Synchronise Meeting Minutes

Tuesday 10th November 2015, 1.30–4 pm, Venue: Rewards Training Crawley, Belgrave House, Station Way, Crawley RH10 1HU

Attending: Jane Chew, WSCC Learning Service Steve Eason, WSCC Capita Partnership (Note taker) Jan English, Horsham District Council Elizabeth Flegg, WSCC (Chair) Simon Hobday, Job Centre Plus Sue McLaren, CRC (Surrey & Sussex Probation) Jane Millard, Shaw Trust Roger Powell, HMP Ford Gary Rustell, WSCC Think Family Lise Sorenson, Crawley Borough Council Peter Stanley, Aldingbourne Trust Philip Turnbull, HMP Ford Jane Williams, Rewards Training

Apologies: Geoffrey Averil, Horsham District Council Clare Ballard, National Careers Service Debra Balfour, WSCC Public Health Karen Brooks, DWP Job Centre Plus Leigh Chambers, Horsham District Council Tim Cusack, Mid Sussex District Council (Lucy Venables for future meetings) Ana Fajardo, WSCC Beverly Foard, Working Links Steve Hill, Chichester District Council Richard Lamplough, SEEN Emma Leavey, Aspire Sussex (?did not show or send late apologies?) Bev Keech, Central Sussex College Karen Kingsland, Brighton and Hove City Council Winnie Mudachi-Ball, Maximus Samantha Ripley, Southdown Housing Association Mel Shaw, Adur and Worthing Councils Rachel Smither, WorkAid at the Aldingbourne Trust Philip Speed, Northbrook College Paul Stoggles, Independent Member Maxine Thomas, Impact Workability Dale Watson, Maximus Item Description 1. Welcome, introductions and apologies Elizabeth Flegg (Chair) welcomed everyone and introductions were made.

Elizabeth thanked Rewards Training for hosting and providing refreshments for the meeting.

2. Minutes of Meeting on 21st July 2015 The Minutes were agreed as an accurate record, other than for the following:

HMP Ford said that the Prison Resettlement programme happens twice a year, and is therefore not annually, the last minutes will be updated.

Sue asked organisation names to change to CRC (Surrey and Sussex Probation Service) as she is now based in the independent arm.

3. Matters arising:

Update on ESIF funding A funding application was submitted for the Big Lottery matched funds. This was on behalf of the Councils by Horsham DC who collated the bid. Results until the middle of next year 2016 despite the closing date being 2nd August!

More funding opportunities matched by DWP will be out soon, the LEP is coordinating ESiF bids and more information will be on their website. It would be helpful if Kirsten Trussell Skills lead attended the next meeting to provide some more information and for an update on the skills strategy.

Action: Elizabeth to approach Kirsten about attending Synchronise.

My Work Search Update Flyers for customers promoting MyWorkSearch were distributed to those attending; flyers are available in West Sussex libraries and those not attending can request them from Elizabeth Flegg. Jobcentre Plus has their own supply available in their offices.

Training didn’t happen as planned as the trainer became unavailable at short notice. Further dates have been emailed by Elizabeth to Champions and she is waiting to hear back. Feedback was given about the trainer being too technical for those who attended. EF will request less use of IT technical talk.

There are two pull up banners which are available to use e.g. for a Careers day for promotion. HMP Ford requested a banner, the libraries currently have both banners one will be available shortly.

HMP Ford suggested using MyWorkSearch on their Virtual Campus, and is happy to identify a champion on behalf of their organisation. The Job Centre use a quick response code on their underlying email address which can be scanned into phones, and the information is available for customers to take away. They will need to access a library to create an account which can then be used from their personal or a JCP PC.

Actions: EF to chase up on dates, HMP Ford to consider their role with MyWorkSearch and to advise Elizabeth.

4. Job Centre Plus Update: Universal Credit and JSA Update Simon Hobday (who works closely with Karen Brooks), took over from Paul Niner and is Relationship Manager for the Northern area of West Sussex.

Simon spoke of their job seeker numbers are reducing gently. The impact of students from the summer are reflected in the figures below:

August +/- September Bognor 455 up to 470 Chichester 535 down to 515 Crawley 1090 down to 1035 Haywards Heath 265 down to 255 Horsham 465 down to 450 Littlehampton 415 Static 415 Worthing 1085 up to 1130 West Sussex Total: 4360 down to 4315

Year on year change:

+/- %age Bognor down 20.3% Chichester down 29% Crawley down 21% Haywards Heath down 19% Horsham down 33.8% Littlehampton down 14.4% Worthing down 14.4% Total %age: 22.4%

The impact on students working their way through, most have either gone into employment or into work experience. We can see an impact for Christmas recruiting which is moving at pace. Royal Mail has 453 jobs at their Gatwick depot. JCP does not have sufficient ‘job ready’ customers for such jobs. There are not queues of people waiting for work and those who sign on find work very quickly. It is more challenging customers who are left claiming and JCP is talking to employers about work ‘tasters’, asking them to be less fussy and more patient and are trying to get people closer to the job market.

