The Provision of Specialised Employment Support for West Lothian Parents

Description

The Scottish Government provided Local Authorities with funding under the No One Left Behind (NOLB) Child Poverty policy. This policy intends to work towards eradicating child poverty in Scotland through various means including Parental Employment Support. The contract has three lots and providers could bid for single or multiple lots. Providers were required to support eligible West Lothian parents to to gain sectorial training, work experience and specialised employability skills that will enable them to gain employment aligned to their individual skills and work expectations or progress within their current workplace. Lot 1: Lot 1 - Qualifications The provision of training programmes with recognised qualifications in areas that are relevant to the local economy and aligned to the needs and capabilities of the clients. Qualifications were be aligned to employment opportunities within the local labour market and consider the client’s personal circumstances and family commitments. The training provided was to support the clients to progress into employment or move closer to the labour market at the end of the course. Lot 2: Lot 2 - Mentoring An in-work mentor programme designed to create work placements that supported marginalised clients that required additional assistance and support in the work place. This included securing mentoring positions, liaising with the employer and providing 1 to 1 mentoring support to the client whilst undertaking the placement. Where the opportunity to progress results from the placement support were to be provided to secure this progression and for an initial settling in period. Lot 3: Lot 3 - Employability Support Working alongside Access2employment service to compliment the current provision and bridge gaps to targeted niche groups of parents via the provision of a range of employability programmes. Programmes were to be designed to address client’s barriers including confidence and self-worth, lack of work experience, mental health issues etc, and they were to include support to access current income maximisation services, work placements and volunteering opportunities as a recognised means of progression for clients.