1 December 2022
Social landlords building opportunity and employability
Lisa Birchall
NFA Policy and Research Officer
©Clementine Flack, Optivo
OUR labour market is changing. For the first time in at least thirty years, the workforce has stopped growing and may be getting smaller – driven by the impacts of the Covid-19 pandemic, Brexit and demographic change. Now more than ever, employers and government will need to find new ways to raise participation in the labour market, engage people further from work, and improve job retention, security and progression.
Over half of all people of working age who live in social housing are in work. This is encouraging, given a chronic housing shortage in the UK that means our slender stock of social housing has, in recent times, had to be allocated only to those in most need.
However, the very need that brings residents to social housing also means that the remainder – both those out of work but actively looking for a job, and those described by the statisticians as ‘economically inactive’ such as the disabled and full-time carers – need more support than most to improve their employability and find paid work.
This is why many NFA members do more than simply rent and maintain homes. They offer residents core employment services such as one-to-one help with job preparation; some give specialist support to meet needs linked to factors such as long-term ill health, disability or social isolation; and they often use their own organisations to create training and apprenticeship opportunities for residents.
Today we’re highlighting the work of two NFA members, Stockport Homes and Barnet Homes, whose vital work in this field is featured in a new report commissioned by us and partners Communities that Work and the National Housing Federation (the NFA summary, here, is a five-minute read).
Our simple message to government is this: social housing landlords can be a strategic, effective and value-for-money route to improving the employability of many of those who face the biggest barriers to finding paid work.
Our simple message to government is this: social housing landlords can be a strategic, effective and value-for-money route to improving the employability of many of those who face the biggest barriers to finding paid work.
Stockport Homes has an employment and training team that administers a comprehensive range of employment support through its SKylight Stockport community benefit organisation. Among its offerings is a collaboration with the Department of Work and Pensions and local and national businesses to design and manage bespoke training and work placement support. The programme uses the Sector-based Work Academy Programme (SWAP) model.
Employers share recruitment, skills and experience needs, and SH then advertise to their service users through a range of channels including social media. Interested candidates attend an initial Welcome Day where the SH team explains the role and then sifts for the right people to go forward to a bespoke, accredited training course. It includes tailored employment support such as CV writing and interview preparation.
Only then do candidates go to the formal interview process with the employer. Around 20 people secured employment in 2022 directly through SWAPs programmes.
“Starting to learn again should be a positive experience.”
One employer reported: “A recent candidate who came through the last group is an absolute star – definitely one to watch for us. Full of energy and enthusiasm and really keen to absorb and apply everything she is learning. I’ve had numerous Team Managers telling me that she has a real bright future ahead of her.”
SH’s in-house training officer and team deliver training face-to-face supported by an online training suite of 27 employment skills videos. Originally designed during the pandemic, this is now a key resource for the team. The three training categories – employability skills, health and wellbeing, community support – aim to help residents and the wider community overcome any barriers they face to finding work. Overall, the training offer is intended to provide a holistic learning experience to improve wellbeing, employability and community.
“We believe all training is an enrichment opportunity and starting to learn again should be a positive experience,” says the training officer.
BOOST Barnet is Barnet Council’s employment and skills service and it is led by its ALMO, Barnet Homes. BOOST is an employment, training advice and wellbeing service based in community venues across the borough. It targets key groups – social housing tenants, those in the borough who are ‘economically inactive’, and groups that were particularly disadvantaged by Covid-19 such as women from ethnic minority backgrounds.
Launched seven years ago, BOOST is free and open to all Barnet residents. Its staff has grown from an initial five to more than 40 trainers and advisors. Since January 2022, BOOST has delivered the West London Boroughs’ Employment Support Service, a £2.7 million project funded by Barnet Council, West London Alliance and ESF, to give specialist support to those furthest from work.
Its manager says: “BOOST supports not only job-ready Barnet residents but all those who are unemployed or want a change in career. This includes rough sleepers, graduates, people with disabilities, those furthest from the job market and those who lack confidence or motivation. Everyone we work with is different, so we use a tailored, person-centred approach that helps clients to overcome their own barriers and get ready for employment.”
Close alignment with the ALMO’s parent council is key – it brings stable, reliable core annual funding.
Barnet Homes website Support is primarily delivered face to face, supplemented by a wide variety of online resources. These include self-referrals to webinars and free online courses. BOOST also provides wraparound support for health and wellbeing, debt, finances, housing and benefits support (including distributing discretionary funding provided by government), IT access and legal advocacy. For example, if the incomes collection team identifies someone struggling with rent payments, they can offer a referral to BOOST for employment support.
Technology and innovation support helps people to acquire or improve IT skills and equipment –laptops and tablets can be borrowed – and even those in work can ask for support to improve their skills or change jobs, and get advice about how to deal with issues in the workplace.
Close alignment with the ALMO’s parent council has been identified as a key strength of BH’s employment and skills offer. The partnership provides access to core annual funding, which gives stability and continuity of support not offered by fixed-term funding streams. This helps BH to provide long term support to those furthest from the labour market.
Lisa Birchall has been the NFA’s Policy and Research Officer since 2018.