Working Neighbourhood Teams
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Working Neighbourhood Teams are critical to the work of all public services in Salford. We want to ensure that the economic renaissance of the city benefits all of its residents, and, critically, avoids the further polarisation of marginalised groups and between the city’s neighbourhoods. It is also important because the areas where concentrations of worklessness occur also present all public services with their greatest challenges, with attendant costs to the public purse. The current economic downturn presents further challenges to tackling the worklessness agenda. If we do nothing there will be further polarisation between areas and people within Salford who do not benefit from (or contribute to) the economic renaissance of the city. Already some areas have nearly half of their working age population are out of work, the downturn might prompt a situation where almost no one works in some the city’s most deprived localities.
The map below shows the neighbourhoods in Salford which have more than 25% of their working-age population on out of work benefits - the areas in the darkest red reach nearly 50%.
Salford’s Local Strategic Partnership has firmly endorsed Greater Manchester’s Multi Area Agreement commitment to develop Working Neighbourhood Teams and there is strong agreement that this is the right approach to tackling deep-seated worklessness in the city’s most deprived neighbourhoods.
To understand the way in which working neighbourhood teams will work together we have developed the idea of a virtual department store of join-up support which will help people towards finding a job (to look at the detail of this diagram have a look at the stakeholder briefing slide pack). We know that people who are not in work are most effectively supported if the services they need are offered as an integrated package in a way that makes sense to the user – rather than the organisations that provide them. Additionally, for people who are some way off being ready to go back to work, it is important that the support they receive is tailored to their particular circumstances. Working Neighbourhood Teams (WNTs) are Salford’s ‘whole system’ response to this challenge.
People who don’t work (and their families) often face complex interlinked issues (sometimes rooted in deprivation) which impact on their ability to find jobs. Many different agencies offer services and support to people who are out of work and their families. Some, like Job Centre Plus and Salford’s Skills and Work service, are primarily focused on helping people find work. There are a wide range of others that offer key areas of support that unemployed individuals and their families might need. These potentially include health professionals, community and youth workers, community sector organisations, housing providers, and children’s centres to name a few. Working Neighbourhood Teams will work with the core skills and work services alongside other agencies to improve people’s chances of finding work and staying in a job. This will facilitate more effective outreach and engagement with workless people. Barriers they face will be dealt with in an integrated way, with a clear aim of improving employability and supporting people into sustainable employment. Working neighbourhood teams are a whole systems response to tackling the problem.
Further information and background reading can be found on the Working Neighbourhood Teams resources page.
For more information please contact:
Alison Moore, Administrative Assistant
Employability Team
Salford City Council
Tel: 0161 793 2509
Email: amoore@salford.gov.uk
0161 793 3421