A job well done

Worklessness can devastate families, communities and neighbourhoods. We know that there are too many workless households in social housing and that the situation has got worse in the last few decades.

The solution lies in trying to make sure that housing and employment and skills services are interlinked. Many workless people face multiple disadvantages that prevent them gaining and sustaining employment. These might include low basic skills, lack of childcare or the high costs of transport. Now is the time to transform the sector’s response.

Social landlords are diverse and whether you are a small housing association or a large city council, tackling worklessness is more effective when it is integrated into the role of the organisation, rather than being an add-on. This may involve a shift in culture and ways of working so that staff feel confident to tackle this wider agenda.

Start by developing a business case that dovetails with the vision, aims and objectives of your organisation and drive it from the top. It can help to have an internal champion to drive this agenda forward.

As an employer, can you do more to help residents into work within your own organisation? Many landlords now ensure vacancies are advertised on their own websites and that residents have easy access. Others have set up schemes to attract part-time and temporary workers.

Local authorities have a key role in establishing a strategy for their area, especially through local area agreements. They need to recognise the role that social landlords can play and ensure that housing associations and local authority housing departments are involved in delivering against worklessness targets. The most effective approaches involve linking housing to employment and training services wherever possible, particularly through the Jobcentre Plus and the Learning and Skills Council and its successor bodies.

A good place to start is the local or regional Jobcentre Plus, perhaps by offering space for a regular surgery in housing offices that could offer employment-related advice to residents when they attend the housing office. Jobcentre Plus can also direct you to the main providers of statutory programmes such as flexible new deal or pathways to work. Link up with them and other social landlords in your area to develop programmes that build on their expertise.

Social landlords spend billions of pounds every year on contracts for goods, works and services. They can use their organisations’ recruitment and purchasing power to deliver work outcomes.

All procurement can contribute to tackling worklessness, including:

• construction and maintenance contracts;
• procurement of supplies;
• contracts for services such as landscaping, cleaning or professional services; and
• procurement of funding via banks and institutions.

So even if new construction is challenging at present, maintenance contracts will still be let and supplies purchased. Your suppliers can help by offering work placements, or mentoring schemes. Get connected with local business too. Business in the Community is now working closely with social landlords to develop ways in which businesses can link up with residents as part of the recruitment process or to offer training opportunities.

Getting engaged in the worklessness agenda need not mean developing specific initiatives such as skills or enterprise projects. The agenda can be tackled through existing housing services: through lettings and housing options advice, for example. Sharing knowledge of residents and their needs and acting as a trusted intermediary between residents and statutory providers of services that tackle worklessness is one of the most powerful and least complex actions to take. Remember that social landlords have better access to hard-to-reach groups than almost any other agency.

A more ambitious approach involves signposting residents to existing services usually supplied by others; a role that is already familiar to most social landlords and helps to make best use of existing provision.

Some landlords are delivering specific initiatives either directly or in partnership with others. But before you embark on anything new find out what is out there already. Where there are clear gaps in provision, new projects can offer a useful opportunity to address specific barriers to employment.

Above all, don’t reinvent the wheel - collaborate. Replicate the best and harness the power of partnership. Work with others that already operate successful schemes in the locality.

Remember that workless people have diverse needs. Some may only need minimal support to get back into work, perhaps after a redundancy.

Others may be very marginalised, possibly in a household where no one has worked for generations. Here social landlords have found that personalised support is required, often involving outreach work.

Employment and training should be promoted in such a way that residents are confident they are better off working than on benefits. Work with residents to address any barriers they may face and make sure that they are aware of in-work financial support.

Success is also more likely when residents are involved in advising and, importantly, acting as role models for others by publicising their successes in newsletters and at events or on websites.

The housing reform green paper is set to be based on the principles that housing services should:

• help and encourage people towards greater economic independence and social mobility;
• match responsibility with opportunity; and
• help people to realise their potential.

Given the current economic climate there has never been a more important time to act.

Helen Cope is the author of the Chartered Institute of Housing’s new publication, Tackling worklessness: a toolkit, sponsored by the Tenant Services Authority

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