Paul Moncur
Presentation
Introduction –
Hello, my name is Paul Moncur, I am an Employer Liaison Assistant at Barnardo’s Works East. My job is to identify placement opportunities for young people, to make sure these placements run as smoothly as possible for both the young person and the employer, and to work towards making these placements are sustainable.
About us –
I am now going to give you a little bit of background history about Barnardo’s Works as a company and what it is we do.
Barnardo’s Works is part of one of the UK’s biggest and most respected charities ‘Barnardo’s’.
We have been running as an employability programme across Scotland for the last 15 years and in the past year alone, have worked with in excess of 360 young workers and supported more than 220 of them move in to sustained, paid employment. This just goes to show the extent of our knowledge, experience and expertise in working with young people and emoployers.
We have 4 office bases in Scotland, one in Edinburgh, which is where I work from, covering the Lothians, Fife and now the Scottish Borders. We have another office in Paisley which covers the West of Scotland. An office in Dundee which works with young people in Dundee itself, in to Perth, up to Coupar and Angus, and also in to Aberdeen where they have a small programme running at the moment. Finally, we have an office in Inverness which covers the vast area of the Highlands and Islands. So as you can tell, we are supplying a large part of Scotland with our programmes at the moment.
The YES (Youth Employment Scotland) Scheme –
That was a little bit about us and what it is we do, now I’ll move on to exactly why it is that I am here today - The Youth Employment Scotland Scheme or the YES Scheme as it is also known.
The Scottish Borders Council has contracted Barnardo’s Works East to deliver the YES Scheme in The Scottish Borders.
The YES Scheme aims to provide opportunities to help unemployed 16 – 24 year olds in to work.
Where a business commits to creating a new job for an unemployed young person, grant funding is available for up to 50% of the salary cost of employing the young person for up to 6 months or 26 weeks.
For the financial year 2013-14, there is funding for a total of 80 placements in the Scottish Borders. All placements must be confirmed/committed by 31st March 2014.
So the 2 main goals or aims of this scheme are to – assist young people into employment and to assist small and medium enterprises to grow.
Eligibility of Businesses –
So lets move on to the criteria that makes your business eligible for the scheme.
Firstly, the business must be based in the Scottish Borders.
Next, the company must be working in the private or third sectors.
The company must have no more than 250 employees with a turnover of less than 50 million euros, which is approximately 42 million pounds.
The company must be creating a new or additional job, which in simple terms means that the position will be in addition to the work force that is already in place and not replacing a job that is already being undertaken.
Finally, it is desirable that the job is sustainable beyond 6 months.
Eligibility of the Young People –
Now, the eligibility of the young person, or young persons, as there is no limit to the amount of young workers that can be taken on as long as all of the jobs are new and in addition to the work force already in place.
Each young person must reside in the Scottish Borders.
Each young person must be aged between 16 and 24.
And must be unemployed for less than 6 months and not be in education and/or training.
How It Works –
So if you are now thinking that you may be eligible, and may be in the position to take someone on then here is how it works.
First port of call is to contact the Business Gateway, who’s details I will give you in a few slides time. The Business Gateway will then gather all the relevant information needed before passing that information on to my colleague, Helen Brown.
Helen will then be in touch with you to organise a meeting to discuss the scheme in greater details, answering any queries you may have and also to pass on the application form and guidance notes.
The Process –
The process then goes as follows.
The application form should be completed and returned to Helen, Helen will then make sure that the form has been completed correctly before signing it and sending it off to the Scottish Borders Council who will be the final decision makers on whether to approve the claim or not.
If you are approved, you will then receive what is known as a grant offer letter, which will detail the potential maximum grant available per employee. If these details are already known at the time of application then a final grant offer letter will be issued, which will include information such as – the start and end date of the employment period, a financial breakdown and full terms and conditions.
All going well, the young person would then begin employment with continued employer and employee support, which would include employer reviews, mentor support and sourcing other funding and potential training opportunities.
Initial Contact Details –
So if this is something you would be interested in then you can either come and see me a little later for an application form or contact – Business Gateway Borders, Ettrick Riverside, Dunsdale Road, Selkirk, TD7 5EB. The phone number there is 01835 825 600, you can email or check the website, Alternatively, you can contact either my self or my colleague Helen who would be more than happy to any questions you may have.
Thank you very much for your time.