Crisis Resilience Fund: Improving Financial Resilience through Employability Support programme

The Employment and Skills Team has been awarded Crisis Resilience Funding which will be used to support those who are struggling financially due to a lack of or low paid employment to make sure that: • they are able to access all relevant benefits, • they can budget their income appropriately (manage debt, household bills, rent/mortgage) • they know how to access wider support services and • develop employability skills that can help them with job search and job readiness to improve income. The Service Provider will deliver functional skills training (IT, maths and English) and certificated learning in key skills that can facilitate swift access to work (e.g. CS cards (construction site), food hygiene, health and safety etc) to a minimum of 100 residents.

These core skills are fundamental to being able to access services, manage money and move into entry level employment swiftly. This is a partial continuation of an existing project and was previously delivered under the UK Shared Prosperity Fund (UKSPF).

It is considered that ESCG has the skills and capacity to deliver this programme at pace. It is considered unlikely that another organisation would be able to mobilise, recruit and train staff who are qualified to deliver functional skills and certificated learning within this timeframe. Extension option is subject to funding.