'Work is part of our DNA': Liz Kendall unveils first 'inactivity trailblazer' in South Yorkshire with £18m fund
An £18m trailblazer scheme to get people back into work has been unveiled in South Yorkshire by the Work and Pensions Secretary, the first of nine across the country.
Liz Kendall spoke at the Digital Media Centre in Barnsley yesterday, alongside Mayor Oliver Coppard, saying: “For too long, whole areas of the UK have been written off and deprived of investment.”
Ms Kendall chose the region to launch a £125m fund for nine “inactivity trailblazers” because of its industrial history, research and innovation in this area.
Mr Coppard said: “It’s part of our DNA in South Yorkshire - wanting to work, making industry central to our identity in this region.
“We’re really pleased that the Government has recognised the work that has gone in to address the significant and fundamental challenges that we face when it comes to worklessness.”
The Work and Pensions Secretary explained: “South Yorkshire is the first to kick off their innovative plans – backed by £18m – and we will be launching more areas in the coming weeks as we put more money in people’s pockets, boost living standards and get Britain working under our plan for change.”
A Pathways to Work commission in Barnsley, chaired by former Health Secretary Alan Milburn, found there has been a misguided focus on toughening up benefit rules instead of tackling root causes of why people are out of work, such as ill-health.
It called on bringing together work, health and skills support in a radical new approach to help people overcome barriers to employment.
Taking learnings from this, the multi-million pound fund will launch a dedicated new service to help employers to hire people with health conditions.
It will also create a new triage system to make it quicker and easier to connect people to employment, health, and skills support.
This work will include preventing people falling out of work completely due to ill health through an NHS programme, working with people with conditions ranging from cardiovascular disease to diabetes.
Writing exclusively in The Yorkshire Post, Ms Kendall and Mr Coppard said: “Leaving behind the one-size-fits-all approach, our investment will help deliver tailored support to almost 8,000 people across South Yorkshire in the first year alone.”
Gerald O’Brien spent years working in the coal mining industry. Now, through the scheme, the 68-year-old is using his digital skills and first aid abilities to share his knowledge with others through volunteering.
Minister for Employment Alison McGovern told The Yorkshire Post that the Government wanted to launch its “inactivity trailblazers” from Barnsley because “South Yorkshire has a unique place in the employment history of the United Kingdom”.
“We know in the past, when I was a child in the 1980s, there were big changes to the economy in South Yorkshire, and we still feel the effects of that today.
“The removal of many jobs in South Yorkshire had a big effect down the years, but also the answers to those problems are here too.
“While you can still see the consequences of deindustrialisation in South Yorkshire, it’s people here who have led the way.”
Ms McGovern praised the Pathways to Work Commission, run by Barnsley Council and former Health Secretary Alan Milburn.
It has helped Ruby Sanders, who was told she would never walk or work due to her physical disabilities.
Now, the 24-year-old has a bespoke role at Barnsley Norse, with amended duties, including shorter shifts, so she can build stamina and confidence.
Mr Coppard added: “We know that South Yorkshire’s industrial past has left a legacy of poor health and low skills that holds people back right across our communities; holding people back from accessing good work, making the most of their potential or living their fullest lives.
“That’s why we developed the pioneering Pathways to Work approach here in Barnsley, and why we’re now working with the Government to roll that programme out across the whole of South Yorkshire.”