Salvation Army expands its employment service into Greater Manchester for jobseekers

Salvation Army service that helps people find and stay in work is expanding its provision into Greater Manchester as more job seekers need support to find employment.

The church and charity’s Employment Plus team, which provides tailored employability support, already operates throughout the North West and will now be covering areas of Greater Manchester during its first phase roll out into the region including Bolton, Wigan, Oldham and Rochdale.

Peter Maybury, Regional Manager for The Salvation Army’s Employment Plus said: “Our Employment Plus service seeks to help people who are unemployed, underemployed and economically inactive; people who want work and can work but for multiple reasons are unable to find and keep work. We see thousands of people who are being held back by the job market for reasons that are very often beyond their control. People who have had to stop work to care for loved ones, people who have had their own long term health problems and people trying to rebuild their lives after being homeless. People can find that the job market has moved on while they have been ill or caring for others.

“Our Employment Development Co-ordinators work to transform lives through specialist support, doing this via a tailored, person-centred approach, helping people to identify what skills they have and what roles would suit them. We support people into quality work, not just any job, giving them the encouragement and confidence to achieve their goals and have hope for, and build, their future.”

Official figures state that there are 1.45 million unemployed people but an analysis by The Salvation Army argues that the ‘real unemployment’ figure is actually 3.2 million.

To be classed as unemployed you must have actively sought work within the last four weeks and are available to start work within the next two weeks.

However, that classification does not include people who want to work but cannot actively search for a job for reasons usually beyond their control such as lack of affordable childcare or adult social care, lack of up-to-date skills and homelessness.

Employment Development Co-ordinators, which make up part of The Salvation Army’s Employment Plus team, help jobseekers overcome or manage barriers to finding and staying in work, help with writing CVs, job applications, training opportunities and confidence building.

The one-to-one sessions across Greater Manchester are available to anyone who is struggling to find work and referrals can be made through agencies such as Citizen’s Advice and the Job Centre. People can also turn up to book an appointment or drop-in to see if one is available.

The Salvation Army’s Employment Plus provision takes place in: