People
Find out what Walsall Council is doing to support local people through regeneration.
People
Walsall Council supports its local residents to improve their economic wellbeing through helping them secure employment and improving their skill. The Economic Wellbeing team is responsible for effectively managing economic regeneration activity in relation to the worklessness, employment and skills agenda.
What is Worklessness?
Worklessness is defined as ‘all those residents of working age who are not employed’, this includes those actively seeking work as well as people who are not seeking work. The term is used to describe those people who are claiming out of work benefits, ie Jobseekers Allowance, Income Support, Incapacity Benefit / Employment Support Allowance and Lone Parent benefits.
The close relationship between work, income and wealth and wellbeing is in many ways self-apparent. It is worth stressing that work is central to economic and social issues at the neighbourhood level and the government has put this at the centre of its strategies for regeneration. The Walsall Local Area Agreement has a number of indicators which measures employment and skills levels at a borough and local level.
How are we tackling the problem?
The Economic Wellbeing team takes lead responsibility for tackling worklessness in the borough. We have developed, together with our partners, a shared and clear understanding of worklessness in our locality, whilst developing activities which bring about reductions in the number of people out of work. This has been done by working closely with our key partners through the direction of the Worklessness Steering Group which is made up of over 25 partner organisations including the Jobcentreplus, Walsall Partnership and Learning & Skills Council. Our collective strategy is to ensure we gain the maximum effect from mainstream provision and add value through increased levels of joint working and using flexible funding such as Working Neighbourhoods Fund to develop appropriate activity to meet gaps in mainstream funded provision. At the heart of our approach lies the Worklessness Target Action Planning process which forms the partnerships agreed two year delivery plan. The Worklessness Target Action Plan 2009/11 sets out a programme of activity and interventions to support Walsall’s workless clients back into employment and/or training opportunities.
Contact us
Economic Wellbeing Team
2nd floor, Civic Centre
Darwall Street
Walsall
WS1 1TP
Telephone 01922 652573
Email econregen@walsall.gov.uk
This page was last updated on 15 March 2010