£6m jobs boost for Liverpool

LIVERPOOL City Council has been awarded £5.7m from Europe to tackle unemployment, with a further £300,000 grant for a pilot programme to provide advice for employers.

The European Social Fund grant will be used to target 20,800 city residents and get more than 9,000 into work, with others engaged in searching for jobs or taking part in education courses. It will also fund initiatives to provide advice on managing debt.

Cllr Flo Clucas, executive member for finance and Europe, said that people can be encouraged to seek work and come off benefits, if support and advice is more readily available.

“One of the barriers we have found to people coming off benefits and going into work is about managing money and debts.

“There is a comfort zone with benefits which some people know bills may be paid and there is a fear that by taking a job there will have to take more responsibility for managing their money.

“Nobody is underestimating the difficulties of tackling worklesseness at this time when unemployment is rising all over the country but we will be using this grant -which is given to Merseyside by the European community – to work with Jobcentre Plus and other partners to ensure that as many of our residents are as well equipped as possible to find work.”