly higher).

These reductions in claimant numbers are broken down further in Figure 19. It is notable that:

There have been decreases for every group except for those who have

been claiming out-of-work benefits for between one and two years, which

saw no change.

Men have experienced a greater proportional reduction in claimant

numbers than women. This is consistent with this group having seen a

greater proportional increase during the economic downturn, as noted in

the previous strategy’s analysis.

The age group to have witnessed the largest reduction in numbers is 25-

54 year olds. Worklessness amongst young people and those aged 55 has

reduced by a similar percentage.

The numbers claiming benefits for less than one year have decreased

considerably since May 2010, which is consistent with this group having

seen a large increase during the economic downturn.

May-10 Nov-13 Change % Change

Gender

Male 2870 2450 -420 -14.6

Female 2590 2350 -240 -9.3

Age

Under 25 920 840 -80 -8.7

25-54 3510 3030 -480 -13.7

55+ 1020 930 -90 -8.8

Duration

Up to 1 year 1990 1550 -440 -22.1

1 to 2 years 520 520 0 0

2 years + 2940 2730 -210 -7.1

Figure 19: Change in DWP Working Age Claimants by Gender, Age and Duration for

Clackmannanshire: May 2010 – November 2013 [Source: NOMIS – DWP Benefits]

36


Changing profile of duration of unemployment

In 2011, the profile of duration of unemployment (as assessed by claimant count data) was focused on short term unemployed people – by 2013 there had been a

notable rise in the proportion of longer term unemployed people:

Figure 20: Claimant count rates (proportion of working age population); Claimant

count data [Source: NOMIS – claimant count – age duration with proportions, May 2011

and May 2013]

Current Profile and Benefit Claimants in numbers

As well as understanding the changes to have taken place amongst benefit

claimant groups in recent years, it is also important to gain an overview of the make-up of Clackmannanshire’s current out-of-work benefit claimants. This is presented in Figures 21, 22 and 23 using the most recent data from November

2013 and in a matching format to that presented in the last strategy. The key points from Figure 19 include:

There were 4,800 working age adults in Clackmannanshire claiming DWP

benefits – 14.4% of the working age population

This claimant rate is higher than both Forth Valley (11.6%) and Scotland

(11.9%)

The male group was slightly larger than the female group (51% to 48.9%)

As in May 2010, the IB/ESA group was the largest, occupying a similar

percentage of the total claimant figure (60.2%)

There were substantially more men receiving JSA than women, whilst

(predictably) the lone parent category is dominated by women.

3.1% 1.3%

0.9%

0.1% 0.0%

Duration of unemployment (as assessed through claimant count data) - May 2011

Up to 6 months

Over 6 months and up to a year

1-2 years

2-3 years

3 years +

2.4%

1.0%

0.8%

0.6%

0.4%

Duration of unemployment (as assessed through claimant count data) - May 2013

Up to 6 months

Over 6 months and up to a year

1-2 years

2-3 years

3 years +

37


Figure 21: DWP Benefit Claimants by Gender and Client Group, Clackmannanshire,

November 2013 [Source: NOMIS – DWP Benefits]

As in May 2010, the majority of claimants in November 2013 were aged between 25 and 54 (63%). The under 25s age group make up the smallest proportion of claimants at 17.5%.

Figure 22: DWP Benefit Claimants by Gender and Age, Clackmannanshire, November

2013 [Source: NOMIS – DWP Benefits]

The proportional composition of claimant numbers by duration of claim in November 2013 was broadly the same as May 2010. Almost one third had been

claiming an out-of-work benefit for less than one year, whilst the largest group (nearly 57%) had been claiming for two years or more. This emphasises the significance of Work Programme and its performance in Clackmannanshire,

which we cover in the next Chapter.

Figure 23: DWP Benefit Claimants by Gender and Duration of Claim, Clackmannanshire,

November 2013 [Source: NOMIS – DWP Benefits]

Total

4800

Male

2450

Job Seeker 970

IB/ESA 1470

Lone Parent 10

Female

2350

Job Seeker 460

IB/ESA 1420

Lone Parent 470

Total 4800

Male 2450

Under 25 430

25-54 1500

55+ 520

Female 2350

Under 25 410

25-54 1530

55+ 410

Total

4800

Male

2450

<1 Year 900

1-2 Years 250

2 Years+ 1310

Female 2350

<1 Year 650

1-2 Years 270

2 Years + 1420

38


Young People

The previous strategy highlighted the high levels of unemployment amongst young people in Clackmannanshire. We present the updated figures for MCMC

young people to 2013 in Figure 24.

Although the number of MCMC young people has been falling in recent years the relative position of Clackmannanshire has not changed and Clackmannanshire

remains the worst local authority in Scotland in terms of its scale of youth unemployment.

2009 2010 2011 2012 2013

Clack

number 350 340 370 360 300

Clack %

13.8% 13.4% 14.2% 13.9% 11.8%

Scotland

% 9.8% 9.3% 9.5% 9.2% 7.7%

Position

out of 32 LAs

31 32 32 32 32

Figure 24: MCMC Estimates, Clackmannanshire and Scotland, 2009-2013

[Source: Scottish Government – data from School Leaver Destination Survey and DWP

Benefits]

The previous strategy noted the strength of progress in Clackmannanshire’s

school leaver destinations, highlighting the reduction in the percentage of unemployed school leavers up to 2009/10.

Whilst the proportion rose again the following year, it has since fallen even further to 11.7% (8.6% plus 3.1%) in 2012/13 (seeking and not seeking; Figure

23, overleaf). However, it is now substantially higher than the 8.3% figure (7.1% plus 1.2%) for Scotland.

39


Area

Total Leavers

HE FE Training Employed Voluntary Work

AA U/E Seeking

U/E Not Seeking

Not Known

% Positive

Cf Scotland

Clackmannan-shire Council 2010/11

561 26.7% 28.2% 9.3% 20.3% 0.0% 0.4% 12.1% 3.0% 0.0% 84.8%

-4.1

Clackmannan-shire Council 2011/12

543 28.4% 30.6% 7.4% 19.5% 0.2% 1.8% 9.6% 2.6% 0.0% 87.8% -2.1

Clackmannan-

shire Council 2012/13

521 28.8% 25.7% 6.7% 24.6% 0.6% 1.9% 8.6% 3.1% 0.0% 88.3% -3.1

Scotland 2012/13 52,801 36.5% 27.8% 5.0% 20.4% 0.5% 1.3% 7.1% 1.2% 0.3% 91.4%

Relative position out of 32 LAs 2012/13

31 20 7 11 n/a 6= 27= 32 32

Clackmannan-shire Council 2012/13 Numbers

521 150 134 35 128 3 10 45 16 - 460

Summary 460 61

Figure 25: School Leaver Destinations, Clackmannanshire 2008/9 – 2012/13 in percentages of school leavers [Source: Adapted from

SDS, Scottish School Leaver Destination Survey]

Figure 25 shows that:

Most young people move to a positive destination with only 61 out of 521 moving to unemployed (seeking and not

seeking work) In terms of relative position among Local Authority areas, the low progression to FE is balanced by the high

progression to training and employment.

One consequence of the small numbers involved is that, although Clackmannanshire is the lowest placed LA for positive

outcomes, if two-thirds (30) of young people who are unemployed/seeking achieved a positive outcome, the % of positive outcomes would rise to 97% which would make Clackmannanshire the highest performing local authority.

40


Initial destin-ation

Reten-tion

Initial destin-ation

Reten-tion

Follow up destination

Oct/12

Mar/13

Oct/13

Mar /14

To FE To Training To Employment

To unemployed,

seeking

To unemployed,

not seeking

Destination Mar

/13

Mar

/14

Mar

/13

Mar

/14

Mar

/13

Mar

/14

Mar

/13

Mar

/14

Mar

/13

Mar

/14

HE 154 95% 150 97% 0% 0% 1% 0% 5% 3% 0% 0% 0% 0%

FE 166 85% 134 75% - - 6% 1% 2% 5% 6% 12% 0% 2%

Training 40 28% 35 18% 18% 0% - - 23% 27% 31% 53% 0% 0%

Employment 106 88% 128 91% 3% 2% 1% 1% - - 3% 6% 2% 1%

U/E seeking 52 42% 45 44% 14% 0% 18% 20% 14% 22% - - 12% 9%

U/E not

seeking

14 86% 16 88% 0% 0% 7% 0% 0% 0% 7% 6% - -

Totals 532 508

Figure 26: School Leaver Destinations, Follow up survey Clackmannanshire 20012/13 – 2013/14 in percentages of school leavers

[Source: Adapted from SDS, Scottish School Leaver Destination Survey, excluding voluntary work, Activity Agreements and not known]

Figure 26 shows the initial destination figures for October and the follow up figures for March the next year. It shows that:

In the latest year (2013/14) the proportion of those who were in training who become unemployed is much higher than the previous year and there has been a fall in the proportion moving to FE.

Only 44% of those unemployed and seeking in October were still in this group in March, with 20% in training and 22%

in employment.

9% of those who were seeking work had moved to unemployed, not seeking in March. However, care needs to be

taken in interpreting this as the numbers are very small (4) and this represents an improvement on the previous year.

41


If the partners helped two-thirds (30) of those young people who are unemployed and seeking work to a positive outcome the percentage of positive outcomes would rise to

97% which would make Clackmannanshire the highest performing local authority in Scotland.

The previous strategy noted the increasing challenge of youth unemployment in Clackmannanshire up to 2010. The most recent data from May 2014 shows that this

has now fallen substantially (8.9%), but is not yet close to returning to the level seen in May 2008 (7.1%), when the economic downturn was beginning (Figure 25). Youth unemployment remains a significant issue in Clackmannanshire compared with both

Forth Valley (5.4%) and Scotland (4.8%).

Figure 27: Claimant Count Unemployment as % of 18-24 Population [Source: NOMIS -

Claimant Count and Population Estimates]

ESA Work Related Activity Group

An important group of people for employability services in Clackmannanshire are those in the ESA work related activity group (WRAG), who have been judged “capable of work at some time in the future and who are capable of taking steps towards moving

into work (work-related activities) immediately”9. In Clackmannanshire, there were around 900 people in this group in October 2013, with the rise from 2012 to 2013

being greater than that for Scotland (Figures 28 and 29 overleaf).

9 http://www.benefitsandwork.co.uk/employment-and-support-allowance/esa-glossary/1345-work-related-activity-group

0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14

Clackmannanshire

Forth Valley

Scotland

May 2008 May 2010 May 2014

42


Figure 28: Number of people in Clackmannanshire claiming ESA in the WRA Group [Source:

[Source: NOMIS, DWP Benefits, Work and Pensions Longitudinal Study / mid-year population

estimates]

Figure 29: Proportion of working age people in Clackmannanshire claiming ESA in the WRA

Group compared with Scotland, showing worsening relative position since 2012 [Source:

NOMIS, DWP Benefits, Work and Pensions Longitudinal Study / mid-year population estimates]

0100200300400500600700800900

1000

Feb

ruar

y 2

00

8

Jun

e 2

00

8

Oct

ob

er

20

08

Feb

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00

9

Jun

e 2

00

9

Oct

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er

20

09

Feb

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01

0

Jun

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0

Oct

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er

20

10

Feb

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01

1

Jun

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01

1

Oct

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20

11

Feb

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01

2

Jun

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2

Oct

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20

12

Feb

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01

3

Jun

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01

3

Oct

ob

er

20

13

People claiming ESA in the Work Related Activity Group

ESA (Work related activity group)

0.0%

0.5%

1.0%

1.5%

2.0%

2.5%

3.0%

3.5%

August_2010 August_2011 August_2012 August_2013

Proportion of working age (16-59/64) people claiming ESA in the Work Related Activity Group

Scotland Clackmannanshire

43


Those in the ESA WRA group are mostly in the 25-59 age bracket, with an even split overall of males (48%) and females (52%) (Figure 30).

Figure 30: Distribution of ESA WRA Group by age and gender [Source: NOMIS, DWP Benefits,

Work and Pensions Longitudinal Study / mid-year population estimates]

What this analysis of the ESA WRA Group reveals is that the increasing proportion of unemployed people who are long term unemployed is paralleled by an increasing

proportion who are distant from work and face a number of issues which need to be resolved or managed before they can realistically aim to find and make progress in work.

0

50

100

150

200

250

300

350

400

450

aged 18-24 aged 25-49 aged 50-59 aged 60+

Profile of people claiming ESA in the WRAG group, November 2013

Male Female

44


Unemployment and benefits – the full picture

The “target diagram” below shows the latest profile of economic activity and benefits claimants in Clackmannanshire (numbers who are unemployed but do not claim any

benefit are unknown and simply estimated in this Figure).

Figure 31: Distribution of unemployment by benefit status for working age people in

Clackmannanshire. Note that all percentages are shown as a proportion of the working age

population. [Source: Inner and middle “wheels” from Annual Population Survey, Apr 2013-

Mar2014, NOMIS. Outer wheel from NOMIS, DWP Benefits, benefit claimants – working age

client group, statistical groups, February 2014.]

45


Figure 31 helps to pinpoint some of the main features of the profile of unemployment in Clackmannanshire:

As with Scotland as a whole, twice as many people are on ESA/IB as are on JSA. This is important for any strategy, not least because most people who go onto JSA find a

job within 6 months (with relatively little help) while those on IB/ESA tend to need intensive and sustained help from a range of services if they are to find and make

progress in work. Also notable is the scale of long term sickness among working age people – at 7% nearly as large as the number on IB/ESA.

Issues and challenges for Clackmannanshire

Issue: Clackmannanshire has a higher than Scottish average level of unemployment, and has been particularly hard-hit in the years of the recession with unemployment increasing further and faster than many areas in Scotland.

Unemployment has fallen recently, but not as fast as other places in Scotland or Scotland as a whole.

Challenge: The Alliance needs to develop a robust and significant response if the recession is not to create a long term shift upwards in the scale of unemployment.

Issue: The proportion of those in the ESA WRA group has noticeably diverged

from Scottish trends, becoming worse at a faster rate. The target chart shows that – like Scotland as a whole – twice as many of those seeking work are on

IB/ESA as are on JSA. This means that they are likely to need more intensive and sometimes more specialist support to find work – and some will face a range of issues which will need to be tackled or managed before they can make

progress towards work (eg housing, drug abuse, debt). There has been a notable shift of the profile of those unemployed towards longer term

unemployment between 2011 and 2013 (as assessed by claimant count data). Challenge: The Alliance and the LEP need to enhance the performance of support for long term unemployed people and in the medium term take

advantage of the reform and re-design of Work Programme.

Issue: Although the number of MCMC young people has been falling in recent years the relative position of Clackmannanshire has not changed and Clackmannanshire remains the worst local authority in Scotland in terms of its

scale of youth unemployment. Challenge: The Wood Commission report provides a solid context for sustained

work around the creation of a more assured school to work transition for young people and the greater involvement of employers in designing and contributing to this effort.

These issues raise four particular areas for action for the LEP in Clackmannanshire:

Enhancing the current effort by focusing resources and drawing on the full range of

existing resources to help those who need help to find work.

Helping those seeking work to broaden their horizons in terms of job search area

and even move away to work for at least a time.

46


Ensuring that the employability service is an integral part of the wider business

support service, ensuring that business growth is not restricted by a shortage of

recruits and where possible providing a good and timely match with need. In other

words, how to ensure that the employability service is strongly focused on

understanding and responding to the needs of employers – in terms of helping

people become work ready – and then helping them to become job ready to meet

the requirements of a specific vacancy.

Helping those at school get the best start in working life.

The most striking conclusion is that, despite the focus and clarity provided by the

previous strategy, almost all aspects of unemployment and employment in

Clackmannanshire have got relatively worse.

Recently there are worrying signs of increasing divergence from Scottish trends both in

employment growth and the growth of those on ESA WRAG. In other words, the

partners need to do more or do things significantly differently if they are to

improve the employment situation – and probably both.

In the next Chapter we assess the nature and performance of local employability support

in Clackmannanshire before drawing conclusions about the scope to enhance its focus and

performance.

47


5 The employability system and its performance

In this chapter we describe the employability system in Clackmannanshire in terms of the structures and focus being proposed in the strategy and describe the performance

of the main components. This is a summary of a more detailed analysis in Appendix 3. We explore in detail the current nature and performance of the ‘employability service’

in Clackmannanshire. Since the last strategy this has been made up of a range of services:

DWP’s services through Jobcentre Plus and the contracted out programme for

long term unemployed people, Work Programme Clackmannanshire Works European Structural Funds programme (ESF Priority 5

and ERDF Priority 3)

Clackmannanshire Apprenticeship Initiative Youth Employment Scotland

SDS Programmes o Modern Apprenticeships o Employability Fund (which replaced Lifeskills and Get Ready for Work)

SDS support in the area of Information, Advice and Guidance (IAG) and help for people to develop Career Management Skills (CMS). The Career IAG/CMS

services involves one-to-one coaching, group sessions, work experience, industry contact and labour market information, supported by My World of Work

Forth Valley College’s ESF supported training programmes

The role of schools in realising the potential of Curriculum for Excellence to relate learning to the world of work and helping pupils understand the kind of

opportunities available thought the work of Guidance Teachers. The commitment offered through the Scottish Government’s Opportunities for All

programme which offers a place in learning or training to every 16-19 year old in

Scotland who is not in employment, education and training.

To understand how this range of services play their roles in the Employability agenda in Clackmannanshire we have mapped them together with their role (or roles) and linked

these roles to 3 specific tasks:

Supporting business growth and the creation of new jobs – particularly in small

local businesses

Helping unemployed people make progress to and through work

Helping young people manage successfully the transition between school and

work.

In addition we have included the task of helping employees to develop their skills. Some of these will be previously unemployed people who can be helped to develop their skills and so embed themselves more firmly in work, with more responsible roles

and higher pay. Some of this will be the outcome of follow up work on retention and progression with unemployed people who find work.

48


The systems map can be used in three ways:

To help organisations strengthen their awareness of the roles that they currently play (and can play in the future) in the employability agenda and of the other organisations playing similar or complementary roles with whom they may need

to develop or strengthen working relationships.

Providing a way for the partners to break down the overall system into its individual parts as a basis for exploring how well each part is working and where there may be duplication or areas of weak performance.

Understanding the way in which clients ‘flow’ through the system and so where

there may be blockages or ineffective connections. Overleaf we present our initial systems map of Clackmannanshire. The objective of

producing this is to help all the organisations with a role to play to see where they fit in and the other organisations they need to have working relationships with in order to

realise the full potential of their role. The employability and skills system presented in terms of the proposed strategic

objectives is set out on page 55, with pages 50-54 providing a step-by-step guide to the system. For best legibility this should be viewed at A3.

The main ‘components’ of the systems map are:

Demand: the ‘heart’ of the system is the dashed box in the top right hand

corner which represents employment opportunities and their location. The size

of the words represents the relative scale of the main labour markets for those living in Clackmannanshire. Within Clackmannanshire the distribution of

employment between public sector and businesses is shown by the two grey boxes; within the business box is an accurate presentation of the relative scale of the different business size groups.

The service outcomes: The four colour boxes represent the generic outcomes

from the strategy by client group – together with the relevant objectives from the Clackmannanshire Single Outcome Agreement:

o Young people leaving school with a clear sense of their future and of the skill requirements of work pathways. They need to have a clear

understanding of the career management skills they have, and those they still need to develop.

o Work ready clients with resilience to look afar for jobs and temporarily move away if needed.

o Employees with the skills and aptitudes to contribute more and help their

business to grow.

o Businesses which are able to realise their potential for growth with ready

access to skills as well as support, funding, information.

