Local councils are to share a new £1.5bn fund as part of a government drive to get long-term unemployed people back into work.
Local government minister John Healey announced that 66 local and 21 transitional authorities will receive a share of the Working Neighbourhoods Fund to develop more ‘community-led’ approaches to getting people in the most deprived areas of England back to work.
Allocations are based in part on a comprehensive mapping of prosperity and deprivation across England, the new Indices of Multiple Deprivation 2007.
This data shows that 20% of men and women living in the most deprived one-fifth of areas are not in work.
As part of a new approach, local areas that successfully turn around long-term unemployment will receive financial rewards. There will be at least a £50m package of incentives and rewards for councils that boost employment levels.
Healey said: “Through the new Working Neighbourhoods Fund we want councils and communities to work together to develop innovative ways of getting more people into work.
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“Whether this is setting up job advice skills schemes in community settings like libraries, stepping up outreach schemes in council estates, or ‘in-work’ community support and skill schemes to end the ‘revolving door’ of worklessness – what matters is what works.”
The total fund of £1.5bn will be allocated over the next three years, with more than £450m in 2008-09, and £500m in 2009-10 and 2010-11.
