£10m to help jobless get back to work

WORKERS in Merseyside who have been made redundant will be able to tap into a multi-million pound funding package to help them get back to work.

The Learning and Skills Council and the European Social Fund is investing £9.8m, as part of a £100m national investment, to support training and education for those facing redundancy or are currently out of work.

1,365 people joined the jobless register in Merseyside in March as unemployment continued to rise. The figures released by Job Centre Plus showed that there was a 2.8% increase in the number of people claiming jobseeker’s allowance.

Helen France, director of area at the Learning and Skills Council Greater Merseyside, said: “This funding represents real help to individuals in the most testing times. Our aim is to ensure that people on Merseyside have the necessary skills to re-enter the labour market when faced with redundancy.

“However, it’s equally important that we prepare for the future to ensure that Merseyside has the skills base to take advantage of the upturn when it comes.”

Meanwhile, the skills secretary John Denham has announced that 37 colleges in the North West are to get extra government funding to train people unemployed for more than six months.

The colleges have been given a share of £83m to offer high-quality training places to the long-term unemployed. Courses will be matched to the local job market, from retail to hospitality, right up to vocational training at the equivalent of A-level standard.

Beverley Hughes, regional minister for the North West, said: “I’m pleased that 37 of our colleges will benefit from the investment – more than any other region. This money will help thousands of people across the North West beat the recession and get back into work by learning new skills.

“We want to make sure that people who have been out of work for a long period of time are given new opportunities for training. We need to make it as easy as possible for them to find new jobs.”