49


The Strategic Skills Pipeline: The systems map sets out the standard five stage skills pipeline and maps against these the current range of roles and

contracts in Clackmannanshire. This has been built on the current Clackmannanshire skills pipeline documentation and will change over time.

Schools: These are presented as a vital part of the overall system with pupils feeding into different stages of the skills pipeline as appropriate. Clearly it will

be an ambition to ensure that pupils either making an effective transition to FE/HE or able to succeed in the workplace. The dotted lines set out routes which the partners wish to remove (ie no young person should be pursuing these

routes).

There is significant scope for the partners to more fully develop this systems

diagram and use it as a tool to help them manage performance. The specific ways in which it could be developed are:

More precise mapping of the different groups through the process to work and

beyond. Some of the missing data will be provided by the first destination data for those leaving FE – which will provide invaluable insights into the relevance

and value of the current FE offer.

Developing more detailed tracking data for clients passing through

Clackmannanshire Works. This could include some sample surveys which could explore:

o The journey individual clients have followed before reaching

Clackmannanshire Works o The journey they follow through the support provided by Clackmannanshire

Works

o Following up on those who leave Clackmannanshire Works to training or work to understand the extent to which they manage to embed themselves in work and make progress to more secure work with higher wages.

50


The Employability and Employment System

The Employability and Employment System has four strands (shown below).

Ties with the SOA

Each of the four strands of the Employability and Employment system is tied to the SOA as shown below:

51


Flows of People

There are three main flows of people in the Employability and Employment system:

The flow of young people into work (within and outwith Clackmannanshire), whether straight from school, via College,

University or via the Strategic Skills Pipeline.

The flow of people of all ages into work (within and outwith Clackmannanshire) through the Strategic Skills Pipeline.

The “flow” (upskilling) of people in work.

52


In Work Destinations of Residents in Clackmannanshire A feature of Clackmannanshire’s labour market is that more than half of residents work outside of Clackmannanshire (Census

2011), with Stirling the most likely destination.

53


Clackmannanshire

Where do Clackmannanshire

residents work?

Business Size in Clackmannanshire

Over 85% of businesses in Clackmannanshire are micro businesses. These businesses, and all other businesses in Clackmannanshire, require ready access to support, funding, information and skills to be able to realise their potential.

Businesses

Businesses

Small Businesses (10-49), 12%

Medium Businesses (50-249), 1%

Large Businesses (250+), 0.5%

Micro Businesses (<10), 86.5%

54


“Actors” who Deliver the System

Understanding the whole system requires us to know who will deliver the four strands.

Stage 1 Stage 2 Stage 3 Stage 4 Stage 5

Clackmannanshire Works

Major progression from Stage 2 to 3

Major progression into work

For the Strategic Skills Pipeline, a number of the “actors” who combine to put this in place are detailed in the Clackmannanshire LEP Strategic Skills Pipeline 2013/14 document, along with the stage at which they provide services. An example above is Clackmannanshire Works, which operates at all stages of the Pipeline, and also feeds into the in-work skills

system (denoted by the orange marker). Other actors, such as Housing Associations, may not yet see themselves as part of the formal Strategic Skills Pipeline, but can be expected to be instrumental at Stages 1 and 2 of an effective Pipeline in

Clackmannanshire, and so are also included on the map. For other systems, such as the business support system, a wide range of actors need to come together, from CETERIS to

accountants, banks and lawyers. Again, some of these may not currently consider themselves to be a part of the formal employability and employment system in Clackmannanshire.

With a wide array of support systems feeding into the growth of businesses in Clackmannanshire and beyond, it is essential to note that these businesses themselves must be key actors in their own support systems, including providing meaningful

into the Young People’s Pathways system (green) and Strategic Skills System (dark blue).

The Whole System All of the above elements are combined into an overall map of the system in Clackmannanshire, which is presented overleaf.

55


Businesses

Businesses Public Sector Employers


FSB

Clacks. Council (eg Social Services, SW-CJS, Housing, Edu. & Learning)

Business Gateway / CETERIS

Chamber of Commerce

SE

Accountants, Banks and Lawyers

CC Business Support Services*


Forth Valley College

Integrated Mental Health Team (NHS, Social Services, SAMH)

NHS (Clacks Community Health Centre / Stirling Community Hospital / Health Centres / Working Health Service / Pain Clinic / Physiotherapy Dept / GPs). Includes Clackmannanshire Healthier Lives and FV Keep Well.

JCP

SCVO

SDS

Venture Trust

Recruitment Agencies (Local/National)

Coal Fields Regen. Trust

Businesses who are able to realise their potential

for growth by ready access to support,

funding, information and skills.

CTSI

FV Sensory Centre

Housing Associations

Stirling Uni

FE/HE

ParentsSchools

Work -ready clients with resilience to look

afar for jobs and temporarily move away

if needed.

Small Businesses (10-49), 12%

Medium Businesses (50-249), 1%

Large Businesses (250+), 0.5%

Micro Businesses (<10), 86.5%KEY

Young people leaving school with a clear

sense of future and of skills related to work

pathways

Employees with the skills and aptitudes to contribute more and help their business to

grow

Business Input to the Young People’s Pathways System

Business Input to the Employability and Skills System

Clackmannanshire

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SOA

SOASOA

SOA

Work Programme (Triage for Ingeus and Working Links)

Careers Information, Advice and Guidance

Other Third Sector Resources

Major progression from Stage 2 to 3

Major progression into work

Where do Clackmannanshire

residents work?

56


In the rest of this chapter we draw out the key features of the performance of the different parts of the system which are relevant to the development of the

strategy.

The Work Programme: Scale and performance

So far, on average, 81% of people referred to the Work Programme in

Clackmannanshire have completed 2 years on the work programme without achieving a job outcome (June 2011 – March 2012 referral cohorts). This is not

significantly different from Work Programme performance elsewhere – or indeed from previous large scale programmes for this group.

This means that an average of 60 people each month complete the work programme in Clackmannanshire without ever achieving a job outcome.

Profile of Work Programme clients

The profile of Work Programme clients in Clackmannanshire, in terms of benefits, shows a typical profile for Scotland, with JSA claimants aged 25 and

over comprising just under half of all referrals (as shown in Figure 32 overleaf). Outcomes are recorded for Clackmannanshire under New ESA Claimants, JSA 18

to 24 and JSA 25 and over payment groups. There may be small numbers of individuals in other payment groups achieving outcomes which have been

suppressed by DWP for confidentiality purposes.

57


Figure 32: Cumulative referrals, Attachments and Job Outcomes in the Work

Programme up to March 2014 in Clackmannanshire [Source: Analysis of DWP data]

For Clackmannanshire, the 81% who have been returned to Jobcentre Plus at or post 104 weeks includes both those who never achieved job entry and those who have had a job at some point during their time on the Work Programme.

The Clackmannanshire profile of Work Programme completers is very similar to the Scottish profile.

This assessment raises some important questions for the Clackmannanshire LEP:

If the Work Programme is not providing the intensive support needed to help long term unemployed citizens find work, are there ways of providing

additional support which attracts income from the Primes or their local sub-contractor (Triage)?

What scope is there to draw on Prime Contractor data to help the LEP understand the needs of those entering the Work Programme and using

this to provide ‘early intervention’ help before they become 12 months unemployed (or 9 months for young people under 25)?

There is now a significant monthly flow of very long term unemployed people off Work Programme: they have been unemployed for between

2.75 and 3 years. They will be offered training, a Mandatory Work Activity placement or intensive work preparation. To what extent is it possible for partnership activity to ensure that this provides appropriate

intensive help related to market needs?

0

0.2

0.4

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0.8

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1.4

1.6

1.8

2

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mb

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s (0

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's)

Clackmannanshire JSA Prison Leavers

IB/IS Volunteers

ESA Ex-Incapacity Benefit

New ESA claimants

ESA Volunteers

JSA Ex-Incapacity Benefit

JSA Early Entrants

JSA 25 and over

JSA 18 to 24

58


Other employability support in Clackmannanshire There have been a number of funded employability and employment projects running in Clackmannanshire over the past few years, with a significant

proportion of this activity through “Clackmannanshire Works”, the Council’s employability team. There are four main programmes that are delivered by

Clackmannanshire Works:

Clackmannanshire Works European Structural Funds programme (ESF

Priority 5 and ERDF Priority 3) o Details of projects and their positioning on the Strategic Skills

Pipeline is shown in Figure B overleaf. Clackmannanshire Apprenticeship Initiative Youth Employment Scotland

SDS Programmes o Modern Apprenticeships

o Employability Fund (which replaced Lifeskills and Get Ready for Work)

In addition to the Clackmannanshire Works programmes are the SDS funded programmes operated by other providers and a range of Third Sector provision

and the European funded programmes of Forth Valley College. The Department for Work and Pensions remains the provider which has the most contact with those who are seeking work: with the advent of the outsourced DWP funded

Work Programme the main focus of the DWP itself is now on shorter term unemployed people and those emerging from Work Programme without a job.

The range and focus of the programmes are set out overleaf.

59


Figure 33: Projects within the ESF or ERDF Clackmannanshire Works Programme 2011

- 2014.

European Funded “Clackmannanshire Works” Programmes The majority of clients have taken part in one of the projects within the

Clackmannanshire Works programme, funded through ESF and/or ERDF. These programmes, which help people progress towards or into work through advice,

referrals, training, job brokerage, business start-up and other activities have been running since July 2011 and will run to December 2014 (following an extension from the original end date of 31st March 2014).


Activity AgreementsYoung people (16/17 ) requiring additional

support to progress into mainstream provision.

Key Workers

Clients furthest from the labour market requiring

intensive support, including those with multiple

barriers; 16-19 year olds in MCMC group; looked

after and accommodated young people.

Money AdviceRegistered clients of Clackmannanshire Works.

(Service discontinued at end of March 2013).

Young Parents ProjectYoung parents (16-24) who require support to

stay engaged with the employability process.

Additional Placements

Young people (16-19) who are NEET and not

eligible for Get Ready for Work (GRfW) or who

have already used GRfW entitlement.

Discontinued at the end of March 2013.

Job Brokerage

Unemployed pre and post-Work Programme, job

ready clients; also individuals in work who require

up-skilling.

Modern Apprenticeships

Young people 16-19 who are NEET and who are

capable of undertaking an apprenticeship.

Discontinued June 2013.

Clackmannanshire Third Sector

Interface - Social Enterprise*

Social enterprises and voluntary organisations

"that exhibit enterprising characteristics".


Interface - Volunteer

Development*

Entrants from all stages of the pipeline

RUTSYoung people in school (3rd/4th year) at risk of

becoming part of MCMC group.

Business DevelopmentIndividuals interested in setting up their own

business; existing SMEs or social enterprises

Main stage(s) of Strategic Skills PipelineProject Title Client Group

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Overall client profile and outcomes over April 2011 to March 2014

Client profile

Between April 2011 and March 2014 1,563 clients were registered onto an ESF/ERDF Clackmannanshire Works Programme.

Figure 34: Durations of unemployment/worklessness at time of registration –

Clackmannanshire Works projects, all registrants between April 2011 and March 2014

who were not employed or in education/training at time of registration (1163 individuals)

[Source: Analysis of Clackmannanshire Works data].

45% of all registrants in 2011/12 to 2013/14 were in the age band of 26-49,

with 44% 25 or under and 11% 50 or over.

Figure 35: Age profile of those registering with Clackmannanshire Works

0 100 200 300 400 500 600 700 800

0 to 6 months

7 to 12 months

13 to 24 months

25 to 36 months

Over 3 years

Claiming JSA Workless

0 100 200 300 400 500 600 700 800

Under 16

16-18

19-25

26-49

50-65

Over 65

Age of Registrants (2011/12 - 2013/14)

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The age profile is generally quite well matched against the unemployment profile (as assessed by claimant count in May 2011), with a slightly higher proportion of

young people engaged on the programme than might be expected purely from claimant count data.

The gender profile of registrants over the years 2011/12 to 2013/14 is approximately two thirds (65%) male. Again, this is well-aligned with

unemployment profile (as assessed by claimant count in May 2011).

As an assessment of whether the programme targeted the areas most in need, there is clearly very strong alignment, suggesting that the programme has engaged with the geographical areas in most need (see Figures O and P in

Appendix 4).

Outcomes

Overall, there were 1,563 registered over April 2011 to March 2014. Of these clients, up to March 2014,

- 468 (30% of all clients10) have received an employment outcome (part

time, full time or self-employment).

- 32 (2%) entered into FE or HE, although 358 people were supported with vocational training. 259 of these 358 went on to achieve a partial or full

qualification.

Figure 36: The variation in job outcome success through ESF/ERDF Clackmannanshire

Works programme by duration of unemployment/worklessness at time of registration

10 Percentages are provided here as a proportion of all clients, including clients for whom employment is not an expected outcome (e.g., RUTS, Young Parents and Activity Agreements - Pers. comm. Clackmannanshire Works)

Duration of

Unemployment /

Worklessness at time

of registration

Registered on

Programme

(2011-2014)

Job

Outcome

(2011-2014)

Job Outcome

Rate

0 to 6 months 690 275 40%

7 to 12 months 154 57 37%

13 to 24 months 90 20 22%

25 to 36 months 50 8 16%

Over 3 years 179 29 16%

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The main question raised by our analysis of outcomes by duration of unemployment is: What is the profile of shorter term unemployed clients

referred by JCP – are they clients who are assessed as at risk of long term unemployment – or are they broadly representative of shorter term unemployed

people? This is important because most unemployed people find a job in their first 6

months of unemployment. DWP UK figures (July 2012) show that 52% ‘off flow’ by 13 weeks and 72% ‘off flow’ by 26 weeks. These figures need to be

interpreted with care: they are for the whole country and therefore cover areas like Aberdeen and London as well as unemployment blackspots, and the placement figures for high unemployment area will undoubtedly be lower.

However, any assessment of additionality (‘the difference made to the outcomes achieved by its clients) by Clackmannanshire Works needs to be based on

understanding the profile of those referred and the likelihood of them finding work unaided.

ESF

Regarding the profile of registrants, an interesting difference between target and actual clients is in their qualifications profile. The qualifications profile of those

engaged under ESF projects was rather different than projected in the application targets, with a greater proportion having Level 2 or 3 qualifications and a smaller proportion having no qualifications.

In other words, because of the close correlation between employability and

qualifications, the registrants were on the whole more employable than the target profile. The implication of this is that the approach to targeting clients with ESF funding in future should be more strongly focused on those who the

partners are confident are further from work and they can be more confident that the additionality of the support will be enhanced.

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Figure 37: Qualifications of registrants against targets under the ESF Priority 5

programme [Source: Targets taken from ESF PRC10 Signed Claim form, actuals from

programme data 2011/12 to 2013/14]

Youth Employment Scotland Fund (ESF/SG funded)

The Youth Employment Scotland (YES) fund provides employers with an Employer Recruitment Incentive (ERI) to create additional employment opportunities for young people who are job ready. From the summary data

provided, the YES programme appears to have been quite successful so far for the small number of individuals who have already left/completed, with 73%

gaining employment either with the host company or another employer.

Clackmannanshire Apprenticeship Initiative

The Clackmannanshire Apprenticeship Initiative is an incentive to local employers to create additional Modern Apprenticeship places by providing £50 per week per Modern Apprentice towards wage costs for up to two years, with a

view to tackling high youth unemployment. The CAI is additional to SDS payments for vocational training for Modern Apprentices.

From summary data, only a small number of the starters of Clackmannanshire Apprenticeship Initiative have left/completed so far. The employment destination

rate for these clients is moderate to good, at around 50%, as is the rate of success in achieving a vocational qualification.

52%

18%

10%

8%

7%

4% 1%

Target Qualifications Profile

No Qualifications Level 1 Qualifications

Level 2 Qualifications Level 3 Qualifications


Level 6 Qualifications

32%

7%

25%

20%

12%

3% 1%

Actual Qualifications Profile (registrants in 2011/12 to 2013/14





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SDS Programmes

Over 2011/12 to 2013/14 there have been a number of SDS programmes for

young people running in Clackmannanshire:

Modern Apprenticeships (2011/12-2013/14) Employability Fund (2013/14)

o Employability Fund predecessor programmes:

o Training for Work (2011/12 – 2012/13) o Get Ready for Work (2011/12 – 2012-13)

o Lifeskills (2011/12 – 2012/13) A number of providers have operated these programmes in Clackmannanshire.

Summary performance data on these programmes are reported below, both from nationally collected SDS data and local Clackmannanshire Works data. We

note that some of the clients and their outcomes will also be represented in the analysis above, due to overlap between clients funded by ESF/ERDF and SDS funding.


Overall (all SDS providers)

Modern Apprenticeships provide young people with the opportunity to earn a wage and gain a vocational qualification at the same time. SDS provides the

costs for vocational training, while employers provide wage costs (supplemented in some cases with financial assistance from schemes such as the Youth Employment Scotland Employer Recruitment Incentive and, in

Clackmannanshire, the Clackmannanshire Apprenticeship Initiative).

Data on the number of Modern Apprentices and their training outcomes (i.e., whether they completed their Modern Apprenticeship) are reported by SDS at Local Authority level. In Clackmannanshire, the number of “Starters” and

“Leavers” each year over the last three years (2011/12 to 2013/14) is around 300, with around 400 in training at any point in time. In quarter 1 of 2014/15

there were 426 people in training. It is interesting to reflect on the scale of this nationally.

The numbers in training in Modern Apprenticeships aged 16-24 in Clackmannanshire over the last two years (2012/2013 and 2013/14) comprised

around 1.2% of the national total. In the same period, Clackmannanshire 16-24 JSA claimants comprised around 1.5% of the national total, so by this measure

the numbers in Modern Apprenticeships in Clackmannanshire are slightly below what might be expected. By this measure, in each of the last two years around an additional 100 Modern Apprenticeships would be needed in Clackmannanshire

to ensure that Clackmannanshire’s complement of Scotland’s young unemployed people is reflected in its national complement of Modern Apprenticeships (see

table below).

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2012/13 2013/14

Proportion of Scotland's MAs in training in

Clackmannanshire 1.16% 1.22%

Proportion of Scotland's 16-24 JSA claimants in


Additional MAs required in Clackmannanshire for youth unemployment correction

+84 (25% increase)

+127 (34% increase)

Figure 38: Clackmannanshire share of MAs compared with share of 16-24 claimants

[Source: Analysis of SDS and ONS data]

The scale and performance of the Modern Apprenticeship Programme so far in 2014/15 has been similar to previous years. In quarter 1 of 2014/15 there were

53 starters and 59 leavers. In the same period in the previous year (2013/14) there were 64 starters and 48 leavers. The achievements as a proportion of all leavers in Q1 of 2014/15 was 75%, again similar to the level of 79% over the

year 2013/14.

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Additional data on the Modern Apprentices who were supported through Clackmannanshire Works (less than 10% of the total MAs in Clackmannanshire)

was collected by Clackmannanshire Works. In each of the last three years, around 15-25 young people (all aged 16-24)

started a Modern Apprenticeship in Clackmannanshire through Clackmannanshire Works. These involved three “frameworks”; Business and

Administration, Childcare and Construction Crafts, each with a distinctly different timescale (ranging from 9 months to 3-4 years). The MAs were mostly in the Council, but some were employed in the private sector locally. Overall, in each of

the last few years around 15-20 young people have left/completed their Modern Apprenticeship. As this programme has carried on from previous years, this has

meant that over the last three financial years there have been approximately 20-30 Modern Apprentices in training at any time, with a gradual increase in numbers year on year.

