Delivering in Greater Manchester
Serco Group Plc (Serco), the international services company, is pleased to announce that it has been selected by the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) as the preferred bidder to deliver Flexible New Deal in Greater Manchester.
Delivery will commence in October 2009, with the contract running for five years. Serco will assist thousands of long-term unemployed people into work in Greater Manchester each year. The contract will cover the boroughs of Manchester, Bolton, Bury, Rochdale, Oldham, Tameside, Stockport, Trafford, Salford and Wigan.
Serco has designed a unique model for Flexible New Deal that will ensure individual jobseekers receive the effective and appropriate support they require at a local level. Serco will be the prime contractor and ensure effective delivery of the programme through a network of the best welfare-to-work providers, integrating them effectively with local, community-based organisations.
Our Greater Manchester provider network includes: Manchester College, Groundwork, Bolton Wise, The Big Life Company, Standguide and the Kashmir Youth Project. Serco will manage the network of private, public and third sector providers from a regional hub in Manchester city centre.
Flexible New Deal will provide significant support for the increasing number of people claiming Jobseeker's Allowance. It will focus on those who have been unemployed for over twelve months, a figure that currently stands at 5,000 in Greater Manchester. Support will be work-focused, combining career-planning and jobsearch skills with specialist services such as debt advice and top-up training. This includes assisting people who worked in industries worst-hit by the recession to utilise their transferable skills.
Gurbux Singh, Contract Director for Greater Manchester, said:
"Serco is delighted to have secured this contract in Greater Manchester. We are excited at the prospect of working in an area which is the business hub and commercial centre of the North of England. The region includes major employers of national and international standing, and yet also faces some significant challenges.
"Greater Manchester contains wards with some of the highest rates of unemployment in the UK, such as Wythenshawe and Ardwick, with unemployment particularly high for people from black and minority ethnic groups. As a region, Greater Manchester has been disproportionately hit by the recession, with unemployment 30% higher than the national average in some areas. Flexible New Deal will provide an opportunity to respond to some of these entrenched, deep-seated challenges, enabling long-term unemployed people - those furthest from the labour market - to secure a better and brighter future. This will benefit not just the individuals themselves but also our wider community.
"We will align our approach with existing initiatives, locking into the City Strategy Pathfinder for Greater Manchester and the Regional Development Agency's Workless Strategy. The recent decision to grant Manchester City Region Status will further enable us to deliver an effective programme across Local Authority boundaries. Our challenge, focus and priority will be on delivery - working with our partner organisations to support individuals to secure and sustain employment."
- Delivering in Greater Manchester (pdf, 51Kb) [PDF, 50 KB]