What is “worklessness”?
Worklessness is most commonly defined as the number of people claiming Working Age Client Group benefits (WACG) expressed as a percentage of the working age population. Working age is classed as people who are aged between 16 and 59 for women and 16 and 64 for men. Wigan has a working age population of 190,800. Almost 16% of the working age population (29,611 – February 2008, source Department of Work and Pensions) are claiming working age benefits such as Incapacity Benefit, Job Seekers Allowance and Lone Parent Benefit. The recently published Indices of Multiple Deprivation ranked Wigan the ninth worst Local Authority in England in terms of employment. This map (.pdf, 847kb) highlights the areas with the highest concentrations of worklessness.
“What makes Wigan Work?” Strategy
The Council has been co-ordinating a concerted effort from partners and key stakeholders to develop a strategy to reduce the high levels of worklessness in Wigan. On 15 September 2008, the Board of the Wigan Borough Partnership gave final approval to the “What makes Wigan Work Strategy?”
The approved documents are now available for download:
To assist Wigan in tackling Worklessness, £21 million has been allocated through Government funding known as ‘Working Neighbourhoods Fund’ for the next 3 years until 2011. Working Neighbourhoods Fund along with other mainstream and discretionary funding will be used to implement the strategy action plans.
If you would like more information, or would like to contribute to discussions on Worklessness then please contact the Policy Team in the Economic Regeneration Office using the contact details below.
Commissioning Round 2
Wigan Council, acting as the accountable body for Wigan Borough Partnership, over the next 30 months will be co-ordinating a series of commissioning rounds to procure activities in support of the “What Makes Wigan Work?” Strategy.
Round 2 of this process has now been released and specifically seeks to procure:
Development of Outreach Engagement: Delivery (Client Engagement)
Development of Outreach Engagement: Delivery (Small Grants)
Development of Crèche Facilities: Feasibility Study
Note for constituted organisations within the voluntary and community sector. If you would like to respond to one of these commissions but feel you may need support to do this, please contact:
Claire Greenwood, Senior Regeneration Officer (Resources and Development), 01942 828958.
The commissioning briefs can be downloaded by clicking the above links or by contacting the Policy Team in the Economic Regeneration Office - contact details below.
The closing date for submissions to Round 2 is 5.00 pm on Friday 5 December 2008.
“What Makes Wigan Work?”
On the 23 May 2008, Wigan Council and the Faith Network organised the “What Makes Wigan Work?” Conference at the JJB Stadium in Wigan. Over 80 people attended the full day event contributing to a series of workshops that informed the development of the strategy. Background documents from the event are available for download:
Useful Documents
