40 per cent of young people undertaking a six-month paid work contract through the Community Jobs Scotland scheme have gone on to enter full-time employment, independent figures reveal.
The Scottish Council for Voluntary Organisations (SCVO) launched the scheme last year with backing from the Scottish government and with Social Enterprise Scotland as delivery partner.
Under the programme 1,861 young unemployed people were placed in roles within 448 voluntary sector organisations across all of Scotland’s 32 local authorities in the first year.
An independent evaluation of the service conducted by the University of Glasgow found that following their placements 40 per cent entered full-time employment and 51 per cent either found a job, went into training or education or took up volunteering opportunities.
SCVO says the figures compares favourably to other similar work programmes, such as Work Choice which saw just 14 per cent finding jobs, and A4e‘s delivery of the heavily criticised Work Programme which saw just 3.5 per cent entering employment.
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Can I just say what a relief to find someone who categorically knows what they’re talking about on the internet. You always know how to bring an issue to light and make it applicable. More people need to read this and understand this side of the story. I cant believe youre not more popular because you definitely have the gift.
This is an excellent example of how the ‘one size fits all’ policy of the Work Programme simply does not work.Importantly a more bespoke and creative approach to engaging young people is needed and your figures speak for themselves. This is an excellent outcome and is comparative to the employability work we deliver in Plymouth and Torbay, achieving excellent outcomes for ex-offenders and the hardest to reach:in the last 12 months 59% of our clients gained full time employment through our placement and volunteering programme.
Needs-led,meaningful and creative achieves results as you have demonstrated – well done Community Jobs Scotland!