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Communitas EU Ltd

'Better West Midlands Project'

The Better West Midlands Project is funded through the Learning and Skills Council and Government Office for The West Midlands; utilising ESF (European Social Fund) funding; via a Co-Financing arrangement.

The project seeks to support 5,000 workers who live or work in the West Midlands and who are affected by redundancy from within the Manufacturing Sectors. The total project funds are £10M over the period September 2006 to 31st July 2008 when the closure report will need to be submitted. For the beneficiary, the delivery of new services will effectively cease at the end of May 2008 (dependant upon course availability and duration) to allow sufficient time for the collection of data, training outcomes etc. and other project closure activity.

The project is run on behalf of a consortium of trade unions that include Unite (combined T&G and Amicus), Community, GMB and Unity who are the lead body. This partnership; working with employers, worker groups and the key agencies is facilitating engagement with those affected at an early stage – often including the project in on site consultations with management and thus promoting the learning agenda.

Project intervention includes:
•    Initial assessment
•    Skills for life screening (including ICT)
•    One to one confidential advice given by qualified Careers Advice and Guidance staff (Matrix Accredited)
•    Training needs analysis
•    The development of a careers action plan before considering how learning can support their individual short and longer term aims.
•    Provision of work ready skills
•    Providing support and the opportunity for individual workers to train and re-skill / up-skill to meet the demands of a changing job market. This can be academic or practical vocational training leading to employment, including unaccredited courses,
accredited short courses, NVQ level 3 (or equivalent) and or NVQ level 4 (or equivalent)
•    Referrals to specialist organisations
E.g. re benefit allowances, debt counselling, Business Link in the case of people wanting to become self employed or start up their own business etc.
•    Ongoing support, mentoring and tracking
•    Training of careers advisors
•    Job search to enable progression into employment
•    Exit interview

The project is subject to the following limitations:

•    All activity shall be completed, evidenced and claimed before the project end date of July 2008 (previously this was set to May 2008).
•    Training will be limited to that recorded on an individual’s action plan(s) before they start their new employment.
•    The project will not support people who were made redundant more than 6 months prior to the initial contact.
•    Training that extends beyond the contract period and for which the outcome cannot be evidenced will be supported but the level of funding offered will be limited by the start allowance that the project can draw upon.

Training and other support services are purchased on behalf of the beneficiary from a wide range of public and private providers that have been assessed in terms of their quality, capability, capacity and value. Beneficiaries are not therefore limited by the courses available from one provider and can access almost any type of training that is vocational and will help them secure new employment. From a project management point of view the approach taken ensures that overheads are kept to a minimum and management itself can efficiently support people from different geographical areas.

At the end of June 2007 the project has engaged with 2,240 workers from 50 companies who want support.