The profile of starters each year is that 60-70% of clients are female, and more

than 85% of clients each year had been unemployed for less than six months (as might be expected of this client group).

In terms of outcomes from the Modern Apprenticeships, the proportion of leavers/completers achieving a vocational qualification was consistently high,

with no more than three leavers/completers failing to achieve a vocational qualification each year. This performance is higher than the Clackmannanshire

average. Overall in Clackmannanshire, the numbers in training in a Modern Apprenticeship

have been lower than might be expected from an analysis of the scale of youth unemployment. Performance in terms of apprentices gaining their Modern

Apprenticeship has been higher than the national level for the last three years.

Employability Fund

Overall (all SDS providers) The Employability Fund began in 2013/14 as a replacement to previous SDS

programmes such as Lifeskills, Get Ready for Work and Training for Work. There are three Employability Fund stages, with these stages aligned with the Strategic

Skills Pipeline; Stage 2, Stage 3 and Stage 4. SDS has so far only reported data on the number of people starting on each of these programmes and not their outcomes or progressions.

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Figure 39: EF starts by Stage [Source: SDS]

Similar to the finding from the Modern Apprenticeship analysis, the numbers starting an Employability Fund placement are slightly below what would be

expected from the level of youth unemployment in Clackmannanshire.

Data for starts by stage can be calculated from currently available data11 for the last three quarters (eg, starting from quarter 3 in 2013/14), and are shown

below:

Figure 40: Quarterly EF starts by Stage [Source: SDS]

As for the Modern Apprenticeship programme, a small but significant proportion

of the Employability Fund places were managed by Clackmannanshire Works, who collected additional data on performance. This information is presented

below.

11 http://www.skillsdevelopmentscotland.co.uk/statistics/employability-fund/

EF Stage 2 Starts EF Stage 3 Starts EF Stage 4 Starts EF Total Starts

Clackmannanshire 36 130 38 204

Scotland 3394 8980 4997 17370

Proportion of national total in

Clackmannanshire1.1% 1.4% 0.8% 1.2%

0

5

10

15

20

25

30

35

40

45

50

Quarter 3 2013/14 only Quarter 4 2013/14 only Quarter 1 2014/15 only

Employablity Fund Starters - Clackmannanshire

Stage 2 Starts Stage 3 Starts Stage 4 Starts

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Employability Fund Stage 3

In 2013/14, 30 young people (aged 16-24, 15 males and 15 females) started on the Employability Fund Stage 3 programme. Most (70%) of these had been unemployed for under six months.

In the same period, there were 22 leavers/completers. 16 of 22 (73%) achieved

a qualification, but positive destination rates were low. From the summary data, the Employability Fund Stage 3 programme achieved a

high success rate in terms of qualifications of leavers in 2013/14 (73%) but low success in terms of the number of individuals going into employment (14%) or

another positive destination. Employability Fund Stage 4

In 2013/14, five people (aged 25 or over, all males) started on the Employability

Fund Stage 4 programme. There was a mix of unemployment duration, with three having been unemployed for fewer than six months, but two unemployed

for more than 12 months. In the same period, there were five leavers of the programme - four of five of these achieved a qualification, and two went into employment. Note that Employability Fund progressions must be sustained for at

least 4 weeks.

From summary data, the Stage 4 programme also showed success in terms of the numbers achieving a qualification, and moderate success in terms of positive employment destinations (two of five).

Third Sector Provision

Our brief did not include undertaking a full-scale mapping of third sector

employability provision and we have instead drawn on the information provided to us and which is publicly available through local websites. We have also

analysed contributions to the Strategic Skills Pipeline and spoken with a range of stakeholders (whose views are represented more completely in Chapter 6).

This exercise has shown that the Third Sector is playing an active role in the employability agenda, with Third Sector organisations represented in some way

at all stages of the Strategic Skills Pipeline. Some of the more visible Third Sector organisations involved are Venture Trust, SAMH, Apex and CTSI, which acts as both a delivery agency (in receipt of ESF funding) and as an intermediary

body. It should be noted that a number of these more visible Third Sector providers (some of which are national organisations delivering locally) are not in

receipt of any local funding.

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However, overall the presence of the Third Sector appears to be limited, and it is surprising that there are so few Third Sector organisations noted as being

involved in Stage 1 of the Strategic Skills Pipeline in particular, whereas in other local authority areas you see extensive Third Sector input at this stage because

of the Third Sector’s strength in engaging with communities which other agencies struggle to reach.

From our discussions with stakeholders we know that not all of the organisations involved in employability support in Clackmannanshire are currently identified on

the Strategic Skills Pipeline. This makes it difficult for anyone to fully understand the contribution that the Third Sector is making – and it is certainly more significant than the Strategic Skills Pipeline suggests. This is a gap which

should be addressed, and we recommend that a comprehensive mapping of the Third Sector’s contribution to the Strategic Skills Pipeline could be undertaken by

CTSI building on their ongoing activity to create a database of Third Sector provision more widely in the area.

We also know from speaking to a selection of Third Sector organisations (which we cannot be certain is representative, but given the relatively small number of

Third Sector organisations involved in employability in Clackmannanshire there is a good chance that it is) that they do not feel that their potential contribution

is being fully realised, nor do they feel they have a means of participating in the wider strategic conversation about employability in the area. They have tried, without success, to engage with Community Planning and with CTSI, and there

is a lack of clarity and frustration about how to become involved in the employability agenda more meaningfully. It is essential that a clear route for this

involvement is established. Some of the Third Sector organisations we spoke to are also social enterprises

which, with the right support, could develop to a point where they are able to offer more opportunities for employment to local people, and are already taking

an active role in encouraging and supporting others to start up businesses locally. Very clearly, the Third Sector has meaningful contributions to make to both the demand and supply side.

The Third Sector already has a formal role to play in employability in

Clackmannanshire and the Third Sector Interface in the area (CTSI) is a member of the Clackmannanshire Alliance; the LEP; the Business Jobs and Skills Partnership; and the Community Wellbeing partnership. However, what our

research indicates is that CTSI’s role as an intermediary/facilitator is not yet fully developed. We know from conversations with staff at CTSI and from

documentation provided, that a core part of their stated aims is to “involve local voluntary groups and community organisations to shape and respond to local and national policy; and to ensure that through the voluntary sector,

communities in Clackmannanshire have a voice in the community planning and decision making process.”.

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We also know that the Third Sector Interface in the area is intended to facilitate dialogue with local Third Sector organisations to enable them to feed into such

processes. Our evidence suggests however that this role is not yet fully embedded in the area, and we see this as a priority. With its limited capacity,

acting as a delivery agency for ESF projects may to date have detracted from this important role.

Summary

It is possible to draw together a number of key points emerging from the analysis of the employment programmes:

There have been a number of active projects since April 2011 to March

2014 part funded by ESF/ERDF and SDS.

While some of the projects under SDS and ESF/ERDF have overlaps in

terms of their clients, project monitoring of the projects under European Funding has been separate to project monitoring under SDS. The

database for monitoring ESF/ERDF projects is powerful and allows the team to assess performance with relative ease. To provide a complete

assessment of all projects (European and SDS funded) an improved joint monitoring approach is required.

The European funded programmes collectively cover all stages of the strategic skills pipeline. The Clackmannanshire Third Sector Interface

projects did not proceed as planned. Excluding these, performance is generally good. Over April 2011 to March 2014, considering all registrants over this period and all outcomes over this period,

o The programmes engaged with 216 who were in education or

training at time of registration, 184 who were in employment at time of registration and a further 1163 people who were unemployed or workless.

Nearly 700 of the 1163 unemployed/workless people had

been unemployed for between 0-6 months.

The age and gender profile of registrants broadly matches

the unemployment profile of Clackmannanshire (as assessed by claimant count data), with a slightly higher proportion of

young people engaged on the programme than might be expected purely from claimant count data.

The geographic profile of registrants is well-aligned both to the areas of high unemployment and high deprivation.

o The programme helped 468 into employment, 389 (83%) of

whom were unemployed or workless at time of registration.

Most (71%) of these were less than 6 months workless / unemployed at time of registration.

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o The programme only progressed 32 people into education or training (28 of whom under ESF, for which the target number was

675. This was due to a misinterpretation of the meaning of positive destinations in terms of education or training. Education or training

means undertaking a full-time study course, usually at college. 487 individuals in ESF projects achieved either a full or partial qualification, which is above target levels.

Considering only the cohort of individuals registered over April 2011 to

March 2012 (who have had longer to achieve an outcome):

o Outcome rates in terms of employment were quite good overall,

with 135 of 334 (40%) moving into employment. (Note that the denominator includes all clients, including those for whom

employment is not an expected outcome (e.g., RUTS, Young Parents and Activity Agreements)).

Again, job outcome rate is inversely related to duration of unemployment / worklessness at time of registration. Nearly

half of shorter term unemployed/ workless people (under 12 months) progressed into employment, but only 22% of

people who had been unemployed/ workless for over 3 years.

There was a notable trend in the job outcome rate

geographically, with individuals from Alloa intermediate geographies having a lower job outcome success.

The lack of robust evidence to support a conclusion on sustained

employment means that it is difficult to assess whether clients sustained

employment. This is an important factor in the success of any employment programme; Clackmannanshire Works should prioritise

finding ways to assess this.

Data on SDS projects was not as comprehensive or joined-up as that for

European funded projects, and projects are analysed here individually.

Nationally collected data on SDS programmes operated by all providers in Clackmannanshire showed that the numbers in Modern Apprenticeships or on the Employability Fund were slightly below what might be expected

from the level of youth unemployment (claimant count 16-24 year olds). Indeed, by this measure, in each of the last two years around an

additional 100 Modern Apprenticeships would be needed in Clackmannanshire to ensure that Clackmannanshire’s complement of Scotland’s young unemployed people is balanced by its national

complement of Modern Apprenticeships. This is despite efforts by schemes such as the Clackmannanshire Apprenticeship Initiative, which provided

local employers with extra financial incentives for 35 Modern Apprenticeships over the last two years, and the Youth Employment Scotland Employer Recruitment Incentive, which provided incentives for a

further 54 employment opportunities.

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o Performance in terms of achievement rates of Modern Apprenticeships in Clackmannanshire has been about two

percentage points higher than the national figure for the last three years.

o Performance of the predecessors to the Employability Fund (Training for Work and Get Ready for Work/ Lifeskills) was below the Scottish levels in 2011/12 and 2012/13. SDS has not yet

reported on the performance of the newer Employability Fund; in light of the poorer performance of its predecessor programmes in

Clackmannanshire, it will be interesting to note whether Clackmannanshire’s performance is now comparable with national performance.

Clackmannanshire Works manage and administer a small proportion of the

SDS programme activity in Clackmannanshire, and have collected more detailed data on performance than is published by SDS on the overall SDS programme within Clackmannanshire. Performance of these

Clackmannanshire Works SDS projects was mixed.

o As for the Modern Apprenticeship scheme more widely in Clackmannanshire, the Clackmannanshire Works Modern

Apprenticeship scheme showed a high level of performance in terms of qualifications gained. Further, positive destination rates were high: over the last three years 38 of the 52 leavers/completers

were in employment upon leaving the Modern Apprenticeship programme and a further 8 had moved from Level 2 to Level 3

qualification.

o Lifeskills, which ran in 2011/12 only, had a low success rate for the

extremely challenged individuals engaged, and Get Ready for Work had moderate success in terms of outcomes. This echoes

performance of these programmes more widely in Clackmannanshire.

o Employability Fund (Stages 3 and 4) performance appears to be slightly better and it will be interesting to note whether this is

reflected in upcoming data reports for other Employability Fund providers in Clackmannanshire.

The Third Sector has an important role to play in determining the strategic way forward in relation to employability, and in providing employability

support. In addition, the sector has valuable innovative approaches which focus on solutions and which – if funding can be put in place –could make a far more significant contribution locally than they do currently.

The CTSI has a key role to play as an intermediary, representing the voice

of the Third Sector. It is a priority that this role is developed going forward.

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6 The views of stakeholders

During the course of this research we spoke with a wide range of stakeholders

whose views have influenced the shape of this strategy (a full list of those we consulted can be found in Appendix 2). In addition, we facilitated workshops

with key stakeholders to share with them early findings and explore options going forward. The feedback from these sessions has been instrumental in shaping this strategy.

In this Chapter we provide a summary of their views. Encouragingly, there was

broad agreement about the strengths and weaknesses of the previous strategy and of the way forward, and stakeholders are committed to working differently in future to ensure a more significant impact.

Strengths and weaknesses of the current strategy

Our interviews indicated that the last strategy has resulted in improved relationships between key organisations and that they understand how each

other works better. Sharing of information and lessons learned has also improved significantly.

Partners also noted that some useful mapping activity and gathering of statistical data had taken place but noted a need for more focus on

understanding impact.

However, stakeholders noted that there is still scope for closer working, increased joint commissioning and bringing of funds together; and there continues to be a need for greater clarity about which organisations are involved

at which stage of the Strategic Skills Pipeline.

Although interviewees confirmed that the last employability strategy supported and encouraged partners to work more closely together with some success, interviewees, almost without exception, acknowledged that there is scope for

further improvements to partnership working in the area. This includes ensuring that there is a real understanding of each other’s organisations, better sharing of

learning, and developing a culture of trust that enables representatives to challenge each other constructively. There is a real opportunity for this new strategy, driven by the necessity for people to work together within the current

economic climate.

There remain serious concerns that there are significant resources going into employability but that the results are not improving.

Engagement with businesses

Stakeholders felt that, although some good progress has been made in this area, links with business need to be improved. There are currently a range of

mechanisms for reaching employers in the area – including Business Gateway, FSB, BIDs, Clackmannanshire Business, Clackmannanshire Works and the Forth Valley Chamber of Commerce. There is a sense that co-operation between these

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organisations could improve dramatically and become more strategic. One stakeholder suggested that a first step towards aiding this process may be a

common and robust employer database.

There are some clear messages from the business community regarding the availability of jobs and the ability of local people to meet employer demands. Stakeholders we spoke with emphasised the need for collective agreement about

priorities in dealings with employers and avoiding parachuting in and conflicting with the priorities of businesses.

Business organisations that we consulted emphasised that Clackmannanshire is made up of largely micro or small businesses, which lack any form of HR

infrastructure and continue to find recruitment and personnel issues a challenge. They observed that any help that can be provided to address this is always

welcome. In addition, the business community emphasised the need for better match-up between small businesses and recruits through, for example, more joined up working with the local college.

Employers continue to be disappointed by the quality of candidates coming

forward to fill vacancies. They report that candidates do not present well, they have invariably done little or no research on the company they are applying to

and they lack interpersonal skills. Literacy also remains a key issue. And this despite the many efforts being put in to address this in Clackmannanshire. In addition, businesses see work experience as a burden which is of little value to

their company, and brings little benefit to the young people involved.

Links between employers and employability services in the area are not sufficiently joined up. Representatives from the business community indicated that better communication is needed, but emphasised that requiring their

representatives to attend meetings is not the solution, given their limited capacity.

From the perspective of the business community, a number of key priorities were identified for the new strategy:

Develop stronger links between schools and employers

More emphasis on employability in schools

Tackle culture of unemployment

High quality work experience

More focus on modern apprenticeships.

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Links to Education/Early intervention

Our interviewees emphasised the need for employability to be better addressed in schools, and early intervention was considered to be key to reducing the

numbers of people becoming long-term unemployed, and to multi-generational unemployment. Some of those we consulted were keen to see Education better and more meaningfully represented on the LEP to ensure that this can be driven

forward.

There seems to be some willingness for this to happen within schools, with some good examples of some schools beginning to interface more with local businesses and there is a sense that some progress has been made during the

period of the last strategy, but that education needs to become more integral to the employability picture.

Some feedback suggests that the route into Education is sometimes too challenging. For example, we were told that Young Enterprise was keen to break

into some of the local schools but that the process was far too complex. There was also a concern that programmes of this nature, which could be of significant

value to students with developmental needs, are only being offered to stronger students.

Job search areas

All of those we interviewed spoke of the lack of local jobs (although a couple highlighted the potential for better promotion of the area as a good place to live

and work), and it is essential that unemployed people in the area are prepared to look more widely for employment (although there remain some key sectors with a high number of harder-to-fill vacancies eg the care sector).

Those we consulted also emphasised to us that there is a culture of expectation

of local employment among those seeking work and a reluctance to travel any distance to find work, despite transport links having improved significantly in recent years. This needs to be addressed but with recognition that this

entrenched view is going to take time to change. This was highlighted as a particular issue for young people who are too frightened to travel any significant

distance on the bus alone, because they have never had to do so. NHS staff indicated potential for exposure work to be undertaken with young people in schools to reduce anxiety levels about travel outwith the area.

Performance of the current infrastructure

There was positive feedback about individual programmes that are funded but recognition that although these are having an impact, that impact is not enough.

For example, there was significant positive feedback about the impact of the apprenticeship scheme which was driven through the last strategy – from

employability organisations and from businesses themselves. All stakeholders expressed enthusiasm for this area of work to be further developed. The Community Jobs Fund, and Clackmannanshire Works were also regularly cited as

having been effective mechanisms.

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Particular concerns were raised about the extent of Third Sector provision in the area, which was not clear to some of those we consulted, and to which we have

alluded earlier in this report. In addition, Third Sector representatives noted concern about challenges in having their voice heard in strategic decision-

making processes and emphasised how critical it is to get this right going forward.

Drawing on the resources of front line services

People we spoke with indicated that there was clarity of message at senior level about the significance of joined up action on employability, but noted that this was not being translated down to operational level. They also emphasised the

need for the new strategy to achieve a real impact and to prioritise effectively to ensure that this happens. This will require difficult decisions to be taken.

Some interviewees were keen to ensure that the Alloa Campus of Forth Valley College positioned itself close to the community and drew on the lessons of

college campuses in Raploch and Falkirk which were considered to be effectively integrated within their local communities (one example given was the high

charges of renting rooms in the Alloa Campus which were prohibitive to local voluntary organisations).

A number of those we spoke with noted a need for a more integrated approach to health and employability and a more focused approach to addressing health

inequalities. Historically, this has been separated in the policy arena but given the high proportion of long term unemployed in the Clackmannanshire area,

many of whom are likely to have health-related issues, the need for these two key areas of work to be better integrated has grown.

The LEP needs a joint understanding of what is meant by this and needs to recognise that it can take a number of years working in close partnership to

achieve something as significant as this. Partners on the LEP are often the first point of contact with unemployed people. There is potentially the need to skill up staff within partner organisations to enable them to give advice on employability

issues without compromising the quality of relationship that they have with their clients, which must remain pivotal.

NHS representatives are keen to enhance partnership working around primary prevention programmes eg Keep Well and build collective ownership round this.

The move towards Health and Social Care partnerships is currently underway, and at various stages in each local authority. It is an important contextual

change for this new strategy and needs to be taken account of. There is significant potential for work in the early stages to be supported, for example, considering the work of allied health professionals in providing support. The

primary prevention programmes are committed to developing this and building capacity but this can only be achieved in partnership.

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Role of the LEP

Many of the partners we talked to felt that the LEP needed to become the one body for developing and implementing employability rather than this remit

falling between three groups – LEP, Business, Jobs and Skills, and the Community Wellbeing Partnership – as it does currently.

There is a sense that the LEP needs to be seen as a whole with its own agenda and authority, for example by the business community, and not as a collection of

individual organisations. Clarity is needed, about:

What is meant and expected by “partnership”

Roles and responsibilities to ensure that no one organisation dominates or

drives the agenda.

