Recruitment specialist to star in TV documentary
A SHEFFIELD company, with a track record of success in supporting unemployed people into jobs in the UK, is about to star in a new Channel 4 series on the welfare state.
A4e, which supplies welfare support and reform services, features in ‘Benefit Busters’ – a series underlining its methods of tailoring welfare services to the individual needs.
Two of the programmes show A4e services helping single mothers in Doncaster and long-term unemployed people in Hull.
A4e recently won a government contract to deliver Flexible New Deal starting in October this year and has invested £8m on research, development and refurbishment in readiness to roll out the new programme at 40 locations across the country.
Emma Harrison, chairman of A4e, said the Flexible New Deal will be one of the most significant changes to the UK’s welfare system in the last century and one with the potential to unlock the barriers to work, established through a ‘one size fits all’ benefits system.
“At the moment anyone unemployed for more than six months is mandated to attend 30 hour programmes for 13 weeks to update their job skills.
“For some this is not nearly enough – they need help with literacy, improving their confidence and often tackling serious problems such as alcohol abuse. For others, they have hit a patch of bad luck and may only need a few hours of direction and encouragement to find a good job.”
A4e currently operates from more than 200 locations internationally employing some 3,100 frontline staff.
