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– CDG & Maximus combine forces!!

01 October 2010

Immediate release

CDG and MAXIMUS combine charitable and private sector expertise in groundbreaking alliance to help more people back into work

Combining expertise in the charitable and private sectors in helping those who are unemployed back into work, welfare to work charity Careers Development Group1 (CDG) and international welfare to work provider MAXIMUS2 have agreed an alliance to bid for the government’s new Work Programme3 in each of England’s nine regions4. This alliance is a significant development in the UK welfare to work sector.

By bidding as an alliance, both organisations are looking to increase the number of people they help in obtaining the skills and support they need to get back into employment. Both CDG and MAXIMUS currently provide welfare to work programmes for the government and across the two organisations currently cover the South East, South West, London and East Midlands regions. CDG helped support 33,000 people on their journey back into work in 2009/10 and MAXIMUS worked with 20,000.

As well as the experience both organisations have in this sector, CDG particularly has expertise in supporting hard-to-reach groups, especially those who have multiple barriers, and in working with smaller charitable, community and social enterprise groups. In addition to its UK expertise, MAXIMUS brings international experience including from Australia and the US.

Roy O’Shaughnessy, Chief Executive of Careers Development Group, said: “This forward-thinking and groundbreaking alliance combines the expertise of the private and charitable sectors, with the common goal of helping those who are unemployed back into work.

“Together we will be able to reach more people while improving the level of individual support we can give – it is the best of both worlds.

“There should not be artificial barriers between sectors when we share the same interests at heart.”

Bob Leach, Managing Director of MAXIMUS UK, said: “This alliance has the best interests of all stakeholders at its centre.

“Both MAXIMUS and CDG recognise that the Work Programme is a step change from previous programmes and that new and innovative approaches to helping unemployed people from a wide range of backgrounds will be required. Through this alliance we will be focusing our efforts to achieve the results required.

“I and my team look forward to working with Roy and his team in the months and years ahead.”

In keeping with its charitable ethos, CDG recently launched a position paper on its expert volunteer initiative, which highlighted how the private, public and voluntary and community sectors must work together to support people who are unemployed get, or get back, into work. This alliance is the first stage in making this vision a reality.

CDG will be holding a summit on 14 October 2010 at Central Hall, Westminster, London, to discuss and debate with leading figures how the expert volunteer initiative can work in practice and how it can contribute to the Big Society agenda.

ENDS

Notes to Editors

(1)        About Careers Development Group

CDG is a UK charity with nearly 30 years’ experience in helping those who are unemployed find and sustain employment. Many of the people CDG supports have multiple barriers to employment including a lack of recent work experience, disabilities, health problems and lack of relevant employability skills. CDG helped over 33,000 people into jobs in 2009/10 and works across 29 centres in the UK (London, the South East, the Isle of Wight and the East Midlands

(2)                   About MAXIMUS

MAXIMUS Employment UK specialises in helping UK citizens with disadvantages in the labour market to obtain meaningful employment. Since the 2008 acquisition of WTCS, Ltd. a UK research and training company founded in 1991, MAXIMUS has helped numerous individuals achieve sustainable employment. Operating in over 30 sites, spanning the south of England, MAXIMUS is ultimately a wholly owned subsidiary of its parent company MAXIMUS, Inc.  A leading pure-play provider of government health and human services programmes, MAXIMUS has offices in the US, Australia, Canada, the UK and Israel. MAXIMUS (NYSE: MMS) is a publicly traded company listed on the New York Stock Exchange.

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(3)           About the Framework Agreement for the Provision of Employment Related Support Services and the Work Programme

The deadline for submissions to the new framework being created by the Department for Work and Pensions, which also includes the Work Programme, is 27 September 2010. For full details please visit http://www.dwp.gov.uk/docs/framework-eoi.pdf

The Work Programme to be introduced by the coalition government next summer will provide a single, personalised welfare to work programme for all those who find themselves out of work, rather than the wide range of differing programmes currently offered which are largely based on the type of benefit being claimed. The Work Programme Framework is an umbrella commercial which sets out some terms of agreement on future contract arrangements.

For full details please visit http://www.dwp.gov.uk/docs/work-programme-prospectus.pdf

(4)           The nine English regions are: Eastern, East Midlands, London, North East, North West, South East, South West, West Midlands and Yorkshire and The Humber

(5) Further information

Careers Development Group

Journalists requiring further information should contact Mark Brooks via:

(t)         020 7811 3164

(m)       07766 197727

(e)        mark.brooks@cdguk.org

1 Comment

  1. How is this a ground breaking alliance? It’s just two welfare to work players (one who currently subcontracts to the other) in the South joining forces to better secure their futures in the industry. It’s as groundbreaking as Kellogg’s partnering up with a dairy … in fact … that’s a jolly good idea …

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