It is also essential that the LEP sets itself achievable short-term outcomes (which may or may not contribute to medium or long term), and moves away from the broad strategy that has been in place to date. Outcome-focused

planning is key. One interviewee suggested that the KASA (knowledge, awareness, skills,

attitudes) framework may be a useful tool to inform this process. Stakeholders were keen to see a review of LEP membership and to ensure that

future members were sufficiently senior to take key decisions at LEP meetings.

Priorities for the strategy From the perspective of organisations already involved in the employability

agenda in the area, there are a number of key priorities for the new strategy:

Being more focused, and prioritising more A commitment to cohesion

The LEP needs to be the one body which develops and leads on employability

Improved co-operation between BIDs, Clackmannanshire Business and Clackmannanshire Works

One common, robust employer database

More engagement with education and the business community Addressing the culture of unemployment in Clackmannanshire

Developing focused work on health inequalities and ensure that there is collective understanding of what is meant by health inequalities

An integrated approach to health and employability

Achievable short-term outcome measures Improving links between LEP partners and NHS core partners

Mental wellbeing and a clear employability pathway for people with mental health issues

Outcome focused planning

Evaluating impact effectively Increased work in schools with young people

More joint commissioning and bringing funds together.

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7 Issues, challenges and priorities

On the basis of our analysis and interviews we have identified the following

issues and challenges facing the partners in Clackmannanshire:

The recession had a particularly significant impact on jobs in Clackmannanshire and opened up a significant gap with the Scottish and Forth Valley pattern of unemployment. All the main features of

unemployment and employment have become relatively worse since the last strategy. Without an enhancement of the employability effort

or a significant change in what is being done, there is no evidence to suggest that these trends can be reversed.

There is a shortage of local jobs for those seeking work and this gap is significant and growing. It is very important to sustain the partners

efforts on economic development and business growth and the recent achievements have been remarkable and need to be built upon. The positioning of employment support as an integral part of the business

growth approach represents best practice in a Scottish context. However, even the most successful effort on economic development is unlikely to

create the number of local jobs needed to transform local employment prospects. There are some important implications of this, in particular:

o Residents need to widen their job search area outside Clackmannanshire in order to enhance their chances of finding work

o Young people need to be helped to widen their horizons and develop

the skills and resilience they will need to thrive in communities outside

Clackmannanshire where there may be a greater chance of them finding work.

The scale and depth of the problem requires a sustained strategic

response of scale across Council Departments and partners in order

to make the kind of impact that is required. There are substantial resources available for the task, mainly in terms of the wide array of front

line staff engaging with priority client groups. Considerable progress has been made in ensuring that the contribution that all services and organisations can make to the employability agenda is recognised and

acted upon, but we have identified some opportunities to further strengthen this.

Since most businesses in Clackmannanshire are micro-businesses (ie

employ fewer than 10 people) there is a need to ensure that appropriate support is in place to help them grow through recruitment.

The role of the Third Sector needs closer scrutiny and this should be an early priority in taking forward this strategy. Current provision needs to be

better understood and more visible, and untapped potential within the sector needs to be realised – both from the perspective of Third Sector organisations as businesses and employers, and as employability support

agencies. Third Sector organisations need to have a clear way of

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contributing to strategic dialogue, and the role of CTSI in acting as a conduit for this has significant potential to be developed. There is also a

need for more creative and joined up thinking about the funding of Third Sector provision. This needs to be turned on its head with strategic

priorities being agreed, the role of the Third Sector in addressing these being explored, and a joint effort being made to identify appropriate funding. This can be an effective way of avoiding a ‘scattergun’ approach

to funding and developing a truly sustainable contribution from the Third Sector. At the Council’s Resources and Audit Committee on May 1st 2014

a report was approved about the review of funding to voluntary organisations and third sector funding will need to be consistent with these recommendations.

The small scale of the population of the area means that it is possible to

make a significant impact on the problem (eg converging with Scottish averages) with a focused effort on key client groups.

There is a clear consensus that a priority remains (as with the current Strategy) on action to help young people find fulfilling and sustainable

work. The publication of the Wood Commission Final Report provides a clear focus for taking forward an approach on school/work transition.

Clackmannanshire Works is a highly significant part of the landscape of

support and it needs to be clear and focused in where it

concentrates its efforts if it is to maximise its impact.

The performance of the Work Programme is not significantly worse than in many other areas but most people entering the programme complete the programme two years later no closer to work – and indeed many will

be further away with perished skills and damaged confidence. Since WP clients form by far the largest group of those unemployed it is important

that the partners consider ways of:

o Helping to reduce the number of clients entering Work Programme

o Providing additional support for those on Work Programme who may not be receiving the support they need to find work

o Providing appropriate support to those completing Work Programme.

The impact of welfare reform is locally significant and it would be appropriate to provide targeted employability support to those most

affected by the changes. In developing a refreshed Employability Strategy we have followed 7 principles:

The strategy needs to be strongly based on evidence, respond to the

realities of the current situation and be proportionate to the scale of the problem.

The strategy needs to build on the previous strategy which set out a clear, evidence based direction for travel.

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The strategy needs to take account of current and emerging policy changes and be robust in terms of their practical implications. Given the

fluidity of policy in Scotland over the next few months this is not necessarily easy.

The strategy needs to provide a clear focus and priorities for the work

of the partners that will ensure they are devoting time and resources to

those clients for whom they can make the most difference.

The strategy needs to recognise the wide array of resources that can be aligned around the task of employability, covering all services and organisations, particularly in the light of reduced funding in the public

sector.

The strategy needs to sustain a strong focus on the demand from businesses and ensure that support to individual clients provides them with the skills and attitudes that will help them contribute to business

success and thrive in work.

The strategy should have an emphasis on ‘nipping problems in the bud’ – that is, intervening and investing early to prevent or reduce longer

term issues and costs. This applies particularly to getting school work transition right and providing early intensive support to those particularly vulnerable to long term unemployment.

Given the need for a focused approach that is realistic in the light of current

financial and staff resources we propose a strategy with 4 themes:

Driving a strategic focus – recognising the scale of the issue and the

depth of the problem and reinforce the significance of cross Council and cross agency working as a key priority. This will have a particular focus

on young people and those who are long term unemployed or at risk of LTU. The main component of this theme will be to draw on the role of all those front line staff who engage with clients who are unemployed, and

ensuring that all organisations are achieving their potential for making an impact on unemployment.

Working at a wider scale. There is a significant local jobs gap and

many young people and others seeking work will need to widen their job

search area and even move away (temporarily or permanently) if they are to gain fulfilling work. There are some significant practical implications to

this: o What needs to be done in schools to help young people broaden their

horizons and gain the skills and resilience needed to work elsewhere or

to travel out of the area for work? o What needs to be done in terms of providing labour market intelligence

for a much wider geographical area than Clackmannanshire? o How can people be helped to overcome perceived and actual barriers

involved in travelling to work outside the area or moving elsewhere?

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Placing employability firmly in the context of business growth. In other words, the employability service will help its clients by developing

an even stronger focus on the needs of employers and wherever possible ensuring that businesses get the recruits they need, when they need

them. Work under this strand will include: o Ensuring that all those working with businesses are identifying

recruitment and skills needs and opportunities

o Ensuring that it is clear where local businesses – and particularly micro-businesses – should go for help with recruitment

o Creating a Final Step service which will help work ready clients prepare for selection procedures and the first weeks in work. This will enhance the current service for helping work ready client

prepare for selection procedures but it is important that it provides a service which replicates the unfamiliar environment of a

prospective employer in terms of place and people. o Improving intelligence about the current and emerging needs of

local businesses

o Co-designing bespoke training approaches with larger employers or groups of employers.

Enhancing and managing performance, that is, how to get improved

performance out of existing service provision and resources – and how to actively manage this performance. One of the issues here is how to focus resources on those clients the partners can make the most difference to.

The work involved under this strand should include:

o Improving the quality and relevance of information and insights about job opportunities

o Implementing a joined up approach to school work transition to create

more progressive routes to work for young people, building on the recommendations of the Wood Commission. The initial focus would be

on increasing the numbers of school leavers finding work by over 70 pa.

o Focusing support on those vulnerable to long term unemployment in

their first 12 months of employment – this will mean providing less support to others

o Working with Work Programme Primes to enhance the support available for those who are on or emerging from Work Programme.

Alongside this work there is a need to put in place improved ways of describing and analysing the performance of the whole employability system to help the

LEP manage it actively. Our analysis of scale and need suggests that there is scope to focus the current

effort on some clear priority client groups – which should be:

Young people, to minimise the number becoming unemployed. This will involve schools, employers, CC Education staff, and parents.

Those less than 12 months unemployed who are vulnerable to long term unemployment. This will involve JCP, Clackmannanshire Works

and a range of Council Services.

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Those for whom work is a realistic medium or long term objective but

require a complex array of support to get there. This will involve JCP, Clackmannanshire Works and a range of Council and other specialist

services.

Those on Work Programme who need additional support, or emerging

from the Work Programme still unemployed. This will involve Ingeus, Working Links, Triage and local third sector organisations, JCP and CC.

Tenants of the Council who are most affected by the welfare reform

changes. This will involve the housing service of CC and local providers.

Overleaf we present a summary of the themes, their rationale, examples of

action and priority client groups. In the next Chapter we describe the action required under these 4 themes

before presenting a more detailed Action Plan.

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Theme for action Rationale for theme Actions Priority client

groups Driving a strategic focus on employability

Scale and significance of unemployment in Clackmannanshire

Worsening position of the area relative to other areas and Scotland as a whole

Significance of unemployment as a key influence on mental and physical ill-health and a driver of demands on a

range of services

Creating programme of joint staff development and networking for all those front line staff who engage with clients who are unemployed. Production of support materials including service guide to help accurate and timely referrals.

Those facing multiple issues in making progress to work

Carry out an employability audit to ensure that all organisations and services are achieving their potential to make an impact on unemployment.

Enhancing support for all those seeking work

Joining up support to help young people pursue

successful school work transitions.

Young people on

school-work transition

Working at a wider scale to help people find work

Limited number of jobs in Clackmannanshire and range of work available within a reasonable job search area

Helping young people broaden their horizons and gain the skills and resilience needed to work elsewhere or to travel out of the area for work.

Young people at school and College

Providing labour market intelligence for a much wider geographical area than Clackmannanshire.

Pupils, teachers, parents, training providers

Helping clients overcome perceived and actual barriers involved in travelling to work outside the area or moving elsewhere.

All those seeking work – particularly those resistant to travelling

Placing employability in the context of business growth

Shortage of local jobs means that it is important to maximise local job growth (particularly among micro-businesses)

Businesses need to be confident that recruits are available and will meet

their needs The partners need to be confident that

any client being recommended to an employer will be an effective ambassador for others seeking work.

Ensuring that all those working with businesses are identifying recruitment and skills needs and opportunities. Using these insights to identify key trends in skill requirements and selection procedures.

Training and support providers

Creating a ‘Final Step’ service which will help work ready clients prepare for selection procedures and the first weeks in work.

Clients who are ‘work ready’ and need to be ‘job ready’

Co-designing bespoke training approaches with larger employers or groups of employers.

Businesses seeking recruits

Work ready clients

Enhancing and

managing performance

The LEP needs to be able to describe

performance in order to manage it Local services need to feel confident

they are focusing their service on those for whom it makes the most

difference.

Creating simple structure for describing and

monitoring performance over time which will allow identification of areas for improvement. Prioritisation of clients who most need support to gain work.

Those at risk of long

term unemployment. Clients with multiple support needs.

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Clackmannanshire Council: Employability Strategy 2014

8 Proposed workstreams

In this Chapter we elaborate on each of the 4 areas for action that have flowed from our identification of issues and challenges. We present them in the form of 4 ‘workstreams’ –

that is, areas of work which should be specifically commissioned by the LEP with a view to piloting and implementation.

Workstream 1: Driving the strategic approach to tackling unemployment

The fragile state of the Clackmannanshire economy and the relatively high rates of unemployment provide a focus for the activities of the Clackmannanshire Alliance. The

current situation is set out clearly in the Clackmannanshire Single Outcome Agreement and a strategic response to this – in terms of both economic development and tackling

unemployment – is given a high priority. In addition the structures are in place to drive such as response, for example, the focused

structure of the Community Planning Partnership with only two sub-groups – one focusing on Business, Jobs and Skills, and the other on Community Well-Being – reflecting the two

key outcomes and areas for action identified in the SOA. Our interviews suggest that there is a determination to make progress on this issues and

much progress has been made – but there remains scope for further action.

In particular we have identified the following priority areas for action as part of an integrated employability strategy involving action on both the demand and the supply side:

Maximising the impact on employability. We recommend that the partners carry

out a detailed employability audit of all the main public service players by matching against good practice and identifying further scope to contribute: in terms of work placements and apprenticeship programmes, procurement practice, and staff roles.

Ensuring that all staff with a front line role which engages with those who are

unemployed (many of whom may be vulnerable to longer term unemployment) understand the significance of their contact with each client and are in a position to help those for whom it is appropriate to set out on a journey towards employment.

This would be done by cross-service workshops and networking events to be held on a regular basis and providing insights into respective roles, how to identify those

clients who can make progress towards work, how to refer and support according to need and how to ensure that each client’s progress is managed effectively. Robust common or complementary assessment processes are key to this.

Supporting this with a clear and succinct guide to available services for clients

which will help all front line staff refer their clients quickly and accurately to the most appropriate service for them. This can build on the existing Clackmannanshire SkillsMap which was designed for young people.

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Ensuring that those clients on this journey (ie at Stage 1 or 2 of the strategic skills pipeline) are being helped to make progress in a way that is sustained and well-

managed. This means that there is a clearly identified person who has responsibility for supporting and managing progress through a range of services.

In particular, ensuring a joined up approach to young people and their transition from school to work – see Workstream 4.

This approach builds on the current approach – which is an advance of the approach of many local authorities – of working with employers to help them create opportunities that

can then be filled by those who are currently unemployed. The next stage in this approach would be to see the employability service in Clackmannanshire as the

recruitment arm of the business development service, with a strong focus on understanding and meeting the needs of businesses. This will further enhance the reputation of the service among employers and help to encourage ‘repeat business’ and

‘word of mouth’ recommendation among employers.

The main point of this area of action is the need to ensure a real understanding of how serious the current position of Clackmannanshire is in terms of local jobs and unemployment and the need to ensure that the priorities clearly identified in the SOA are

driven though by strong strategic leadership across the partners in the Alliance.

This area requires sustained action and commitment across the different services of the Council and its partners and so needs to be driven by the Alliance with some clear requirements on all the partners to play their full part in taking forward the actions

identified.

Workstream 2: Working at a wider scale

Our analysis has confirmed the existence of a significant local jobs gap in Clackmannanshire – in other words, the number of local jobs falls well short of the numbers seeking work. The ratio of unfilled vacancies to the numbers of those seeking

work is significantly lower in all the areas surrounding Clackmannanshire.

What this means is that if young people and others seeking work focus their job search on Clackmannanshire their chances of finding a job which matches their skills and aptitudes is likely to be limited – and many will not find work without extending their job

search area or even moving away to areas where jobs are more readily available (even if this is short term and provides them with the experience and confidence to return to a

job in the local area). There are important practical implications of this and we have identified a range of

actions that the partners may wish to pursue:

In schools, pupils need to be provided with insights and intelligence about job options and where they are. This should cover the realistic travel to work area from a Clackmannanshire base. But it should also include important areas of

job growth elsewhere (eg in engineering in the Highlands of Scotland where Global Energy has estimated that it needs 5,000 additional staff over the next 5

years).

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The flexibility offered by Curriculum for Excellence can be used to help young people develop the skills and confidence they need both to travel to work and to

make a success of living in an unfamiliar community.

Specifically, young people and others seeking work need to be helped to

overcome perceived and actual barriers involved in travelling to work outside the area or moving elsewhere. These could include:

o Identifying appropriate travel options, routes and times and walking routes to, from and between different modes of travel

o Understanding travel costs, how these can be minimised and what the

implications are in terms of the amount they need to earn. o The partners may wish to explore a range of current practice which

provides support services where jobs are – rather than where clients live – so they need to become familiar with the travel to work experience in seeking support. Some services (including current service support in

Stirling) accompany some clients on the initial journey to help them over the initial hurdles. One interviewee reported that most of the clients

experiencing this service expressed surprise at how straightforward the journey was in practice.

We therefore recommend:

That as part of the implementation of the Wood Commission recommendations, the partners identify how to use the wider job search insight and intelligence on current and emerging skills requirements to inform curriculum content in terms of job

match and job search areas.

That the partners develop a simple travel guide for those seeking work covering the main job search area for those based in Clackmannanshire (which would

include at least West Lothian, Falkirk, Stirling, North Lanarkshire and Glasgow).

That the partners work with Stirling Council to pilot accompanied journeys and the

provision of Stage 3 support located in Stirling which is an important job search area for many of those seeking work.

That the partners explore the range of skills and information young people need to

thrive in unfamiliar communities and how best to help young people make and

maintain this transition. While this may apply to others, there is a specific task to be done in schools to prepare young people for the wider labour market.

Workstream 3: Placing employability firmly in the context of business growth

Clackmannanshire is pioneering an approach which places employability support firmly in the context of business growth. We have identified opportunities to build on this to

ensure that employability support is seen by businesses as the HR support service which is able to provide them with recruits who are a very good match for their needs.

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We recommend:

Putting in place a simple way of drawing on all those who engage with businesses in Clackmannanshire to share their insights and information on current and emerging trends in skill needs and recruitment practices. This should take the form of a half day

workshop every 6 months drawing together staff from:

o Business Gateway (including the contracted supplier of HR support) o Skills Development Scotland o Forth Valley College

o Jobcentre Plus employer engagement staff o Clackmannanshire Works staff

o Staff of Clackmannanshire Council who engage with businesses – including Planning, Building Standards, Licensing and permits and Trading Standards

o Relevant Scottish Enterprise account managers

o Local accountants o Chamber of Commerce

o Federation of Small Businesses.

As part of this action it will be important that all those who work with businesses

use the opportunity of engagement to identify any recruitment and skill needs.

The partners develop and test a ‘Final Step’ service which helps work ready clients prepare for selection procedures and survive the first weeks in work and refines the match with some particular target opportunities.

Work with large local employers and groups of smaller employers to co-design

bespoke training approaches to provide recruits to meet specific opportunities that are current or pending.

Work with local employers to establish a single location for advertising local

employment opportunities.

Workstream 4: Enhancing and managing performance

A repeated theme of our interviews was the need for the LEP to be able to describe the performance of the Clackmannanshire ‘employability service’ and pinpoint weak links and

areas that needed to improve.

Related to this we have identified the need for the partners to be confident that they are devoting resources to the clients that they can make the most difference to – and nipping problems in the bud by intervening and investing early to save much greater longer term

costs.

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We have therefore identified the need to:

Make sure that current service design and content is of high quality and provides clients with the support they need to find and make progress in work.

Identify those clients most vulnerable to longer term unemployment and focus resources on them, with a clear understanding of which providers are best place to

engage with these clients meaningfully and successfully. In particular, Clackmannanshire Works should work with JCP to ensure that it is focusing its efforts on short term unemployed people who are vulnerable to long term

unemployment. This should involve working more intensively with a small number of clients and we suggest that a target of reducing the numbers it works with by

50% would be appropriate (though this will be affected by a review of the vulnerability profile of its current client group).

Supporting those emerging from Work Programme.