Traineeships; companies do approach them and they do try and fill them roles but the West Sussex 18-24 years claimants are historically low.

Elizabeth questioned how the percentage drop in JSA claimants, should slow down as it is getting near to the cusp? Simon spoke of delay with the reality being people with more challenges. Elizabeth said from the Councils’ point of view, members need to be aware of this: the economy agenda had been a success but saturated the job seeker market. Simon is tasked with challenging every employer in which to take on people with more challenges, and numbers can be seen on the NOMIS ESA figures. The more challenging people are more difficult to place. 95/96% of claimants are going into work during a year’s period.

Philip said 80% of those who leave HMP Ford go into employment highlighting the change in the job seeker market. The challenge to Government is the length of time a sentence stays live, which is a barrier.

Employers have jobs which cannot be filled, and he gave an example of retail customer service roles and there is not enough quality candidates available to meet these roles. Philip reminded us West Sussex has a massive recruitment issue around care roles. The Care sector needs to be presented as a career and not just as a job.

The HRI form companies submit to the government regarding over 20 redundancies, JCP has seen a considerable number recently including six for the transport sector. Those being made redundant do not claim JSA for long periods as they are attractive to employers with the current market.

Universal Credit Launched in the north of West Sussex on 1st September and in the south just two weeks ago. Everything is running as expected, there is a severe restriction on the types of people who can claim, seeing over time people who cease claiming JSA or ESA and will move over to Universal Credit when they next sign on. There are 120 claimants in the north of the county at the moment; we have no figures for the South as it is too recent.

5. Member Updates:

Crawley Borough Council, (Lise Sorensen) There are a number of things going on within the Regeneration Team. The Regeneration Programme is to help with town centre development, community parks, developing business spaces, public rail, and infrastructure. We are working with WSCC and have a new growth agenda, and will be working with the Crawley Assigned Growth Team, looking at: Crawley town centre, Gatwick and Manor Royal. Looking at the need for enhancing the right investment, earmarking employment skills and to enable roles.

Lise read from a Draft report regarding skills: Crawley will have a huge economic drive, between 89,000-94,000 jobs will be created in Crawley alone, seeing into the fact that residents are under skilled compared to regional attainment levels, and that people are coming in to take the higher valued jobs. Core Pillars; developing the infrastructure, linking town centre regeneration, working with college’s & construction to establish skills academies, long term infrastructure deficit which is partly due to labour resources, town centre skills academy and lots of other schemes. 2nd Pillar; around careers advice in schools, support advice which is needed, enabling engagement with local employers dialogue, self- reflection, more apprenticeships, continue to champion, council to take on young people for a 6 month placement and to give core experience. 3rd Pillar; businesses and employers skills shortages, highlighting gaps and needs, looking at placements, Gatwick skills laboratory funding the bid is awaiting, skills shortages, people understanding that Gatwick is not just about baggage handling. There is a raft of opportunities available and they will be working more with Gatwick. Final Pillar; working at grass roots level, development within the family.

Employ Crawley; Clem Smith from Medway has a similar scheme to set up an employment service hub with community outreach ideas, funding to support activity. Crawley Borough Council has launched an ambitious Employment and Skills Plan to help Crawley people access better quality job opportunities and aims to address skills gaps in the local workforce through four main projects – a Town Centre Skills Academy, Gatwick Skills Laboratory, Crawley Young Workers Scheme and Employ Crawley. The plan, now in its final draft stage, is open for the public, businesses and other organisation to comment on through a consultation survey until 22nd Jan 2016. We would welcome your comments on the consultation, but would also be grateful for you to share the consultation information with your contacts and networks as relevant. Crawley Borough Council is asking stakeholders, residents and businesses to comment on the draft plan. Find out more on the Consultation webpage www.crawley.gov.uk/consultation. WorkAid at Aldingbourne Trust, (Peter Stanley) The Charity has been supporting adults with learning difficulties for 37 years, mostly in the Chichester and Bognor Regis area. There are a range of services available at the Aldingbourne Country Centre which support people to learn about work, ranging from café to conference room, growing vegetables, furniture restoration, wood recycling, horse rug washing. The Centre has a there is an Open Farm visitor attraction, the target audience being families with young children. Last year the Centre had 45,000 visitors and is very busy in the school holidays. Training is provided for people with learning disabilities within each enterprise. Other projects include supported living which helps 90+ people with their own tenancies around Bognor and Chichester. Number 73 drop in and advice service, Creative Art Studio. No 73 also base for My Network & My Network Plus (MN+) which are WSCC funded preventative services. The services are available countywide via a consortium (Trust is lead). MN is a drop in scheme providing support and signposting, tenancy support. MN+ requires referral by the CTLD teams. The Trust also runs the Adopt a Station planting project, Powerful Trainers and recently opened a charity shop.

