Committee focusses on enhancing employability services and support

The Highland Council plans to step up it’s pro-active role in a multi-agency response to ensure that clients seeking employment secure the opportunities and support they need. The Council has also committed to create work placement and job opportunities to enabling more young people to stay and make a life for themselves in Highland.

The long-standing and emerging labour market challenges facing the Highland economy and especially the impact this will have on young people were the focus of today’s meeting of the Highland Council’s Economy and Infrastructure Committee.

To help address these challenges Members have agreed to adopt a pro-active and leadership role with partners through the Highland Employability Partnership, to ensure clients receive a cross agency service that is responsive to their needs and enables them to progress towards and into employment. The first task will be to work with partners to develop and deliver a Highland Employability Service Offer.

The offer, for everyone who becomes or is already unemployed, will provide support to the services they need to enable them to prepare for and access the labour market. Clients will have someone they can talk to, who will help them work out what support and skills they need as they prepare for the jobs that are (and will) become available, organise support/skills for them and sustain this as they progress into work

This offer complements the Scottish Government’s Young Person’s Guarantee which commits:

• Within two years every young person aged between 16 and 24 locally will be guaranteed either the opportunity to study at university or college, take part in an apprenticeship programme, take up a job or work experience, or participate in a formal volunteering or training programme according to their own personal circumstances. 

As part of its wider Young Person’s Guarantee (YPG) programme, the Scottish Government has given The Highland Council a ring-fenced grant of £1,165,576 to deliver employability support for 16-24-year olds which will be carried over into the 2021/22 financial year.

As part of today’s discussions, the Committee also agreed that The Highland Council as an employer provides enhanced work experience and job creation opportunities and, through its management of external funding, provide support to enable others in the private, public and third sectors to also do so.

The Council plans to use YPG finding to provide practical work experience and job creation in addition to it’s already established Youth Trainee programme that provides work placements of 6 month (12 months if care experienced). Based on current revenue budget and secured funding, the Council is able to provide up to 30 places and the additional YPG funding will allow this to be increased to create an additional 30 work placements. To ensure the Youth Trainees get the right work opportunity, wherever they live in Highland, it is proposed to open up these places if required to partner public sectors organisations as well as to The Highland Council.

The Council also plans to use the YPG funding to create 20 Graduate Intern positions across its services.

Plans to resource the Council’s employability team to make sure it has the capacity to effectively undertake its roll during this challenging time are being taken forward following agreement at the Council meeting on 7 January 2021.

Chair of the Committee, Cllr Trish Robertson said: “With Covid-19 the challenges facing our young people are greater and now, more than ever, we need to make sure we can offer people the most comprehensive support possible as they prepare and look for work. The Highland Employability Partnership is going to be the most effective way to bring partners together to achieve this and make a difference.

She added: “With predictions that unemployment is set to rise over the next year, especially among young people, now is the time for us to provide the dedicated focus needed to drive forward our employability service re-design and to co-ordinate The Highland Council efforts towards the current labour market crisis.

“I am particularly pleased that within the Council itself we are going to be able to offer extra Youth Trainee work placement opportunities and see the re-introduction of our successful Graduate Intern programme. This not only benefits the young folk who will hopefully progress into permanent employment with us but we as an employer will benefit from having new young talent. It helps us to grow our workforce for the future.”