Ensure that as many young people as possible are able successfully to navigate the transition from school to work, so minimising the flow of young people onto unemployment and – after 9 months – Work Programme.

In addition we believe that there are opportunities to work with the Work Programme

Primes to enhance the support available for those who are on or emerging from Work Programme, and to draw on their exceptional management information to inform pre-Work Programme service design and delivery.

In the rest of this section we identify actions under these four areas:

Enhancing current service design and content

A range of stakeholders identified the need for enhanced information and insights on job opportunities. This will be drawn from SDS information supplemented by the insights and

trends identified at the workshops for those staff engaging with business. This should be supplemented by information from the Prime Contractors database about local jobs found

and the duration of these jobs, to provide a more complete picture on opportunities which can be used by support organisations and training providers to align support and training more closely to available opportunities.

Targeting resources on those clients most vulnerable to longer term

unemployment This is a major area for action. The bulk of those supported by non WP providers are less

than 12 months unemployed – and most of those less than 6 months unemployed. We recommend that a more systematic approach be taken to identifying those clients most

vulnerable to longer term unemployment. Recent DWP sponsored research has identified the set of variables that provide a good

predictor of long term unemployment and we recommend that these – together with the learning gained when testing the approach for the pilot – are used to trial an approach to

client referral to Clackmannanshire Works by JCP and for assessment of all clients.

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The table below is taken from the DWP research paper and sets out these variables. This framework can be used to score clients in terms of the risk of their becoming long term

unemployed. If the 30% with the highest scores are supported with additional help it will reach 70% of those who, without help, will become long term unemployed. We believe that this systematic approach to the identification of priority short term unemployed

clients by Clackmannanshire Works will help them ensure that they will make a significant reduction in those becoming long term unemployed. The research shows that most of

those not receiving additional help are still likely to find work. The way in which this process will be applied – both by JCP (and others referred to

Clackmannanshire Works) and by Clackmannanshire Works – needs to be developed.

In addition we recommend that Clackmannanshire Works engages with both Ingeus and Working Links both of whom now have very high quality management information on the characteristics of those entering and leaving Work Programme. This will allow the

organisation to identify those at 6 months and 9 months who are particularly vulnerable to reaching 12 months unemployment and entering Work Programme.

Figure : Significant predictors of LTU from the Jobseekers’ Classification Instrument (JSCI) model

[Source: Simon Matty, Predicting likelihood of long-term unemployment: the development of a UK

jobseekers’ classification instrument, DWP 2013]

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We recommend that the partners explore with Working Links and Ingeus the opportunities to provide additional support for those on Work Programme who have been

identified as unlikely to find work without significant support. There may be options of providing more intensive help in return for a significant share of the additional income that the Primes and subcontractors may gain if positive sustained outcomes are achieved.

We have developed detailed financial models around these options for other clients but would need to understand in detail the current nature of support, the scale at which

additional support could be offered, any spare support capacity which could be used and the willingness or otherwise of the Primes and subcontractor to enter into discussions.

We recommend that some detailed work is carried out on appropriate support for those emerging from the Work Programme after 2 years of further unemployment. The formal

provision is through the Help to Work (HtW) package of help and support, based on a claimant’s individual circumstances.

HtW is made up of three elements:

Mandatory Intervention Regime Daily Work Search Reviews Community Work Placements.

There may be better or more effective ways of supporting some of those emerging from 2

years on Work Programme and we recommend that the partners explore this with JCP and other key organisations with proven success in this area in terms of the availability of intensive support, and the opportunity to carry out work placements with high quality

support.

We recommend the careful targeting of two groups currently in Clackmannanshire Council housing stock who will be most affected by welfare reform. Based on detailed

work we have carried out in other local authority areas we have identified two groups particularly affected by welfare reform which it would be appropriate to target with an employability response:

Households in Clackmannanshire Council housing who will be losing at least £20 a

week in benefit income because of cuts and policy changes Long term workless households in Clackmannanshire Council housing which will

over time be affected by the aggregated effects of smaller changes.

We recommend that housing staff in the Council draw on their data on tenants to

identify these tenants and develop a targeted approach to help people falling into these groups to be helped on a route to work – ideally on a whole household approach.

Although we have identified some specific groups to target, we recognise that the partners will gain the best return from working with volunteers. However, it is also clear from our

analysis of the context that more people will be required to search more actively for work – or will be driven to this by reduced benefits, which, for example, may lead a single parent to seek work rather than be a full time parent.

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Helping young people successfully to navigate the transition from school to work

The Wood Commission Final Report sets out a number of recommendations for helping to connect young people at various stages to the realities and opportunities of work and to make more progressive and successful transitions from school to work. The Council’s

Education service has begun to take forward some of the recommendations that affect schools.

There is clearly a strong commitment by a number of local businesses to helping young people make a successful transition to work and there is scope to build on this

commitment and the widening of the job search area to include at least Clackmannanshire and Stirling.

We recommend:

That the implementation of the Wood Commission recommendations be carried out at a combined Clackmannanshire/Stirling scale

That this be taken forward as part of a wider, longer term effort to create effective

and progressive transitions between school and work

That the process be strongly led by the needs of business and involve business at

every stage

That the improved and widened labour market insights and intelligence (set out

above) be used by schools, parents and pupils to inform effective choices about both futures and appropriate support and training

That Clackmannanshire and Stirling explore with Career Academies Scotland the

opportunity for local schools to create Career Academies. A Career Academy is a programme that prepares students for the world of work. The model focuses on linking students to employers through masterclasses, mentoring, workplace visits

and internships. Career Academies UK (in Scotland, Career Academies Scotland) provides this structured programme and support to the schools and colleges

around the UK who operate Career Academies. There are currently no schools which have Career Academies in either Stirling or Clackmannanshire, but there are now numerous examples of successful adoption of the model, which is entirely

consistent with the recommendations of the Wood Commission about establishing long term working relationships between each school and at least one employer.

In the following pages we present the detailed action plan of actions under each of the 4 workstreams.

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CLACKMANNANSHIRE LOCAL EMPLOYABILITY PARTNERSHIP

ACTION PLAN 2014/15

The Clackmannanshire Employability Strategy has identified 4 workstreams based on the main issues emerging from the evidence on economic, employment and unemployment trends, and 5 priority groups. In the following pages we set out

the detailed action points under each of the 4 workstreams.

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Workstream 1: Driving the strategic approach

The aim of this workstream is to build on the partners’ recognition of the scale of the issue and the depth of the problem and reinforce the importance of cross Council and cross agency working. This will have a particular focus on young

people and those who are long term unemployed or at risk of LTU. The main component will be fully to realise the potential employability role of all front line staff who engage with clients who are unemployed. Action Timescale Suggested

Lead

Output Progress

1.1 Carry out cost benefit analysis of

helping those furthest from work make

progress into work. To be used in

guiding Council invest-to-save

approaches.

By March

2015

CC Finance and

Corporate

Services

Analysis of total service costs of

supporting families with complex needs

and comparison with cost of high

quality employability support

1.2 Ensure all relevant front line staff

are clear about the role they can play in

the employability agenda and

understand how to fulfil this role

By June

2015

CC Economic

Development

with SDS and

DWP

Initial multi- service workshops to

cover all front line staff working with

priority clients.

Review of assessment procedures to

ensure that assessments contain all

necessary information for identification

of employability support needs

1.3 Produce guide to services to help

front line staff refer quickly and

accurately. This should build on

SkillsMap.

By June

2015

FVC Clear identification of services by client

need and stage. Online resource

allowing regular updating.

1.4 Carry out audit of Council services

to compare current action against best

practice in maximising impact on

employability

By June

2015

CC Economic

Development

Comparison of all services with good

practice (eg Houghton Report) and

identification of action to tackle largest

gaps.

1.5 Develop multi-agency working

pattern around priority clients furthest

from work, starting with scoping options

By June

2015

CC Integrated

Mental Health

Services with

NHS and CTSI

Agreed ‘account management’ and

referral model to promote effective

progression to work

1.6 Expand Alliance Membership By March

2015

CC Performance

and Partnership

Support

Inducting DWP and SDS as Alliance

members at appropriate level of

seniority

94


Workstream 2: Working at a wider scale. There is a significant local jobs gap and many young people and others

seeking work will need to widen their job search area and even move away (temporarily or permanently) if they are to gain fulfilling work.

Action Timescale Lead Output Progress

2.1 Create information on current

and emerging jobs and where they

are for pupils, teachers and

parents, as well as others seeking

work

By April 2015 SDS Regular information appealing to

pupils, teachers and parents and used

for careers advice and guidance and

curriculum content

2.2 Building into curriculum

opportunities to explore issues

about working and living away

from home area

By April 2015 CC

Education/

NHSFV

Agreed modules and place in

Curriculum for Excellence

2.3 Working with groups of pupils

in 3 local secondary schools to

identify perceptions around

barriers to commuting outside area

and living away and identify skills

and information needs for living

away from home

By April 2015 CC

Education

Insights to inform parents and

teachers and design of appropriate

support for young people seeking

work

2.4 Working with Stirling Council

to support employability advice

and support service in Stirling for

Clackmannanshire residents

By Apr 2015 CW Helping residents become familiar

with travel to work

2.5 Produce, promote and

distribute travel to work guide for

young people and others seeking

work

By June 2015 CC

Economic

Developme

nt

Clear and accessible information on

travel times and costs within the main

travel to work areas for residents

2.6 Carry out pilot for

accompanied journeys to work

By Apr 2015 CC

Economic

Developme

nt/Third

Sector

providers

Developing system of ‘first time

company’ for those making visit to

Stirling service

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Workstream 3: Placing employability in the context of business growth. The ‘employability service’ in

Clackmannanshire will best help its clients by developing an even stronger focus on the needs of employers and wherever possible ensuring that businesses get the recruits they need, when they need them. Work will include:


3.1 Organise and implement initial

workshop with all those working

with businesses

By May 2015 BJSP Summary of current and

emerging trends and issues

around skills and recruitment

3.2 Organise and implement

annual follow up workshops to

identify emerging issues and

trends

Dec 2015 BJSP Updated summary of current and

emerging trends and issues

around skills and recruitment

3.3 Produce synthesis of existing

information on current labour

market requirements

By Mar 2015

(to include RSA

information as

well as SDS

LMI)

FVC Clear and accessible guide to job

opportunities, and current and

emerging trends

3.4 Design and fund service

providing candidates with ‘final

step’ in terms of specific job

readiness, experience of

recruitment processes and how to

survive first weeks in work

By Sept 2015 CC

Economic

Developme

nt with SDS

and DWP

Candidates who can be

confidently be presented to

employers able to both get a job

and do a job, and acting as

ambassadors for other

unemployed candidates

3.5 Co-design (by service/training

provider and employer/s)

development and training routes to

meet specific needs of employers

requiring similar needs (eg retail,

construction) and multi-tasking in

micro-businesses

By Dec 2014 BJSP Candidates who meet specific

needs of employers and can

contribute from their first day

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Workstream 3 (cont): Placing employability in the context of business growth


3.6 Make further steps towards a

single point of contact for

businesses by refining the ‘no

wrong door’ approach.

By Dec 2014 DWP Building on work to date by Employer

Engagement sub-group to ensure that

there is an obvious point of contact

for employers seeking candidates

3.7 Strengthen micro-business

support

Indicator: Helping 50 micro-

businesses a year to add one job

By April 2015 BJSP/C

eteris

Integrated package of support

targeting 1,900 micro-businesses:

Business Gateway advice on

growth

Specialist HR support on job role,

contract, systems

Contribution to wages for up to 6

months where this will make a

difference

All presented candidates through

‘final step’ service

3.8 Enhance the number of


Indicator: Increasing the number

of young people in

Clackmannanshire gaining a

Modern Apprenticeship by 50 - 75

pa.

By April 2015 BJSP Working with employers to identify

additional MA opportunities with the

objective of matching investment to

scale of youth unemployment. This

may involve working with employers

in Stirling.

3.9 Making best use of national

approaches in terms of paid work

placements

By April 2015 DWP

with

FVC

Promotion of graduate work

placement opportunities (eg

SFC/Talent Scotland etc)

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Workstream 4: Enhancing and managing performance – ie how to get improved performance out of existing

service provision and resources – and how to actively manage this performance. The three main focuses for this 97orkstream are: Identifying and working with priority clients – and in particular those for whom support can make the

biggest difference; putting in place effective progress support; and actively managing the performance of the employability service as a whole in terms of focus, service design and outcome. Action Timescale Lead Output Progress

Action to support priority client groups:

4.1 Pupils at risk of entering MCMC group

Indicator: Ensuring all those leaving school move

onto training, work experience or a job

Annually at

S3/4/5?

CC

Education

Pupils receive bespoke and

sustained support through

school/training/work

transition

4.2 Short term unemployed people at greatest risk of

becoming long term

Indicator: Ensuring support is focused on those at

risk of long term unemployment – contributing to

reduction of 50% in those reaching long term

unemployment

Pilot by Dec 2014,

drawing on DWP

research

DWP and

CC

Economic

Developm

ent

Intensive support at early

stage

4.3 Those who are 6 months unemployed who are at

risk of entering Work Programme

Indicator: Reducing the numbers reaching long term

unemployment (12 months – or 9 months for those

under 24) by 50%

Pilot by Dec 2014,

drawing on DWP

research and

Working

Links/Ingeus data

DWP and

CC

Economic

Developm

ent

Intensive support

4.4 Those on Work Programme who are unlikely to get

the help they need

Indicator: Reducing WP failure rate to 75%

Drawing on

Working

Links/Ingeus Data

DWP Intensive support

4.5 Those emerging from 2 years on Work Programme

without a job

Indicator: Helping 5 per month to move onto a job

or training

DWP and

CC

Economic

Developm

ent

Intensive support

4.6 Those in CC housing who will be most affected by

Welfare Reform

Indicator: Working with 50 households and helping

25 people into work

By Dec 2014 CC

Housing

Joined up support from range

of services to help household

members move towards and

into work

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Workstream 4 (cont.): Enhancing and managing performance


4.7 Develop systems map by

including known client flows and

outcomes and identifying areas for

improvement

By Mar 2014 LEP to agree Tool for understanding

performance, identifying areas for

action and testing response

4.8 Provide intensive support for

those emerging from Work

Programme

By March

2015

DWP/JCP HtW a high quality programme

providing support that works.

Supplemented by other tried and

tested support

4.9 Produce of ‘quick read’ version

of strategy and wide

dissemination, with invitation for

those who feel they can contribute

to its tasks and objectives to get in

touch

By end Nov

2014

CC Economic

Development

Widely disseminated quick read

version of strategy

Full awareness of those that can

make a contribution

4.10 Carry out regular review of

strategy to refine and develop in

the light of experience and

performance, including structured

feedback from stakeholders

Annually CC Economic

Development and

LEP

Ensures that strategy is always

relevant and takes account of

current and emerging issues and

demands

4.11a Work with CTSI to clarify

role and ensuring that potential

role of local Third Sector fully

realised

By end Dec

2014

CC Performance

and Partnership

Support/CTSI

Range of funded programmes

targeting priority clients which

draw on third sector skills and

experience, especially for those at

Stages 1 and 2

4.11b Mapping of third sector

provision by client group, function

and area, including current service

scale and performance

By April

2015

CTSI Comprehensive description of third

sector employability provision

4.12 Explore opportunities

provided by Career Academies for

Clackmannanshire schools

By Apr 2015 CC Education Tried and tested way of supporting

school – employer relationships

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9 Structures and resources for delivery In the light of these workstreams and priorities we have identified some requirements for

the focus and membership of the Community Planning structures.

Overall structure of community planning in Clackmannanshire Our analysis has stressed the significance of the current focus of the Alliance on economic

development and employability (as reflected in the SOA). However, the primacy of this focus is not fully reflected in the membership of the Alliance and in particular we

recommend that DWP/JCP and Skills Development Scotland should be represented to provide insights and intelligence to contribute to Alliance discussions and decisions.

The structure beneath the Alliance is simple and focused and contrasts favourably with the complicated structure of some other CPPs. However, members of the Business Jobs

and Skills Partnership and the Community Wellbeing Partnership who we talked to agree that the relationship between these two sub-groups and the nature of joint working needs

to be much closer. This could be done by the Chairs of each being members of the other, or by closer consultation between the Chairs. It would also be greatly aided by clarifying the distribution of work across the skills pipeline.

A clear focus for employability

There is widespread agreement that the operational task of employability is currently spread across a number of groups and there needs to be one operational group – the LEP

– where all the significant issues around employability are discussed and where the performance of the whole employability system is reviewed. The LEP should lead on:

The operational aspects of delivering the skills pipeline and actively managing the

performance of the providers making up the pipeline

Coordinating the commissioning of employability services locally and ensuring that

the services being bought (and the clients for whom the services are being bought) make up a coherent and focused package

The performance of the whole employability and skills system, and developing the systematic model presented in this report to aid this.

It will be important for the LEP to distinguish between barrier removal (particularly at Stages 1 and 2) and job focused support (Stages 3-5) and we are proposing that the

LEP reports to the Community Well-being Partnership on former and the Business Jobs and Skills Partnership on the latter.

In order to fulfil this brief the LEP needs to establish a clear long term structure of delivery reporting to the LEP (based on the various funded programmes) supplemented

by short term working groups to explore and make recommendations about specific issues or aspects of performance. One of the key themes of this report is that the LEP

should focus on achieving a small number of outcomes and ensure a joined up approach to their achievement – ie it should have a focus on some target client groups rather than

100


on programmes. To understand and drive their role in analysing and actively managing performance there needs to be some analytical capacity that can be dedicated to this task

on behalf of the LEP on a part time basis. The Final Report of the Wood Commission is a significant document in terms of action to

strengthen the transition from school to work. The Report sets out 46 recommendations and it has been suggested to us that the LEP should lead on the implementation of these

for Clackmannanshire. However, our report recommends a range of actions by the LEP which we believe will fully occupy it – and one of the important aspects of our brief was to ensure a clear focus for the LEP and its member organisations. As a consequence, we do

not feel that the LEP should be asked to lead the implementation of the Wood Commission recommendations. However, some of the recommendations fall clearly into

the brief of the LEP as proposed here. In particular it would be appropriate for the LEP to lead on the implementation of the

Wood Commission recommendations set out in Appendix 4.

LEP Membership The membership of the LEP therefore needs to reflect the full range of tasks across the

skills pipeline. LEP membership should therefore include:

Clackmannanshire Council: Economic Development/Employment, Housing, Social Care, Education

Clackmannanshire Third Sector Interface, Forth Valley College, NHS Forth Valley, Skills Development Scotland, DWP/JCP.

These members need to be senior enough to take and drive decisions. This is an

important role and they need to have their LEP role built into their Job Descriptions and have the time and responsibility to carry out this role effectively.

A diagram setting out the proposed structure is set out overleaf. Given the range of activities which involve employers we recommend that the employer engagement sub-

groups should maintain a significant place in this structure with a focus on driving the engagement of employers in the strategy (including the implementation of the Wood Commission recommendations).

101


102


Resources for action

The main resources for employability action are:

The wide range of front line staff who work with priority client groups. These

include: Housing officers, social workers, health staff (including GPs and practice nurses), community learning staff, third sector staff, care workers.

The partners as employers. Despite significant constraints on staffing the scale of

the partners (particularly the Council and NHS Forth Valley) means that

replacement staffing will remain important, and there are opportunities – many of which have already been exploited, to provide both ‘stepping stones’ and part-

time/full time opportunities.

