Opening Doors Project – Positive Outcomes
Date:Mar 17, 2009The model
Opening Doors is a project between the Learning and Skills Council (LSC), Jobcentre Plus and the Thames Gateway South Essex Partnership. The Association of Colleges in the Eastern Region (ACER) is acting on behalf of the Thames Gateway Partnership to manage the project.
In the initial stages, a feasibility study looked at the provision of access, support mechanisms and skills development for disadvantaged members of local communities in South Essex.
Building on the recommendations of the study, funding was made available to support activity to help those on benefit in Super Output Areas in Southend, Thurrock and Basildon back into employment and/or training.
This pilot, which runs until March 2009, has focused on activity that will fill any gaps not currently covered by existing programmes offered by LSC or Jobcentre Plus. It also builds a bridge between the support and help offered by Jobcentre Plus and that offered by Train to Gain.
The activity in each of the three areas is designed to meet the needs of the local area with the aim of assisting disadvantaged local people back into training and work.
Flexibility
An important characteristic of the Opening Doors programme is that, while its essence and offer remains the same, its flexibility has allowed slightly different variations of delivery in the three areas. This has allowed partners to build on existing or previous offerings to local people as suits the area, and use different venues for delivery.
For example:
1 In Southend an adviser from Jobcentre Plus has been seconded to work in a Children’s Centre in one of the most deprived areas of Southend. This is allowing individualised packages of assistance to be developed for local people and provide an integrated approach to the services already on offer.
2 In Basildon a Training and Learning Adviser has been employed by Adult Community Learning Essex (part of Essex County Council) to engage local residents in learning and support unemployed adults back into work. The adviser is co-located in a local multi-agency centre in Pitsea North West, one of the more deprived wards in the Basildon district.
3 In Thurrock, through Opening Doors, Thurrock Learning Partnership has been able to build upon its successful Integrated Guidance Activity, which offers free, confidential one-to-one sessions with an Adult Careers Adviser in outreach centres.
Timely support
Rising unemployment means many people find it hard to access the support they need to find new work or to move forward into training. Opening Doors is offering essential and timely help at a time when Jobcentre Plus is under considerable pressure.
One-to-one support
Many people who could benefit from help need active encouragement to engage with the help and support available. Opening Doors is able to offer the one-to-one support necessary for this, with personal advisers who are trained, knowledgeable, experienced and empathetic.
Individual sessions give people more time as they need to discuss their particular situation and associated needs and concerns. Clients place high value on being able to approach the issues of work and benefits at their own pace and on their own terms and terrain, with advisers who are responsive without forcing the pace.
Clients always see the same adviser, so do not have to re-explain their situation to a different person at each visit, which allows a trust and bond to be built up. The advisers are able to give the information and guidance necessary to move clients forward and to signpost the services available to move clients closer to work and training. There is no obligation and no pressure. The knowledge of what is available locally in terms of employment and training as well as other services means advisers can offer individual support for services such as CV writing and signpost for other kinds of help, for example financial assistance, as required.
Environment
The environments in which the advisers work are neutral and non-threatening. This is very important for motivation and building trust. As they are local, there is no need to travel, so facilities are brought closer to the people who need them. Using physically convenient, culturally undemanding and non-stigmatising venues for interviews and/or training is a key feature of the Opening Doors offer.
Facilitating innovation
In Southend, Opening Doors has facilitated a seconded Jobcentre Plus advisor who is able to work across three centres in some of the most disadvantaged wards in the district. A situation for which although quite widely seen as desirable there would otherwise have been no funding.
In addition, there is a key link between financial status and progression towards employment. A barrier for many people who wish to work is a concern whether the type of work available to them will adversely affect their benefits and make them worse off than before. Many clients want to work but are worried about their financial situation and need motivation. In Southend, the seconded Job Centre Plus adviser is able to show clients exactly how much better off they will be with the help of the “better off” calculator that he is able to access. This JC+ software is nationally-approved and updated with all current rates and entitlements. Using this and being able to reassure clients has been a very powerful tool in enabling people to address their financial concerns and move forward.
Taking help into the community
The Opening Doors pilot works on the principle of operating at a very local level and going out into communities to offer personalised and individualised support to the people who need it most.
It is in recognition of the evidence supporting more localised approaches, like the model of Opening Doors, that the Department for Work and Pensions changed the emphasis of national welfare to work programmes in the direction of greater local flexibility (DWP 2007, 2006).
Moving delivery decisions closer to the individual is based on the evidence that provision which is more closely-tailored to individual needs is more likely to succeed. Solutions need to be local, reflecting the kind of jobs people are likely to be able to get, the individuals living in the area and their individual problems.
Partnership working
A characteristic of all the three programmes under Opening Doors is the emphasis on partnership working. Effective partnership working is key to delivering a sufficiently wide range of support and knowing exactly what is available for people.
Many workless people face multiple barriers to work, including housing problems, childcare issues, poor health, discrimination and language problems, issues related to alcohol or drugs or a history of offending. No single organisation can provide solutions to all of these issues, so the Opening Doors programme, with its emphasis on partnership working and roots in the local community, is positioned to signpost people and draw on effective and expert help as required.
A coordinated programme of provision has enabled all three areas to share good practice through participation in a Steering Group which has met regularly to assess progress and identify and resolve issues. The project has also supported a shared approach to marketing with the development of a common style for leaflets, posters and banners to promote the offer.
Summary
The aim of Opening Doors has been to move disadvantaged local people closer to work and training. The Opening Doors model meets all the criteria of best practice highlighted recently in the Joseph Rowntree Foundation Report (2008) ‘Local initiatives to help local people find and keep paid work’:
- staff, particularly personal advisers, with empathy and good communication skills;
- a clear sense of purpose;
- active outreach to engage those who are hardest to reach;
- avoiding fragmentation of provision, which can cause confusion among clients;
- an environment where clients feel comfortable;
- good networking and relationships between different agencies;
- good links with local employers and a willingness to provide them with services and support
Opening Doors offers support and guidance on training, voluntary work and paid employment and moving people closer to the labour market. The Opening Doors brand has been built to offer a model of best practice at a local level to help to reduce and minimise the impact of low skills and unemployment, both now and on the next generation.
March 2009
