States jobseekers' fund pours over £620k into community jobs

Tuesday 02 May 2017

A States scheme to fund short-term paid work for jobseekers has created over 141 new jobs in four years.

The Community Jobs Fund was set up in 2013 to enable young people, or the long-term unemployed, to get paid for roles that will benefit the Island community, whilst also developing new skills.

Since then, over 60 community organisations, charities and private sector organisations have taken part, with the States having paid out £627,564 so far towards the scheme.

So far, 141 jobs have been created across the four years the scheme has been in motion, with 76 in 2014 alone, accounting for a £327,526 pay-out.

Eight churches benefited from the fund and an additional eight States of Jersey departments, ranging from Fire and Rescue to Education also received help. Cultural organisations also enjoyed the support of Back to Work clients, including the Jersey Portuguese Events committee and Jersey Heritage.

Jersey Hospice Care CEO Emelita Robbins told Express that the palliative care charity had a “really positive experience of the scheme” and would recommend it to other organisations:

"I think the Community Jobs Fund Back to Work is a great workplace initiative. In addition to paying the wages of the candidate looking to return to work for up to six months, there is money available for training to support them. It gives both employers and prospective employees a chance to get to know each other before a permanent contract is offered.”

Pictured: Assistant Minister for Social Security, Deputy Graham Truscott, praised the scheme for "making a real difference in our community".

The States have renewed their calls for interested employers to get in touch about how they can help. Deputy Graham Truscott, Social Security Assistant Minister, commented:

“The key aim of all Back to Work initiatives is to support jobseekers into sustainable employment. The Community Jobs Fund helps to achieve this by supporting jobseekers to gain work experience and develop their skills.

“Furthermore it’s making a real difference in our community by giving charities and organisations the chance to carry out a variety of community based projects which they wouldn’t have been able to do without this funding. Since we launched the scheme we have helped over 50 organisations create new roles, ranging from support workers to caretakers. Organisations can still apply for the fund by providing details of the role they would like to create and how the community would benefit as a result.”