Training support delivered by Forth Valley College

The local delivery of national services, notably, those provided by DWP/JCP and

SDS

Specific funding for employability projects, delivered through Clackmannanshire

Works and others.

It is worth noting that specific funding for employability forms a relatively small part of the total resources that can be used for employability. We have, for example, identified eight roles for Clackmannanshire Council in maximising its impact on employability, many

of which have been acted upon:

As a service provider, ensuring for example that:

o Front line staff across a range of services who work with unemployed people are in a position to contribute to the employability agenda.

o Services promote accessible jobs for local unemployed people (eg jobs close to housing, promotion of small businesses and small business accommodation

etc).

As a purchaser of goods and services, ensuring that this is done in a way that

promotes local job and training opportunities. This may be to do with planning gain and CBC related considerations as well as around helping local SMEs and third

sector organisations gain access to contracted work.

As a strategic partner, ensuring that it works closely with its partners to align its

approaches and funding for maximum impact.

As a strategic planner and economic development agent, working with investors to identify and realise the potential of development opportunities to strengthen the local economy and enhance jobs and incomes.

As a funder/provider of outreach, engagement, assessment and referral

services.

103


As a provider of job opportunities and stepping stones to work – drawing on the scale and nature of its responsibilities and jobs and its role as a major procurer

of services and capital projects. As a winner and manager of external funding for employability.

As a builder of capacity in the local infrastructure and in particular in the social

economy or third sector. Of immediate interest to the LEP is:

How it can focus and join up the employability funding at the disposal of its

members around the priority client groups

How it can fully realise the potential of front line staff to contribute to the

employability agenda.

Service procurement

The Action Plan sets out a wide range of actions, most of which will need to be funded.

We recommend that the LEP as a matter of urgency considers appropriate sources of funding for each Workstream.

The most important Workstream in terms of the scale of additional funding is

Workstream 4 and this should be the focus for ESF/ERDF funding. The amount of ESF is likely to reduce in the new European programme and the outputs and outcomes

required will be defined by the Scottish Government.

We recommend that LEP partners review the funding they provide to third sector organisations to identify the scope to use this to contribute to the outcomes of the

strategy in effective and innovative ways. The focus for involvement will be particularly around clients at Stages 1 and 2.

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Appendix 1: Key elements of welfare reform

Welfare reform provides an vital context for this strategy as it is likely to reduce the income of many of those who are out of work or in low paid work and increase the demands placed on employability services across the UK. Its

combination of benefit cuts, benefit changes and restructuring particularly affect those with disabilities or are otherwise distant from work so the demands on

employability services in Clackmannanshire are likely to increase – and the profile of those seeking support will be at the ‘harder to place’ end of the spectrum. The main components of the changes are:

Disability Living Allowance (DLA) replaced by more stringent

Personal Independence Payment (PIP) for working age people. DLA and PIP are both designed to cover the additional costs of care and mobility needs and are not means-tested. PIP replaced DLA in October

2013 and working age DLA claimants are being reassessed for PIP in cohorts from Oct 2015 to 2018. It is expected that 22% of working age

DLA claimants will be found to have reduced entitlement or no entitlement after reassessment with a total 20% budget cut against forecasts.

Incapacity Benefit (IB) replaced by more stringent Employment and Support Allowance (ESA). ESA is similar to IB but with more

stringent tests, requiring reassessment tests, has greater conditionality, and the contribution-based element can be time-limited. ESA was

introduced by the previous Government to replace IB; the transition of claimants from IB (and the already replaced Severe Disablement Allowance) is ongoing, with cohorts of claimants being reassessed and

transferred 2008-2015. The illness and disability entitlement to Income Support has also been replaced by ESA and claimants are being

reassessed and transferred. 32% of those re-assessed to date have been found fit for work.12 ESA is similar in value and nature to JSA but is specifically for people meeting the illness or disability criteria; it is

available as a means tested benefit or a fixed rate contributory benefit.

Introduction of a benefit cap affecting non-disabled households who are not working (or low earning) limiting weekly benefit income from primary means tested benefits to £350 for a single person or £500 for a

family. This principally affects private tenants (as their Housing Benefit tends to be higher).

Local Housing Allowance rate changes for low income private tenants.

LHA sets the maximum Housing Benefit that can be paid to low income

private tenants. A number of changes have been made:

12 https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/223012/esa_ibr_jan13.pdf

105


o Under 35s are now entitled only to a “shared” accommodation rate. Those whose rent is below the LHA rate can no long claim some of

the saved benefit for themselves. o LHA rates were previously set at the 50th percentile of local rental

values (for a specified size of house) but since October 2011 have been set at the 30th percentile.

o LHA were frozen for one year.

o The highest available LHA rate was changed from 5 bedrooms to 4 bedrooms.

Under-occupation charge for social housing occupied by low income

tenants on Housing Benefit. A charge of 14% of Housing Benefit

entitlement, often known informally as the “Bedroom Tax”, is levied on a spare room (increasing to 25% for two or more spare rooms). The

expansion of the Discretionary Housing Payments (DHP) system for allocation by Local Authorities has been used to mitigate this change in Scotland through increased DWP and Scottish Government funding for

DHP.

Non-dependant deductions have increased so that those with lodgers, adult children or other non-dependents have a lower maximum value of

Housing Benefit available to them.

Localisation of Council Tax Benefit, which is now implemented by Local

Authorities to a fixed annual budget. However, in Scotland there is a national scheme without the 10% funding cut experienced by English LAs.

Localisation of Community Care Grants and Crisis elements of the

Social Fund, which is now implemented by unitary/county Local

Authorities as a Local Welfare grants scheme. Crisis Loans have been abolished. Local authorities were seen as best placed to determine when

awards should be made. The Social Fund is not a large item of DWP expenditure (around £180m per year has been devolved to Local Authorities) overall but involves a large number of small, discretionary

loans and grants to individuals suffering financial hardship. The localisation of the Social Fund coincides with a reduction in total spend and

follows a sharp increase in applications since 2009. In Scotland there is a national identity and system for these grants called the Scottish Welfare Fund.

A number of small changes in rules and rates for Child Tax Credit and

Working Families Tax Credit, paid to lower and middle income households. These changes principally affect couples, people of older working age, and people on middle incomes, and collectively have a

considerable impact in terms of overall reduction in spend on tax credits.

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Expansion of benefit conditionality and sanctions of benefits related to compliance with Jobcentre Plus and private companies who deliver the

Work Programme. Under new conditions imposed from October 2012, ESA and JSA claimants can be given sanctions of up to 156 weeks13, normally

starting with a 4 week sanction for missing an appointment or 13 weeks for a higher level sanction, Around 1 million sanctions decisions can be expected annually of whom around 20% are disabled14.

The uprating of benefit rates has been reduced to 1% per year for

most out of work benefits or CPI for other benefits. Previously the measure was RPI which in recent years has been typically higher than other inflation measures such as wage inflation, Minimum Wage inflation,

GDP Deflator, or CPI.

The previously universal benefit, Child Benefit, has been frozen, and withdrawn for individuals earning over £50,000.

13 https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/255176/sanctions-nov-2013.pdf 14 https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/jobseekers-allowance-and-employment-and-support-allowance-sanctions-decisions-made-to-june-2013

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Appendix 2 Distinctive industries

Overleaf we present our detailed analysis of the most distinctive industries of

Clackmannanshire – that is, those which employ more than twice as many people as would be expected in an average British area.

There is a significant ‘cluster’ around services and products related to alcoholic drinks. This kind of distinctive cluster is often the focus for specialised business

development support.

The relevance of this to the employability strategy lies in the local significance of these employers, the mix of distinctive skills that they require (and the associated need to understand critical issues such as longer term replacement

strategies as older staff retire) and the scope for additional job growth through cluster development.

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0.70 0.90 1.10 1.30 1.50 1.70 1.90 2.10 2.30

23130 : Manufacture of hollow glass

11010 : Distilling, rectifying and blending of spirits

17120 : Manufacture of paper and paperboard

11060 : Manufacture of malt

10890 : Manufacture of other food products nec

46170 : Agents involved in the sale of food, beverages and…

38110 : Collection of non-hazardous waste

14142 : Manufacture of women's underwear

30920 : Manufacture of bicycles and invalid carriages

25620 : Machining

23700 : Cutting, shaping and finishing of stone

46342 : Wholesale of wine, beer, spirits and other alcoholic…

11050 : Manufacture of beer

77220 : Renting of video tapes and disks

33140 : Repair of electrical equipment

14131 : Manufacture of men's outerwear, other than…

20590 : Manufacture of other chemical products nec

02100 : Silviculture and other forestry activities

08120 : Operation of gravel and sand pits; mining of clays…

42990 : Construction of other civil engineering projects nec

88100 : Social work activities without accommodation for…

46120 : Agents involved in the sale of fuels, ores, metals…

24200 : Manufacture of tubes, pipes, hollow profiles and…

10520 : Manufacture of ice cream

47599 : Retail sale of furniture, lighting equipment and…

01629 : Support activities for animal production (other…

13921 : Manufacture of soft furnishings

95220 : Repair of household appliances and home and…

72190 : Other research and experimental development on…

82110 : Combined office administrative service activities

17219 : Manufacture of paper and paperboard containers…

86102 : Medical nursing home activities

82190 : Photocopying, document preparation and other…

85590 : Other education nec

47890 : Retail sale via stalls and markets of other goods

52103 : Operation of warehousing and storage facilities for…

84110 : General public administration activities

38320 : Recovery of sorted materials

96030 : Funeral and related activities

46160 : Agents involved in the sale of textiles, clothing, fur,…

38210 : Treatment and disposal of non-hazardous waste

10822 : Manufacture of sugar confectionery

85520 : Cultural education

93110 : Operation of sports facilities

93120 : Activities of sport clubs

23190 : Manufacture and processing of other glass,…

64202 : Activities of production holding companies

47730 : Dispensing chemist in specialised stores

33170 : Repair and maintenance of other transport…

96090 : Other personal service activities nec

43390 : Other building completion and finishing

29310 : Manufacture of electrical and electronic…

salience

From a classification of 739,all 52 industries shownhave more than twice asmany people employed inClackmannanshire astypical in Britain. The 6'off the scale' industriesat the top of the chart, in thedrink and packaging trades,have more than ten times asmany.

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Appendix 3: Stakeholder interviews

Name Organisation

Jane Adamson Council (Policy Officer, Econ Dev)

Debbie Carter Council (Project Development Officer, Econ Dev)

Ian Fraser Council (Team Leader, Econ Dev)

Robert Walters Clackmannanshire Third Sector Interface (Chief Officer)

Malcolm McArdle Clackmannanshire Third Sector Interface (Board) & Alloa Community Enterprises (MD)

Valerie Ormiston SDS (Area Manager FV)

Fred Smith SDS (Team Leader)

Andy Lawson Forth Valley College (Associate Principal)

Anne Currie NHS FV (Principal Public Health Officer)

Hazel Meechan NHS FV (Public Health Specialist)

Billy Howie DWP (Employer & Partnership Manager)

Angela Penman DWP (Alloa Jobcentre Manager)

Dorothy McClure DWP (Alloa Jobcentre Manager)

Wilson Lees Council (Team Leader - Homelessness, Support &

Advice Services)

Bill Miller Council (Service Manager Education)

Clare Fisher Council (Operational Leader Learning & Development Service)

Andrew Mitchell Alloa Town Centre BID (Manager)

David Westland Alloa Town Centre BID (Chair) & Hotelier

Kevin Deighan Clacksfirst BID (Manager)

Graham Struthers Clacksfirst BID (Chair) and Federation of Small Businesses

Margaret Mary Rafferty

Ceteris (MD) - Deliver Business Gateway contract

Dave Cowie Triage (Non-Executive Director)

Sylvie McCleary Council (Team Leader Integrated Mental Health)

Susan MacKay Council (Housing Development & Regen Team Leader

Elaine McPherson Council (Chief Executive)

Cherie-Ann Jarvie Council (Strategy & Performance Manager)

Joanne Farrow Scottish Government (Employability Partnership

Manager)

Kenny Rogers Scottish Fire & Rescue Service, Chair Community Well

Being Partnership

Colin Lynch Chair, Business Jobs and Skills Partnership

Mike Mulraney Chair, Clackmannanshire Business

Angela Beardsley Resonate Arts House

Tracy Gibson Tullibody Healthy Living Initiative

Lesley McArthur (pending)

Reach Out with Arts in Mind

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Appendix 4: Scale and performance of employability support

In this Appendix we explore the current nature of the ‘employability service’ in Clackmannanshire. Since the last strategy this has been made up of a number of components:

DWP’s services through Jobcentre Plus and the contracted out programme

for long term unemployed people, Work Programme Clackmannanshire Works European Structural Funds programme (ESF

Priority 5 and ERDF Priority 3) Clackmannanshire Apprenticeship Initiative

Youth Employment Scotland SDS Programmes

o Modern Apprenticeships

o Employability Fund (which replaced Lifeskills and Get Ready for Work) A wide array of support available to help pupils make a successful

transition to training/FE/HE/work, which includes careers information, advice and guidance and work placements provided by the Education service, schools and SDS.

Because of the scale of long term unemployment the nature and local performance of the Work Programme is of particular interest and we consider

this first before moving on to an assessment of the range of other local support.

The Work Programme: Scale and performance

In Figure A below we show the job outcomes achieved by cohorts of Work

Programme clients in Clackmannanshire at the “two year mark” (ie, two years after referral). Data for the first time point in this series (the June 2011 cohort) was available in June 2013 and data for the last time point (March 2012 cohort)

was available in March 2014. Aside from the first, larger cohort, the monthly cohort size tends to be of the order of 60-100, with 5-24 of these achieving job

outcomes. Cohort sizes beyond March 2012 showed a general decrease, suggesting that in

the coming months the number of monthly job outcomes at the two year mark in Clackmannanshire will continue to be around 20 people or fewer.

111


Figure A: Cohort sizes (referrals) and the number of clients within each cohort who had

achieved a job outcome after being on the Work Programme for two years [Source:

Rocket Science analysis of DWP data].

Figure A overleaf shows the performance of the Work Programme in Clackmannanshire and in Scotland, with job outcome rates defined here as the

proportion of referrals in a particular cohort who have achieved a job outcome. For Clackmannanshire, quarterly averages of monthly outcome rates were taken,

with the error bars showing the high degree of uncertainty in the result due to the rounding of small numbers to the nearest 10 individuals.

These uncertainties make it difficult to conclude whether the Work Programme in Clackmannanshire has been more or less effective than in the rest of Scotland.

0

50

100

150

200

250

Jun

-11

Jul-

11

Au

g-1

1

Sep

-11

Oct

-11

No

v-1

1

Dec

-11

Jan

-12

Feb

-12

Mar

-12

Ap

r-1

2

May

-12

Jun

-12

Jul-

12

Au

g-1

2

Sep

-12

Oct

-12

No

v-1

2

Dec

-12

Jan

-13

Feb

-13

Mar

-13

Two Year Job Outcomes - Clackmannanshire

2 Yr Job Outcomes Cohort Size

112


Figure B: Proportion of all referrals achieving a Job Outcome within 1 (darker colours)

and 2 (paler colours) years in Clackmannanshire (blue) and the whole of Scotland (red).

Figures for Clackmannanshire are shown as quarterly average values [Source: Rocket

Science analysis of DWP data].

Our “funnel plot analysis” in Figure C overleaf demonstrates that, while

Clackmannanshire is on the low side in terms of overall job outcome rate

(expressed as outcomes / attachments), the fact that the job outcome rate is

not below the red dotted line suggests that performance is not significantly

below the Scottish average.

Figure C (overleaf): Job outcome rates for each Scottish LA to March 2014 [Source;

Rocket Science analysis of DWP data]

0%

5%

10%

15%

20%

25%

30%

35%

Feb-11 Jun-11 Sep-11 Dec-11 Apr-12 Jul-12 Oct-12 Jan-13 May-13

Job

ou

tcm

e r

ate

(o

utc

om

es/

refe

rral

s)

Clackmannanshire 1y JO %

Clackmannanshire 2y JO %

Scotland 1y JO %

Scotland 2y JO %

113


114

Clackmannanshire LEP: Employability Strategy 2014

So far, on average, 81% of people referred to the Work Programme in Clackmannanshire have completed 2 years on the work programme without achieving a job outcome (June

2011 – March 2012 referral cohorts). In Scotland as a whole, 2.6% of people referred to the Work Programme achieve a job

outcome between 2 years and 2 years 6 months. Using this figure we estimate that on average 78% of people referred to the work programme in Clackmannanshire will not

achieve a job outcome by 2 years 6 months (ie, not achieving a job outcome at all through the Work Programme).

This equates to an average of 60 people each month completing the work programme without ever achieving a job outcome. The practical implications of this is set out in more

detail in Figure D.

Referral cohort

Referrals

Number

achieving a JO

within 2 years

Number

not achieving

JO within 2 years

Estimated number

not achieving JO within

2.5 years

total to March 2012

940 180 760 736

Jun-11 220 40 180 174

Jul-11 110 20 90 87

Aug-11 90 20 70 68

Sep-11 80 10 70 68

Oct-11 70 10 60 58

Nov-11 90 20 70 68

Dec-11 60 10 50 48

Jan-12 60 10 50 48

Feb-12 80 20 60 58

Mar-12 80 20 60 58

Figure D: Performance of Work Programme in Clackmannanshire in terms of client numbers

[Source: Analysis of DWP data]

Profile of Work Programme clients

The profile of Work Programme clients in Clackmannanshire, in terms of benefits, shows a

typical profile for Scotland, with JSA claimants aged 25 and over comprising just under half of all referrals (as shown in Figure E overleaf).

Outcomes are recorded for Clackmannanshire under New ESA Claimants, JSA 18 to 24 and JSA 25 and over payment groups. There may be small numbers of individuals in

other payment groups achieving outcomes which have been suppressed by DWP for confidentiality purposes.

115


Figure E: Cumulative referrals, Attachments and Job Outcomes in the Work Programme up to

March 2014 in Clackmannanshire (above) and Scotland (below) [Source: Analysis of DWP data]

0

0.2

0.4

0.6

0.8

1

1.2

1.4

1.6

1.8

2


Nu

mb

er

of

refe

rral

s (0

00

's)

Clackmannanshire JSA Prison Leavers

IB/IS Volunteers


New ESA claimants

ESA Volunteers


JSA Early Entrants

JSA 25 and over

JSA 18 to 24

0

20

40

60

80

100

120

140

160


Nu

mb

ers

of

refe

rral

s (0

00

's)

Scotland

JSA Prison Leavers

IB/IS Volunteers


New ESA claimants

ESA Volunteers


JSA Early Entrants

JSA 25 and over

JSA 18 to 24

116


Clients’ destinations

The destination profile of those completing the Work Programme in Clackmannanshire is

broadly similar to that of Work Programme completers nationally, as shown in Figure F

below. This is an alternative assessment of Work Programme performance provided by

DWP which considers sustainment and job entry status on leaving the Work Programme,

rather than attainment of job outcome during their time on the Work Programme.

Figure F: Destination of Work Programme completers (for cohorts entering up to March 2012)

[Source: Analysis of DWP data]

For Clackmannanshire, the 81% who have been returned to Jobcentre Plus at or post 104 weeks includes both those who never achieved job entry and those who have had a job at some point during their time on the Work Programme. The Clackmannanshire profile of

Work Programme completers is very similar to the Scottish profile.