WorkAid is a Trust programme funded by WSCC which provides two countywide services: 1) Supported Employment aimed at people with learning disabilities who are close to ‘work ready’. It includes vocational profiling, skills training, travel training, benefits and in work calculations, etc. They also support people who are on the Autistic spectrum and who do not have learning disabilities i.e. ‘high achieving’ people with autism. The referral routes are specific; for supported employment, if you have a learning disability you must be known to a Social Services team, and be eligible for funding. The high achieving autism referral route is via the PAT Team. A further route, if you have a learning disability but are not eligible for social care funding is to enrol at a My Network and be referred from there. Individuals with autism need to meet the eligibility criteria for a referral to WorkAid or be eligible to join one of the My Network services. However it is fine to just turn up to My Network and seek advice from there. 2) The Work Preparation Service is for people who are further from employment - a personalised service for people who are eligible for social care funding. There are several criteria and WorkAid work closely with individuals for up to a year. They help with confidence, motivation, soft skills, public transport trials, work tasters/ trials, and wherever possible voluntary or paid employment. Information summarising referral routes circulated. WorkAid’s work preparation and supported employment are county wide with offices at the Country Centre, Worthing and Burgess Hill.

WorkAid also provides job retention services for employees and employers and called in for a crisis appointments, such as disciplinary hearings; the need is to speak to us earlier. We are often called in following changes in management and education and awareness needed. Other recent work includes: working with Independent Lives and DWP on a pilot for people who are signing up for JCP and need additional support. The last cohort finishes in December.

WorkAid is piloting a leaflet distribution service to support self-employment and is currently working with estate agents and the Credit Union in and around Bognor Regis, Worthing and Crawley. If partners have leaflets needing to be distributed, they need to talk to Rachel Smither (WorkAid Manager).

Younger people can slip through the system: there is a need to work with colleges and schools especially when a young person has finished college, as there is often a lag of 1-2 years and people lose skills. The need is to get involved with colleges, such as in a previous project (Learn to Work) when we worked with Further Education colleges across the county, Senior Management, teachers, parents and students with learning disabilities.

West Sussex County Council and Apprenticeships, (Elizabeth Flegg) The Council has officers on secondment in the Economic Development Team working closely with the District and Boroughs and they are building Economic Place Plans. A paper is being put together around skills and economy and they should link up better and show the way forward. A Council priority is to increase the number of under 35’s working for the us, as we need to attract people to work as there may be no workforce in the future. We are having an increased presence at career fairs and colleges which was cut a few years ago.

There has been an overall increase in the number of Apprenticeship starts in the county. A weekly report shows on average 150 are advertised at any time on Find an Apprenticeship site, and it indicates how many applicants there are for each role. Of the 150, 19 had no applications to date so remember Apprenticeships for your customers. There is a full range of jobs available; biggest applicant shortage is catering, next is warehousing. We are awaiting final apprenticeship start data but we are close to the final figure indicating an increase of 470 Apprenticeships this year but we still fall short of what we reached two years back. Learning Loans had a negative impact on Higher and Advanced Apprenticeships then. District and Borough starts: Adur plus 30, Arun plus 100, Chichester plus 3, Crawley plus 20, Horsham plus 50, Mid Sussex plus 140 (!), Worthing plus 90.

Jane is busy with schools delivery Apprenticeship Assemblies and Career Fairs and generally getting the message out there.

Government pledged another 3 million Apprenticeships to start during their time in office. They are targeting the public sector that 2.3% of their workforce to be Apprentices. WSCC needs about 200 apprenticeships to meet this!

Business Levy is proposed to fund Apprenticeship training for large/ macro employers paid via PAYE, Employers will get the money back by employing Apprentices! The model is used in other European countries and is working well.

WSCC is involved in a pilot for rotational health and social care apprentices. Eight Apprentices work six months with health and six months with the council social care provision. Apprentices are employed by an agency. It is proving challenging, five remain!

The Council are leading on the Apprenticeship Graduation Ceremony taking place 15th March 2016 at Chichester Cathedral. It is to raise profile and to get into the hearts and minds of people. There will be a lot of press coverage in which to boast the reputation of Apprenticeships in the county. It is for Advanced and Higher Apprentices who work for West Sussex businesses.

Looking at the Train to Work kite/quality mark for work placements which an organisation can get:- bronze, silver and gold status. Our Career Taster Scheme continues, there is reinvigoration around the kite mark.

Jobs for those with Learning Disabilities and/or Autism; this programme has been running for a few years now and we have filled 38 of the 40 jobs we aspired to. There are interviews before Christmas for a Caretaking Assistant and Event Assistants so it is likely we will achieve our target of 40 by then. Publicity will follow.

AOB Sue asked if there was a central place where Career Fairs were promoted? Her employer would benefit from signposting customers to them and also to promote their service? WSCC has been collating this information.

Action: Elizabeth to ask Richard Lamplough to create a page on the SEEN as part of his admin role for Synchronise; all to send information on Careers Events to Richard so he can collate them.

Date of Next Meeting: Tuesday 26th January 2016, 1.30pm to 4pm, Venue: Northbrook College, Broadwater Campus in Worthing

Member updates: Worthing and Adur Councils, National Careers Service and CRC (Surrey and Sussex Probation)