The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) has today given a
further boost to jobseekers by increasing the number of
retraining places on the Sector-based Work Academy Programme
(SWAP) to 80,000 for the next financial year – building on the
40,000 already successfully delivered over the last eight months.
SWAPs offer jobseekers across England and Scotland a six-week
training programme, where they learn new skills, gain hands-on
work experience and build their contacts in a new line of work.
Whether it’s from aviation to care, or finance to logistics,
every SWAP participant is guaranteed an interview at the end of
their course for a live job vacancy.
Already, the £30bn Plan for Jobs investment is helping people
across Britain find new employment and upskill in key growth
sectors - with the DWP on track to be able to help over 1.8
million people into work.
Work and Pensions Secretary said:
More people are looking at ways to apply their skills in new
industries and many are interested in retraining in sectors
such as care. That’s why we’re increasing the number of SWAPs
on offer - giving jobseekers a vital chance to get back on
their feet, through our Plan for Jobs.
The Sector-based Work Academy Programme gave Grace Simpson from
the West Midlands the skills and confidence she needed to move
into work in care.
Grace said:
The most valuable thing about SWAPs was giving me the knowledge
and experience that I needed to be able to work in the care
sector.
With the Kickstart Scheme creating hundreds of thousands of new
opportunities for young people, Job Finding Support offering
160,000 newly unemployed jobseekers online help, and the JETS
Programme supporting a quarter of a million people to fire up
their work search – the two million helped will include people of
all ages and abilities.
Deputy CEO of the Recruitment & Employment Confederation,
Kate Shoesmith, said:
The Plan for Jobs should be at the heart of the recovery –
focussing on how to get people into work quickly is
fundamental. REC is proud to be a Kickstart Gateway employer
and why so many of our recruiters are providing places on the
scheme.
Help with practical job finding tools, like CV writing and
interview practice, is a great support to jobseekers.
Recruiters do this every day – last year 1 million people found
a new permanent job with the help of a recruiter. Employment
businesses are ready to work with government and play their
part as job experts in building back the labour market to full
strength.
Other work to level up the country and build back better includes
green jobs, apprenticeships and traineeships, as well as the
bespoke support each and every Universal Credit claimant receives
from Work Coaches located throughout the country.
To help spearhead efforts to get Brits back in work the DWP is
continuing to hire an additional 13,500 new dedicated Work
Coaches with 8,500 already in post, and later this year the new
Restart Scheme will help over a million people out of work for
more than a year.
The announcement comes as the vaccine continues to roll out
across the country with millions already receiving the vital shot
in the arm, and recent employment figures reporting an uptick in
vacancies on the quarter.
For more information on Plan for Jobs, visit: https://www.gov.uk/government/topical-events/plan-for-jobs.
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Scheme
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Estimated number of people supported -
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-
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Work Coaches
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13,500 recruited by March
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