Delivering in North Wales
Delivery will commence in October 2009, with the contract running for five years. Serco will assist thousands of long-term unemployed people into work across North, Mid and South East Wales each year. The contract will cover Anglesey, Gwynedd, Conwy, Denbighshire, Flintshire, Wrexham, Powys, Monmouth, Torfaen, Newport, Cardiff and Vale of Glamorgan.
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 provider network includes: Remploy, Holyhead Opportunities Trust, North Wales Training, Vale of Glamorgan Council and BTCV Enterprises. Serco will manage and support the network from regional hubs in Cardiff and Rhyl.
Flexible New Deal will provide significant support for the increasing number of individuals claiming Jobseeker's Allowance. It will focus on those who have been unemployed for over twelve months, a figure that currently stands at 2,300 in this region. 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 the industries worst-hit by the recession - such as the manufacturing and services industries - to utilise their transferable skills.
Gareth Matthews, Director for Wales, said:
"Serco is delighted to have secured this contract in North Wales, Powys and South East Wales. We are excited at the prospect of working across such a diverse area which incorporates many of the rural communities of Wales and its largest cities. The region includes major employers of national and international standing, and yet also faces some significant challenges.
"Many of these areas have suffered from high levels of unemployment, even before the recent recession. Our partnership approach to Flexible New Deal will help meet both the economic and social challenges across the region. Our response in support of employer recruitment needs will ensure people have the skills and work ethic essential to fill their vacancies. We will work with long-term unemployed people, their families and their communities to help them to secure a better and brighter future.
"We will align our delivery of Flexible New Deal with existing initiatives, locking into the City Strategy Pathfinder in Rhyl, and working in support of the Welsh Assembly's Mon Menai and North Wales Coast Strategic Regeneration Areas. Our challenge, focus and priority will be on delivery - working with our partner organisations to support individuals to secure and sustain employment. Our approach to tackling long-term unemployment will complement the Welsh Assembly Government's own policies for getting people back to work, and will help them to lead Wales out of recession."
- Delivering in North, Mid and South Wales (pdf 38Kb) [PDF, 51 KB]