Other employability support in Clackmannanshire

There have been a number of funded employability and employment projects running in Clackmannanshire over the past few years, with a significant proportion of this activity through “Clackmannanshire Works”, the Council’s employability team. There are four

main programmes:

o Clackmannanshire Works European Structural Funds programme (ESF Priority 5 and ERDF Priority 3)

o Details of projects and their positioning on the Strategic Skills Pipeline is

shown in Figure B overleaf. o Clackmannanshire Apprenticeship Initiative

o Youth Employment Scotland o SDS Programmes

o Modern Apprenticeships

Employability Fund (which replaced Lifeskills and Get Ready for Work)

73%

8%

10%

9%

Clackmannanshire

Completed early: priorto 104 weeksReturned to JCP at 104weeksReturned to JCP post104 weeksProvider still receivingoutcome paymentsMaximum outcomepayments attainedNot yet completed

Never attached

0%

71%

7%

11%

9%

2%

Scotland

117


Additional to the Clackmannanshire Works programmes are the SDS Programmes operated by other providers.

One of the features of the programmes is that there is possibly some overlap between the clients and their outcomes (including positive progressions from one programme to

another) but the performance monitoring frameworks are not unified. This makes the overall analysis of the success of the whole suite of projects difficult. Within the ESF/ERDF

funded projects (table below) the data recorded on Hanlon ensure that there is no double counting of clients or outcomes.

Figure G: Projects within the ESF or ERDF Clackmannanshire Works Programme.

*Note that data from these projects (Clackmannanshire Third Sector Interface) are not included in

the analysis below. The Social Enterprise project and two of the three strands of the Volunteer

Development project (School Outreach and Student Connections) are no longer to be included as


Activity AgreementsYoung people (16/17 ) requiring additional

support to progress into mainstream provision.

Key Workers

Clients furthest from the labour market requiring

intensive support, including those with multiple

barriers; 16-19 year olds in MCMC group; looked

after and accommodated young people.

Money AdviceRegistered clients of Clackmannanshire Works.

(Service discontinued at end of March 2013).

Young Parents ProjectYoung parents (16-24) who require support to

stay engaged with the employability process.

Additional Placements

Young people (16-19) who are NEET and not

eligible for Get Ready for Work (GRfW) or who

have already used GRfW entitlement.

Discontinued at the end of March 2013.

Job Brokerage

Unemployed pre and post-Work Programme, job

ready clients; also individuals in work who require

up-skilling.


Young people 16-19 who are NEET and who are

capable of undertaking an apprenticeship.

Discontinued June 2013.


Interface - Social Enterprise*

Social enterprises and voluntary organisations

"that exhibit enterprising characteristics".


Interface - Volunteer

Development*

Entrants from all stages of the pipeline

RUTSYoung people in school (3rd/4th year) at risk of

becoming part of MCMC group.

Business DevelopmentIndividuals interested in setting up their own

business; existing SMEs or social enterprises

Main stage(s) of Strategic Skills PipelineProject Title Client Group

118


part of the ESF programme due to issues with the client groups and delivery against compliance

requirements. The third strand of Volunteer Development project - Jobseekers Volunteer

Development – is still considered part of the ESF programme. Data are currently being collated for

this project but are not reported here. [Source: Clackmannanshire Council]

European Structural Fund Programmes (CW)

SDS Programmes (non-CW)

SDS Programmes

(CW)

CAI (CW)

YES (CW)

Figure H: Clackmannanshire Works and additional SDS employability programmes in

Clackmannanshire. Possible areas of overlapping clients and data between different programmes

are shown (including positive progressions between programmes), with a rough indication of scale

of the programmes by number of clients engaged. Note that there is no overlap between YES and

the CAI recruitment incentive schemes. YES = Youth Employment Scotland; CAI =

Clackmannanshire Apprenticeship Initiative; CW = Clackmannanshire Works. [Source: Pers.

comm. Clackmannanshire Works]

119


European Funded “Clackmannanshire Works” Programmes

The majority of clients have taken part in one of the projects within the Clackmannanshire Works programme, funded through ESF and/or ERDF. These programmes, which help people progress towards or into work through advice, referrals,

training, job brokerage, business start-up and other activities have been running since July 2011 and will run to December 2014 (following an extension from the original end

date of 31st March 2014). Here, we report on clients registered and their outcomes for the financial years 2011/12, 2012/13 and 2013/14.

Targets are set for the ESF and ERDF programmes individually, yet many of the Clackmannanshire Works projects receive funding from both sources. From a client’s

perspective, the project activities within both streams provide a suite of employability and employment initiatives. Reports which Clackmannanshire Works provided separately to

ESF and ERDF include some double counting of clients and their outcomes (approved by Scottish Government15) due to job brokerage staff being funded through ERDF but supporting clients in ESF funding activities16.

Below, we provide an overall analysis of clients and their outcomes (ie, considering both

ESF and ERDF funding). To assess performance against targets, our data analysis supplements this with a short section focused on each funded programme separately.

Data are recorded on the Hanlon database – a system also used by some other Local Authorities. The Clackmannanshire Works team can run reports to extract data on client

profile and outcomes – some more detailed analyses require assistance from the Hanlon team (external). Reports on client profile and outcomes from Hanlon can be assessed in a number of different ways. For example, outcomes achieved by all clients within a fixed

period might be assessed, or outcomes achieved over all periods by a particular cohort. Our analysis below presents

An overall study of outcomes achieved over April 2011 to March 2014 by all clients

registered in April 2011 to March 2014.

A longitudinal study of outcomes achieved for the 2011/12 cohort at any time up to

31st March 2014, to assess the proportion of clients who achieve a positive destination through Clackmannanshire Works.

Note that two of the projects – the Clackmannanshire Third Sector Interface projects – did not proceed as planned and have been excluded from data reported by

Clackmannanshire Works.

15 Pers. comm. Clackmannanshire Works 16 Pers. comm. Clackmannanshire Works

120


Overall client profile and outcomes over April 2011 to March 2014

Client profile Between April 2011 and March 2014 1,563 clients were registered onto an ESF/ERDF

Clackmannanshire Works Programme. A number of details about clients were recorded, including their employment status (and duration) – clients were asked to record

themselves as: 1. Claiming JSA

2. In employment 3. In education / training

4. Workless 216 (14%) of the 1,563 clients were in education/training and a further 184 (12%) were

in employment at time of registration. For the other 1,163 unemployed or workless clients, the durations of unemployment / worklessness are shown below. Note that a

process of self-assessment for Work Programme eligibility was used, whereby clients were asked at time of registration whether they were registered on, or soon to be registered on, the Work Programme. This was approved by Scottish Government17. (If

self-referred clients who are on Work Programme are being supported it is important that some recompense for positive outcomes is sought from the WP sub-contractor.)

Figure I: Durations of unemployment/worklessness at time of registration – Clackmannanshire

Works projects, all registrants between April 2011 and March 2014 who were not employed or in

education/training at time of registration [Source: Analysis of Clackmannanshire Works data].

The profile of clients’ unemployment / worklessness duration has remained broadly the same from 2011/12 to 2013/14, as shown in Figure J overleaf:

17 Pers. Comm. Clackmannanshire Works.

0 100 200 300 400 500 600 700 800

0 to 6 months

7 to 12 months

13 to 24 months

25 to 36 months

Over 3 years


121


Figure J: Durations of unemployment/worklessness at time of registration – Clackmannanshire

Works projects. (Left) all registrants between April 2011 and March 2012; (Right) all registrants

between April 2013 and March 2014

0 20 40 60 80 100 120 140 160

0 to 6 months

7 to 12 months

13 to 24 months

25 to 36 months

Over 3 years

Unemployment/workless status of registrants in 2011/12


0 50 100 150 200 250 300

0 to 6 months

7 to 12 months

13 to 24 months

25 to 36 months

Over 3 years

Unemployment/workless status of registrants in 2013/14


122


45% of all registrants in 2011/12 to 2013/14 were in the age band of 26-49, with 44% 25 or under and 11% 50 or over.

Figure K: Age profile of those registering with Clackmannanshire Works

The age profile is generally quite well matched against the unemployment profile (as assessed by claimant count in May 2011), with a slightly higher proportion of young people engaged on the programme than might be expected purely from claimant count

data.

Figure L: Age profile of those registering with Clackmannanshire Works compared with the profile

of claimants as a whole

0 100 200 300 400 500 600 700 800

Under 16

16-18

19-25

26-49

50-65

Over 65


550

1,040

260

Claimant count in May 2011

Aged 16-24 Aged 25-49 Aged 50-64

692

701

170


Aged 25 and under Aged 26-49 Aged 50 - 65

123


The gender profile of registrants over the years 2011/12 to 2013/14 is approximately two thirds (65%) male. Again, this is well-aligned with unemployment profile (as assessed by

claimant count in May 2011):

Figure M: Gender profile of Clackmannanshire claimant count (cf 65% Male, 35% Female for

Clackmannanshire Works clients

1,280

570

Claimant count in May 2011

Male Female

124


The referral route for 1,170 (75%) of clients was recorded at point of registration. The most common route of referral was through Jobcentre Plus, although “word of mouth”

also featured highly. Business Gateway was another significant referral route (particularly after 2011/12), as were internal referrals within the Council.

Figure N: Referral sources of those registering with Clackmannanshire Works

0

50

100

150

200

250

300

350

400

450

500

JCP Word of Mouth BusinessGateway

Internal - OtherCouncil

Department

Other recorded Other notrecorded

Referral route of all registrants (2011/12 to 2013/14)

125


As an assessment of whether the programme targeted the areas most in need, Figure O below shows the proportion of JSA claimants against the proportion of working age people

registered on the programme across 2011/12 to 2013/14 for all Intermediate Geographies in Clackmannanshire. There is clearly very strong alignment, suggesting that the programme has engaged with the areas in most need.

Figure O: Geographical alignment between the Clackmannanshire Works registrants and areas

(Intermediate Geographies) of highest unemployment18.

Validating this conclusion that the programme is well targeted geographically, Figure P

below shows the correlation of SIMD rank at datazone level against the proportion of working age population (2012) registered on the programme across 2011/12 to 2013/14. The negative correlation suggests that more deprived areas (lower SIMD rank) had a

greater proportion of working age people registered on the programme.

18 Note that 5 of 1563 clients (0.31%) were omitted in error in the 2013/14 postcode data provided. This does not affect the overall conclusion of good alignment between areas of unemployment and areas of

Clackmannanshire Works activity.

Alloa South

Fishcross, Devon Village and

Coalsnaughton

0.0%

1.0%

2.0%

3.0%

4.0%

5.0%

6.0%

7.0%

8.0%

9.0%

10.0%

0.0% 2.0% 4.0% 6.0% 8.0% 10.0% 12.0% 14.0%

Pro

po

rtio

n o

f w

ork

ing

age

po

pu

lati

on

on

th

e

Cla

ckm

ann

ansh

ire

Wo

rks

pro

gram

me

Proportion of 16-64 population claiming JSA in 2012

126


Figure P: Geographical alignment between the Clackmannanshire Works registrants and areas

(Intermediate Geographies) of highest unemploymentError! Bookmark not defined..

Outcomes

Overall, there were 1,563 registered over April 2011 to March 2014. Of these clients, up

to March 2014,

- 468 (30% of all clients19) have received an employment outcome (part time, full

time or self-employment). - 32 (2%) entered into FE or HE, although 358 people were supported with

vocational training. 259 of these 358 went on to achieve a partial or full qualification.

Of the 468 people who entered into employment, 389 (83%) were unemployed or workless at time of registration, with durations of unemployment/worklessness shown;

most (71%) of clients were under 6 months workless/unemployed.

19 Percentages are provided here as a proportion of all clients, including clients for whom employment is not an expected outcome (e.g., RUTS, Young Parents and Activity Agreements - Pers. comm. Clackmannanshire Works)

0.00%

2.00%

4.00%

6.00%

8.00%

10.00%

12.00%

0 1000 2000 3000 4000 5000 6000 7000

SIMD Overall Rank against proportion of working age population registered on programme

127


Figure Q: Clackmannanshire Works registrants – distribution of those entering work by duration

of unemployment

Comparing the job outcomes to number of registrants below, the job outcome rate, as

expected, falls with duration of unemployment, with 40% of short term unemployed/workless people (0-6 months) finding a job so far but only 16% of long term

unemployed/workless people (over 3 years) finding a job so far. However, we note below that for the 2011-12 cohort (those registered in 2011/12, who have had longer to achieve

a job outcome), the job outcome rates are higher overall.

Figure R: The variation in job outcome success through ESF/ERDF Clackmannanshire Works

programme by duration of unemployment/worklessness at time of registration

0 50 100 150 200 250 300

0-6 months

7-12 months

13-24 months

25-36 months

Over 3 years

Duration of unemployment/worklessness of the clients registered in 2011-2014 (not employed or in education or training at time of registration) that

entered work in the programme


Duration of

Unemployment /

Worklessness at time

of registration

Registered on

Programme

(2011-2014)

Job

Outcome

(2011-2014)

Job Outcome

Rate

0 to 6 months 690 275 40%

7 to 12 months 154 57 37%

13 to 24 months 90 20 22%

25 to 36 months 50 8 16%

Over 3 years 179 29 16%

128


Another 52 of the people with employment outcomes were employed upon registration and 27 were in education or training.

13 of the 52 people who were recorded as employed at registration were part-time workers who moved on to full-time or self-employment; 10 declared themselves self-

employed at point of registration but were not trading and needed support before starting up; 9 were facing redundancy and moved on to a new job following support; 7 were

looking for support to set up their own business and thereafter became self-employed; 5 should have been recorded as unemployed or workless. The details of the remaining 8 are unknown at this time20.

Robust data on the length of sustained employment were not recorded – job outcomes

above reflect initial job entry only. Scottish Government requires sustained employment to be evidenced, and Clackmannanshire Works has not been able to collect robust evidence of this.

Longitudinal Study of the 2011/12 Cohort

As well as analysing the overall client profile from 2011-2014 and their outcomes over 2011-2014, this analysis includes a longitudinal study of the cohort of 334 clients who

were registered in 2011/12 (and who have had at least two years to achieve an outcome). Of these clients:

- 135 (40%) received an employment outcome (part time, full time or self-

employment).

- 15 (4%) entered into FE or HE (ie, received an employment or training outcome), although 92 people started training with an external provider (such as vocational

qualifications, eg forklift license).

Of the 135 people who entered into employment, 105 were workless or unemployed at point of registration (of the others, 17 were employed upon registration and 13 were in education or training). The duration of unemployment/worklessness of the 105

unemployed/workless clients is shown below, showing that most (65%) of clients were under 6 months workless/unemployed.

20 [Pers. comm. Clackmannanshire Works].

129


Figure S: % of all clients finding work falling into each duration group

The job outcome rates for the 2011-12 cohort is higher than for all entrants (as above);

this is expected as this cohort has had a longer period within which to achieve a job outcome.

Comparing the job outcomes to number of registrants below, produces the expected pattern of the proportion of clients finding work in any duration group increases with

duration of unemployment.

Duration of Unemployment /

Worklessness at time of registration

Registered on Programme (2011-

2012)

Job Outcome (2011-2014)

Job Outcome Rate

0 to 6 months 147 68 46%

7 to 12 months 43 20 47%

13 to 24 months 21 7 33%

25 to 36 months 12 2 17%

Over 3 years 36 8 22%

Figure T: Job outcome rate of clients by duration of unemployment

0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80

0 to 6 months

7 to 12 months

13 to 24 months

25 to 36 months

Over 3 years

Duration of unemployment/worklessness of the 2011/12 cohort (not employed or in education or training at time of

registration) that entered work in the programme


130


Overall, 186 individuals in the 2011/12 cohort (56%) did not achieve any positive destination in terms of employment or entry into HE/FE. 29 of these 186 achieved either

a partial or full qualification, indicating that there were 157 clients (47%) of the 2011/12 cohort who, up to the end of March 2014, had not achieved a positive destination or a partial/full qualification.

Our analysis of geographical areas of high / low job outcome rate showed that the Alloa

Intermediate Geographies had the lowest job outcome rates (numbers of people not included to prevent disclosure of sensitive information):

Figure U: Job Outcome rate (number of job outcomes / number of people registered onto the

ESF/ERDF Clackmannanshire Works programme) for the 2011/12 cohort.

Job Outcome

Rate (2011/12

Cohort)

Tillicoultry 53%

Clackmannan, Kennet and Forestmill 50%

Alva 46%

Dollar and Muckhart 44%

Sauchie 44%

Menstrie 43%

Tullibody South 41%

Fishcross, Devon Village and Coalsnaughton 40%

Tullibody North and Glenochil 39%

Alloa West 36%

Alloa South and East 35%

Alloa North 29%

131


Assessment of Performance of ESF and ERDF funded Projects

As highlighted above, an assessment of performance against targets requires analysing ESF and ERDF funded projects separately.

ERDF

A brief summary of performance to the end of September 2013 shows that numbers gaining employment through job brokerage schemes and number of enterprises

supported have either exceeded, or are close to, the target required for ERDF funding:

Target Total to September

2013 %

Completed

Increase in the number of individuals gaining employment through supported job brokerage schemes

240 269 112%

Number of enterprises supported 185 150 81%

Figure V: Performance against targets under the ERDF Priority 3 programme (targets and actuals

taken from ERDF PRC10 Signed Claim form)

ESF

Regarding the profile of registrants, an interesting difference between target and actual clients is in their qualifications profile. The qualifications profile of those engaged under ESF projects was rather different than projected in the application targets, with a greater

proportion having Level 2 or 3 qualifications and a smaller proportion having no qualifications: in other words, because of the close correlation between employability and

qualifications, the registrants were on the whole more employable than the target profile.

132


Figure W: Qualifications of registrants against targets under the ESF Priority 5 programme

[Source: Targets taken from ESF PRC10 Signed Claim form, actuals from programme data

2011/12 to 2013/14]

Selected other measures of performance against targets are shown in the table below.

Some outcomes are still expected over the coming months. Target numbers of participants include CTSI projects, but no data have been recorded for these projects (as

explained in the legend of Figure B). Against a revised target of ~1200 (which is felt to be more appropriate by Clackmannanshire Works) the programme appears to have engaged

with a number close to the target. Some of the individuals in the NEET group would also be expected to fall within the CTSI projects.

Performance in terms of employment entry is good, having exceeded the target. Performance in terms of sustained employment cannot be assessed as robust data to

evidence this could not be collected by Clackmannanshire Works. The numbers entering education or training are extremely low against the targets – as explained above. Over all three years (2011-2014), only 28 people entered into an education or training destination

under ESF projects.

52%

18%

10%

8%

7%

4% 1%

Target Qualifications Profile





32%

7%

25%

20%

12%

3% 1%

Actual Qualifications Profile (registrants in 2011/12 to 2013/14





133


Our understanding is that this has been driven by the understanding of Clackmannanshire Works that clients receiving training (such as vocational training, eg forklift license) would

be counted amongst those entering education or training21 - as this is not the case, positive destinations of education or training are very low. For the next programme, the target number for the indicator of entering education or employment will be greatly

reduced to reflect the new understanding. Qualifications are generally good, with 487 clients gaining a partial or full qualification.

Selected performance measure Target Total from April

2011 to March 2014 %

Completed

Number of participants receiving support 1600* 1101 69%*

Number of participants in the NEET group 336 210 63%

Number of participants entering employment 325 330 102%

Number of (previously non-employed) participants in employment six-months after leaving

130 ? ?

Number of participants entering education or training 675 28 4%

Number of participants gaining a full qualification 399 487

Number of participants gaining a partial qualification 66

Figure X: Performance against targets under the ESF Priority 5 programme (targets taken from

ESF PRC10 Signed Claim form, actuals from programme data 2011/12 to 2013/14). *Note that

this target includes CTSI projects but performance data does not include these projects (as

explained in the legend of Figure B). Excluding these projects, a target of 1200 is deemed

more appropriate by Clackmannanshire Works (pers. comm.)

