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Help for those facing redundancy
22/04/2009
Additional funding of £1.4 million for the Scottish Government's PACE initiative to help people facing redundancy was announced today.
The European Social Fund money will provide additional resources for the Partnership Action for Continuing Employment (PACE) which is Scotland's partnership initiative providing help to organisations and employees when an organisation is facing potential redundancy situations.
This funding will provide early help for businesses who unfortunately have to make people redundant. It will ensure employees can go straight from one job to another where possible. Doubling the number of careers advisers working with companies will allow them to intervene early in redundancy situations, to help employees on site in their place of work before they are made unemployed.
Speaking ahead of the Scottish Trade Union Congress in Perth, Cabinet Secretary for Education and Lifelong Learning Fiona Hyslop said:
"The funding will help an additional 4,600 individuals through a variety of support including individual career planning interviews, individual employability sessions, careers planning group sessions and registrations on the website.
"The work that the PACE teams do is even more crucial in this current economic climate and the action we have taken demonstrates that through our economic programme and all opportunities available to us the Scottish Government will do all we can to ensure Scotland's future economic recovery and growth.
"During these difficult economic times, we are determined to work with all businesses, organisations, individuals and agencies to ensure Scotland's people and businesses get the help they need to address the challenges ahead.
"Helping people stay in work or get back into work is a key part of that and lies at the heart of our six point Economic Recovery Programme. The money that I am announcing today will enable Skills Development Scotland to double the number of Careers Advisers to work within companies of all sizes and will increase the availability of training support for individuals to help them enhance existing skills and retrain into new occupational areas."
The funding is for Lowlands and Uplands Scotland. The bid for additional European money for the Highlands and Islands area is currently being considered.
PACE (Partnership Action for Continuing Employment) is the Scottish Government's national strategic partnership framework for responding to redundancy situations. It ensures that local public sector agencies respond to potential and proposed large-scale redundancies as quickly and effectively as possible.
There are 21 local PACE teams in Scotland - 12 in Central and Lowland Scotland and 9 in the Highlands and Islands area. They involve local and national agencies, including Skills Development Scotland, Jobcentre Plus and Local Authorities. Other agencies, called upon as required, include: HM Revenue and Customs; the STUC and its affiliated Trade Unions; Citizens Advice Bureaux; local training providers; and further education colleges and universities.
Skills Development Scotland co-ordinates the national and local level response teams to provide tailored help and support to individuals facing redundancy and identify training activities where appropriate.
This support is tailored to meet individual needs and may include: Jobcentre Plus services; one-to-one counselling; comprehensive information packs; access to high-quality training; seminars on skills such as CV-writing and starting up a business; and access to IT facilities.
In light of the current economic climate, we have been reviewing the 'PACE offer' of help. To date, the following enhancements have been made to the existing service.
Eighty Skills Development Scotland staff have been dedicated to work alongside Jobcentre Plus staff to deliver seamless services between skills development and employability support to individuals in different locations, including Jobcentre Plus offices, Careers Centres and employers' premises.
A national helpline, revamped website and improved information resources were launched in February to make PACE services more accessible to individuals and employers through increased marketing and promotion. Until now, PACE has been primarily targeted at large scale redundancies. This helpline and improved website will open services to more individuals and employers in rural as well as urban areas.
A PACE Summit on 9 February brought together those involved in delivering this support to share best practice and consider how the service can be further improved. A report of the Summit was published on 1 April and includes a synopsis of the day and actions to take forward to further enhance the operation of PACE.
The key outcome from the Summit is that the Scottish Government will establish a PACE Partnership which will be a high level strategic group comprising all agencies with an interest in PACE. The remit of the PACE Partnership will be to look at ways of making the service more flexible and effective.
The £1.36 million is part of the £95 million announcement made by the First Minister on April 18, 2009.