Lancashire is to receive \u00a338.8m to help get more people back into work in the county.<\/p>\n
It is one of four areas to be given a share of \u00a3100m of government funding as part of the Connect to Work programme, with Lancashire the only place in the North West.<\/p>\n
The scheme aims to help those who are out of work due to health conditions, disabilities or complex needs to find employment.<\/p>\n
Minister for Employment Alison McGovern, on a visit to Preston Jobcentre Plus, said: “This latest funding will make a real difference in the lives of people across the country.”<\/p>\n
McGovern said: “We’ve set a goal for the country to get to an 80% employment rate. In Preston it’s about 70% so a little bit behind. <\/p>\n
“We want places like Lancashire to be a major part of our economic story.”<\/p>\n
As part of her visit, she also talked to job centre staff and some of those who use the service.<\/p>\n
Julie Griffin, 23, from Blackpool said finding work had been challenging.<\/p>\n
She said: “When I was not working, I would just stay at home in bed and then I’d get really anxious and frightened to the point I wouldn’t go out.”<\/p>\n
After being supported by Jobcentre staff she is now working, and is urging others in a similar position to get help.<\/p>\n
“It’s all worth it in the end,” she said. <\/p>\n
Under the Connect to Work programme in the county, 11,000 participants will be supported across Lancashire County Council, Blackburn with Darwen and Blackpool council areas.<\/p>\n
The government said changes to job centres would mean staff had more time to support people because they would be using better technology.<\/p>\n
McGovern added: “Changing job centres and providing funding for towns and cities will make sure everyone is included in our economic plan.”<\/p>\n
She also said she wanted job centres to work with businesses in the county to provide good jobs.<\/p>\n
She said: “I want the likes of BAE and others to be recruiting through the DWP and helping people who might be perhaps overlooked to really get a job and get a start.<\/p>\n
“I know that will set Lancashire well up for the future and its economic growth.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Lancashire is to receive \u00a338.8m to help get more people back into work in the county. It is…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":853,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[38],"tags":[28,134],"class_list":{"0":"post-852","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-jobs","8":"tag-business","9":"tag-jobs"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/852","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=852"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/852\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/853"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=852"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=852"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=852"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}