National Overview

The Sector Skills Service has experience of delivering employment related programmes working with people on Incapacity benefits, JSA and income support. The Sector Skills Service has excellent success rates in helping people gain work experience opportunities, new or first qualifications and eventual employment.

In todays stressful, expendable work environment people will be forced to take redundancy, find new employment, retrain for a different work place or deal with health related circumstances that affect their ability to earn.

The Sector Skills Service recognises this fact and is committed to working, regionally, within the Governments guidelines for employment support and future targets for the UK work force.

By April 2008 the existing benefits system in the United Kingdom will be replaced with the new Employment & Support Allowances (ESA).

The Governments 2006 green paper targets a 1 million reduction in the number of people on Incapacity Benefits, to help 300,000 lone parents into work, increase the number of older people moving into work by 1 million and bring down the unemployment figures for disabled.

The aim is to deliver enhanced support for people who have been experiencing health problems or have disabilities. The focus is on improving work entry for this group of people. With 35% of these people having been on Incapacity Benefit for over 8 years there is a clear need to help these people make the transition back into the work place.

With the new people claiming incapacity benefit it can be seen that 80% of these people are still on the benefit after 2 months, clearly again a need exists to help them back into the work place.

People with depression and anxiety due mainly to unemployment actually accounts for over 40% of Incapacity Benefit claimants. 50% of people claiming benefit are under 50 years of age and 40% of claimants are women.

The Sector Skills Service has an understanding of the different circumstances relating to peoples efforts to find suitable employment and can offer FREE professional assistance.

Contact: 0845 644 1312 to arrange an interview.