Youth Employment Scotland Fund (ESF/SG funded)

The Youth Employment Scotland (YES) fund provides employers with an Employer Recruitment Incentive (ERI) to create additional employment opportunities for young

people who are job ready. Originally intended for young people aged 16-24 and unemployed for less than six months, the Scottish Government extended the eligible age

range to 29 years and the length of unemployment beyond six months. The ERI provides 50% of the cost of employing a person at Minimum Wage for six months, but the aim is that employment for the young person is sustained at the end of the six month period.

In Clackmannanshire, YES is managed and delivered by Clackmannanshire Works. 54

young people have been registered onto the YES Programme. 24 were aged 16-18 upon registration, with 30 aged 19-25. There were slightly more male (31) than female (23) registrants. The qualifications of this group at time of registration are shown in Figure Y

overleaf, with most having Level 2 qualifications but 14 having Level 3 or higher. Most clients (81%) had been workless or unemployed (claiming JSA) at time of registration.

21 Pers. Comm. Clackmannanshire Works

134


Figure Y: The qualifications of the YES group at time of registration

This programme began in summer 2013, and most (43 of 54) of the clients are still undertaking their employment contract with YES. Of the 11 leavers, 8 (73%) were

employed at the end of their 6 month contract, either by the host company or another employer, with just 3 being unemployed.

Performance: From the summary data provided, the YES programme appears to have been quite successful so far for the small number of individuals who have

already left/completed, with 73% gaining employment either with the host company or another employer.

Clackmannanshire Apprenticeship Initiative

Over 2012/13 and 2013/14, 35 young people (all aged 16-24) were supported through the Clackmannanshire Apprenticeship Initiative. This was an incentive to local employers

to create additional Modern Apprenticeship places by providing £50 per week per Modern Apprentice towards wage costs for up to two years, with a view to tackling high youth

unemployment. The CAI is additional to SDS payments for vocational training for Modern Apprentices.

10 of the 35 supported by the Clackmannanshire Apprenticeship Initiative were on the Clackmannanshire Works Modern Apprenticeship programme, with the other 25 being

supported by other MA providers. Approximately half of the apprentices supported by the CAI have been employed by companies who have never taken on an apprentice before22.

22 Pers. comm. Clackmannanshire Works

0

5

10

15

20

25

30

35

NoQualifications

Level 1Qualifications





Qualifications of YES registrants at time of registration

135


Until 31st March 2014, there had been only nine leavers/completers – this is a long term initiative for many of the clients. Their positive destinations and qualifications are shown

below.

Performance: From summary data, only a small number of the starters of Clackmannanshire Apprenticeship Initiative have left/completed so far. The

employment destination rate for these clients is moderate to good, at around 50%, as is the rate of success in achieving a vocational qualification.

SDS Programmes

Over 2011/12 to 2013/14 there have been a number of SDS programmes for young

people have been running in Clackmannanshire:

Modern Apprenticeships (2011/12-2013/14)

Employability Fund (2013/14) o Employability Fund predecessor programmes:

o Training for Work (2011/12 – 2012/13) o Get Ready for Work (2011/12 – 2012-13) o Lifeskills (2011/12 – 2012/13)

A number of providers have operated these programmes in Clackmannanshire, one of

which being Clackmannanshire Works. Summary performance data on these programmes are reported below, both from nationally collected SDS data and local Clackmannanshire

0 2 4 6 8 10

All leavers over 2012/13 and2013/14

Destinations of the nine leavers/completers of Clackmannanshire

Apprenticeship Initiative

Employment Not in Employment on Leaving / Completing

0 2 4 6 8 10

All leavers over 2012/13 and2013/14

Qualifications achieved by the nine leavers/completers of Clackmannanshire

Apprenticeship Initiative

VQ Did not Achieve VQ

136


Works data. We note that some of the clients and their outcomes will also be represented in the analysis above, due to overlap between clients funded by ESF/ERDF and SDS

funding.



Modern Apprenticeships provide young people with the opportunity to earn a wage and gain a vocational qualification at the same time. SDS provide the costs for vocational

training, while employers provide wage costs (supplemented in some cases with financial assistance from schemes such as the Youth Employment Scotland Employer Recruitment

Incentive and, in Clackmannanshire, the Clackmannanshire Apprenticeship Initiative). Data on the number of Modern Apprentices and their training outcomes (i.e., whether

they completed their Modern Apprenticeship) are reported by SDS at Local Authority level. In Clackmannanshire, the number of “Starters” and “Leavers” over the last three

years is around 300, with around 400 in training at any point in time. It is interesting to reflect on the scale of this nationally.

Figure Z: Profile of MAs 2011/12 – 2013/14

The numbers in training in Modern Apprenticeships aged 16-24 in Clackmannanshire over the last two years comprised around 1.2% of the national total. In the same period,

Clackmannanshire 16-24 JSA claimants comprised around 1.5% of the national total, so by this measure the numbers in Modern Apprenticeships in Clackmannanshire are slightly below what might be expected. By this measure, in each of the last two years around an

additional 100 Modern Apprenticeships would be needed in Clackmannanshire to ensure

0

50

100

150

200

250

300

350

400

450

500

2011/12 2012/13 2013/14

Modern Apprentices - Yearly Starters and Leavers/Completers

Starts Leavers In Training at Year End

137


that Clackmannanshire’s complement of Scotland’s young unemployed people is reflected in its national complement of Modern Apprenticeships (see table below).

2012/13 2013/14

Proportion of Scotland's MAs in training in


Proportion of Scotland's 16-24 JSA claimants in


Additional MAs required in Clackmannanshire for youth unemployment correction

+84 (25% increase)

+127 (34% increase)

Figure AA: Clackmannanshire share of MAs compared with share of 16-24 claimants [Source:

Analysis of SDS and ONS data]

Performance of Modern Apprenticeships is reported by SDS as the proportion of Leavers (which includes who achieved their Modern Apprenticeship. In each of the last three years, performance in Clackmannanshire has been slightly above the national average.

Figure BB: MA achievements as % of all leavers [Source: SDS]


Additional data on the Modern Apprentices who were supported through Clackmannanshire Works (less than 10% of the total MAs in Clackmannanshire) was collected by Clackmannanshire Works.

In each of the last three years, around 15-25 young people (all aged 16-24) started a

Modern Apprenticeship in Clackmannanshire through Clackmannanshire Works. These involved three “frameworks”; Business and Administration, Childcare and Construction

Crafts, each with a distinctly different timescale (ranging from 9 months to 3-4 years).

72%

73%

74%

75%

76%

77%

78%

79%

80%

2011/12 2012/13 2013/14

Achievements as a % of all Leavers


138


The MAs were mostly in the Council, but some were employed in the private sector locally. Overall, in each of the last few years around 15-20 young people have

left/completed their Modern Apprenticeship. As this programme has carried on from previous years, this has meant that over the last three financial years there have been approximately 20-30 Modern Apprentices in training at any time, with a gradual increase

in numbers year on year.

The profile of starters each year is that 60-70% of clients are female, and more than 85% of clients each year had been unemployed for less than six months (as might be expected of this client group).

Figure CC: Profile of MA starters [Source: SDS]

In terms of outcomes from the Modern Apprenticeships, the proportion of

leavers/completers achieving a vocational qualification was consistently high, with no more than three leavers/completers failing to achieve a vocational qualification each year.

This performance is higher than the Clackmannanshire average.

Figure DD: Vocational qualifications of leavers/completers [Source: SDS]

0 10 20 30

2011/12

2012/13

2013/14

Gender of individuals who started the MA programme

M F

0 10 20 30

2011/12

2012/13

2013/14

Duration of unemployment of individuals who started the

MA programme

<6 months >6 mths<12 mths >12 months

92%

8%

Vocational Qualifications of Leavers/Completers

Achieved VQ Did not Achieve VQ

139


Although reporting on positive destinations beyond the Modern Apprenticeship is not a requirement for SDS (and data on positive destinations are not published by SDS),

Clackmannanshire Works did record this information for their Modern Apprentices. Each year, more than two thirds of leavers remained in employment on leaving/completing the Modern Apprenticeship programme. In total, over the last three years 6 of the 52

leavers/completers were not in employment upon leaving the Modern Apprenticeship programme or had not progressed from Level 2 to Level 3.

Performance: Overall in Clackmannanshire, the numbers in training in a Modern Apprenticeship have been lower than might be expected from an analysis of the

scale of youth unemployment. Performance in terms of apprentices gaining their Modern Apprenticeship has been higher than the national level for the last three

years.

Employability Fund

Overall (all SDS providers) The Employability Fund began in 2013/14 as a replacement to previous SDS programmes

such as Lifeskills, Get Ready for Work and Training for Work. There are three Employability Fund stages, with these stages aligned with the Strategic Skills Pipeline;

Stage 2, Stage 3 and Stage 4. SDS has so far only reported data on the number of people starting on each of these programmes and not their outcomes or progressions.

15%

73%

12%

Destination of leavers/completers

Progression Level 2 to Level 3

Employment

Not in Employment on Leaving/Completing

140


Figure EE: EF starts by Stage [Source: SDS]

Similar to the finding from the Modern Apprenticeship analysis, the numbers starting an Employability Fund placement are slightly below what would be expected from the level of

youth unemployment in Clackmannanshire. As for the Modern Apprenticeship programme, a small but significant proportion of the

Employability Fund places were managed by Clackmannanshire Works, who collected additional data on performance. This information is presented below.



In 2013/14, 30 young people (aged 16-24, 15 males and 15 females) started on the Employability Fund Stage 3 programme. Most (70%) of these had been unemployed for

under six months.

Figure FF: Profile of clients starting EF Stage 3 programme by duration of unemployment

[Source: SDS]

In the same period, there were 22 leavers/completers. 16 of 22 (73%) achieved a

qualification, but positive destination rates were low (and shown below). Note that Employability Fund progressions must be sustained for at least 4 weeks.

EF Stage 2 Starts EF Stage 3 Starts EF Stage 4 Starts EF Total Starts

Clackmannanshire 36 130 38 204

Scotland 3394 8980 4997 17370

Proportion of national total in

Clackmannanshire1.1% 1.4% 0.8% 1.2%

0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35

2013/14

Unemployment duration of indivudals who started on the EF Stage 3 programme in 2013/14

<6 months

>6 mths<12 mths

>12 months

141


Figure GG: EF outcomes for Stage 3 participants [Source: SDS]

Performance: From the summary data, the Employability Fund Stage 3 programme achieved a high success rate in terms of qualifications of leavers in

2013/14 (73%) but low success in terms of the number of individuals going into employment (14%) or another positive destination.


In 2013/14, five people (aged 25 or over, all males) started on the Employability Fund Stage 4 programme. There was a mix of unemployment duration, with three having been unemployed for fewer than six months, but two unemployed for more than 12 months. In

the same period, there were five leavers of the programme - four of five of these achieved a qualification, and two went into employment. Note that Employability Fund

progressions must be sustained for at least 4 weeks.

Performance: From summary data, the Stage 4 programme also showed success in terms of the numbers achieving a qualification, and moderate success in terms of positive employment destinations (two of five).

Predecessors of the Employability Fund


14%

4%

5%

77%

Outcomes for the 22 leavers/completers of EF Stage 3 in 2013/14

Employment

Progression to MA

College

Did Not Achieve Outcome

142


As well as considering the Employability Fund, it is useful to place it in context in terms of the previous programmes which it replaced. Published SDS data on these programmes

show that in terms of achievement rates performance in Clackmannanshire was generally not as high as other areas in Scotland. This is unlike the Modern Apprenticeship programme, where performance in Clackmannanshire has been higher. It will be

interesting to note how performance in the newer Employability Fund in Clackmannanshire compares to other areas in Scotland.

Figure HH: Pre-EF programme starts and achievements [Source: SDS]

As for the Modern Apprenticeship and Employability Fund, a proportion of the Lifeskills and Get Ready for Work programmes were managed by Clackmannanshire Works, who

collected additional data. These are reported below.


Lifeskills In 2011/12, 23 particularly challenged young people (aged 16-24) started the Lifeskills

programme through Clackmannanshire Works, with an even gender split (12 male, 11 female). Although unemployment duration upon starting the programme was not

recorded (as it was not a requirement of SDS), it is deemed “likely” that most starts were less than six months unemployed (as per the Modern Apprenticeship programme)23.

In the same period of 2011/12, there were 30 leavers/completers. Their destinations are shown below; with only two of the 30 having a positive destination. Although the positive

destination rate is very low, it can only be assessed by comparing it with a comparable group who did not receive similar support.

Performance: From the summary data provided, the Lifeskills programme outcomes look disappointing, based on the very low positive destination rate

(7%). However, we have not been able to compare this performance with that of a comparable non-programme group. Note again that the Lifeskills programme is no longer running and has been replaced by the Employability

Fund.

23 Pers. Comm. Clackmannanshire Council Economic Development

SDS Programme Year Location Starts Achievement Rate

Clackmannanshire 32 28%

Scotland 5522 56%


Scotland 5276 56%


Scotland 10315 43%


Scotland 9583 46%

Training for Work

2011/12

2012/13

Get Ready for Work / Lifeskills

2011/12

2012/13

143


Figure II: Pre-EF programme starts and achievements – Lifeskills [Source: SDS]

Get Ready for Work

Over 2011/12 and 2012/13, a total of 50 young people (aged 16-24) started the Get

Ready for Work programme through Clackmannanshire Works. Around two thirds (64%) of these clients are female.

Figure JJ: Profile of Get Ready for Work programme clients by gender [Source: SDS]

0

5

10

15

20

Progression fromLifeskills to GRfW

Transferred toanother Provider

CompletedProgramme but

no PositiveDestination

Dismissed or LeftVoluntarily

Destinations of leavers/completers of LifeSkills in 2011/12

0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35

2011/12

2012/13

Gender of individuals who started the Get Ready for Work programme

M F

144


Over the same period, 46 young people left or completed the programme, with a positive destination rate of one third overall (15 entered into employment, went on to college or

progressed onto a Modern Apprenticeship):

Figure KK: Get Ready for Work – positive destinations [Source: SDS]

Performance: From the summary data provided, Get Ready for Work had

moderate success. This conclusion is based on the low positive destination rate (35% of leavers in 2011/12 and 2012/13). Note again that the Get Ready for

Work programme is no longer running and has been replaced by the Employability Fund.

15%

9%

9%

41%

26%

Positive Destimations of the 46 leavers/completers from the Get

Ready for Work programme

In Employment onLeaving / Completing

Progression to MA

College

Completed but noPositive Destination

Dismissed or LeftVoluntarily

145


Appendix 5: Wood Commission Recommendations: LEP leadership

It would be appropriate for the LEP to lead on implementing the following

recommendations of the Wood Commission.

Recommendation 2: A focus on preparing all young people for employment should form a core element of the implementation of Curriculum for Excellence with appropriate resource dedicated to achieve this. In particular local authorities, Skills Development

Scotland and employer representative organisations should work together to develop a more comprehensive standard for careers guidance which would reflect the involvement

of employers and their role and input. Role: LEP to ensure an accurate, up to date and highly accessible and appealing source

of intelligence and insight about labour market opportunities.

Lead: LEP Recommendation 8: Development of Modern Apprenticeship access processes and

progression pathways should be prioritised.

Role: Ensuring that there are clear pathways from school to MAs and a high awareness among pupils and parents of the MA option.

Lead: LEP through Employer Engagement Sub-group

Recommendation 10: If employers can be encouraged to offer significantly more good quality apprenticeships, the Scottish Government should consider a carefully managed expansion of the annual number of Modern Apprenticeship starts.

Role: Promoting the value of offering good quality apprenticeships and attracting

additional MA funding.

Lead: LEP through Employer Engagement Sub-group Recommendation 11: Employability must be a key focus within Education Scotland's

work to support and quality assure the delivery of education. To support this, Education Scotland must work more closely with business organisations and their members to

ensure that their work is underpinned by an understanding of industry's needs and expectations.

Role: Supporting the work of Education Scotland locally in terms of engaging with the local business community and understanding their needs. The recommended work on

creating accurate and up to date insights into employer requirements and recruitment processes will feed into this.


146


Recommendation 13: Support for young people at risk of disengaging from education and for those who have already done so should focus on early intervention and wide

ranging, sustained support. This should relate to labour market demand and should be focused on helping young people engage on the labour market relevant pathways that we have highlighted.

Role: Ensuring that there are progressive and supported school-work transitions in place

that start at an appropriate age and involve training and experiences related to available labour market opportunities. The recommended work on creating accurate and up to date insights into employer requirements and recruitment processes will feed into this.


Recommendation 14: The Scottish Government should support the creation of regional industry-led Invest in Youth groups across Scotland to provide leadership and a single

point of contact and support to facilitate engagement between employers and education.

Role: Contributing to the creation of appropriate regional and sub-regional (Clackmannanshire) employer groupings.


Recommendation 15: Businesses across Scotland should be encouraged and supported to enter into 3-5 year partnerships with secondary schools. Every secondary school in Scotland and its feeder primaries should be supported by at least one business in a long-

term partnership.

Role: Contributing to the creation of appropriate employer-school relationships in Clackmannanshire.


Recommendation 17: Employers and national industry sector groups should form partnerships with regional colleges to ensure course content is industry relevant and full

advantage is taken of work based learning and employment opportunities. Role: Contributing to the creation of strong working relationships between local

employers and Forth Valley College.

Lead: LEP through Employer Engagement Sub-group. Recommendation 18: In the development of future industry Skills Investment Plans and

Regional Skills Assessments, and in the updating of existing plans, there should be a specific focus on youth employment and the development of vocational pathways starting

in the senior phase. Role: The recommended work on creating accurate and up to date insights into employer

requirements and recruitment processes will be an important contribution to this.

Lead: LEP

147


Recommendation 20: A small business Modern Apprenticeship recruitment incentive package should be developed to equip and support smaller and micro businesses to

recruit and train more young people. Role: Further enhancing the current HR support for micro-businesses and promote

quality MAs as part of this

Lead: LEP Recommendation 22: Procurement and supply chain policies in both the public and

private sectors should be applied to encourage more employers to support the development of Scotland's young workforce.

Role: Review current procurement and supply chains to identify opportunities to enhance opportunities and training for young people

Lead: LEP

Recommendation 23: Public sector employers should be encouraged by the Scottish Government and local authorities to be exemplars in a national Invest In Youth Policy and

this should be explicitly reflected in their published corporate plans.

Role: Reviewing current corporate plans to identify further opportunities to provide jobs, work experience and training to help young people gain sustainable work.

Lead: LEP

Recommendation 24: Growth businesses and Inward Investment companies in receipt of public funding should be encouraged and supported to employ young people.

Role: Ensuring that the opportunities for young people created by growth businesses and inward investment are fully realised.

Lead: LEP

Recommendation 25: Financial recruitment incentives should be re-examined and carefully targeted to achieve the most benefit in providing sustainable employment for

young people.

Role: The strategy has identified a broader range of priority groups. The LEP’s focus will be on ensuring that local employers are able to gain recruits with the skills they need (eg through co-designed training prior to recruitment) with recruitment incentives a

discretionary part of a wider package of support to help micro-businesses recruit.

Lead: LEP

Documents

Final Report - Employability in · PDF fileFinal Report . Clackmannanshire LEP ... strategy for Clackmannanshire, ... development and business growth and the recent achievements need