West Midlands Region

Partnerships

Within the West Midlands, Jobcentre Plus works in partnership with a wide range of organisations from the public, private, voluntary and community sectors.

Much of our work is focused on helping people who face particular challenges in returning to work, including the long term unemployed, lone parents and people from more disadvantaged communities. In doing so, we work closely with partners engaged with specific client groups, including the homeless, people with disabilities, individuals with learning difficulties and offenders.

We also work closely with employers and employer representative organisations to help to fill vacancies and equip individuals with the appropriate skills for those jobs.

Background

(November 2010)

The West Midlands Region has a population of around 5.3 million people, of whom around 3.44 million are aged between 16 and 64. It comprises the counties of Staffordshire and Warwickshire, the unitary authorities of Herefordshire, Shropshire, Stoke on Trent and Telford and Wrekin and the seven metropolitan districts of Birmingham, Coventry, Dudley, Sandwell, Solihull, Walsall and Wolverhampton.

There are five Jobcentre Plus Districts in the region:

Birmingham and Solihull
Black Country (covering the local authority areas of Dudley, Sandwell, Walsall and Wolverhampton)
Coventry and Warwickshire
Staffordshire
The Marches (covering Herefordshire, Shropshire, Telford and Wrekin and Worcestershire).

Historically, employment in the West Midlands was dominated by manufacturing, including such famous brands as Rover, Jaguar, Wedgewood, JCB and Cadburys.

More recently, manufacturing has declined in importance and it now accounts for around 13% of jobs, although this is still amongst the highest proportions in England. In its place, the number of people working in service industries has increased significantly and this sector is now the mainstay of the West Midlands economy.

In the West Midlands:

Jobcentre Plus receives around 8,500 vacancies each week
76% of people of working age are economically active
Around 160,000 people are claiming Jobseeker’s Allowance
238,000 people are claiming Employment Support Allowance or Incapacity Benefits.