25 April 2008 – One week to go until nominations close for national awards celebrating employment success stories

Only one week remains to nominate companies and individuals for the first annual Local Employment Partnership (LEP) Awards, with entries closing on Friday 2 May 2008. 

The six category awards, to be presented at the Oval in London on 1 July, celebrate and recognise the outstanding contributions made by employers, employees and partners involved in LEPs – partnerships which aim to help 250,000 long-term unemployed into sustainable work by December 2010.

They will be judged by a panel of employment experts drawn from the private and public sector and mark the first full year of the new partnership approach across England, Wales and Scotland.

Minister of State for Employment and Welfare Reform, Stephen Timms, said:

“The Local Employment Partnership Awards will give employers the opportunity to showcase some of the excellent work they have been doing to help disadvantaged people into work, as well as tell the stories of employees whose lives are being transformed through the scheme. I hope employers and partners will consider whether they or one of their LEP employees would be eligible to enter.”

The award is open to LEP employers, partners involved in delivering LEPs and to people who have found work through the local partnerships. 
Entries can be submitted online through the dedicated awards website (www.jobcentreplus.gov.uk/up) until the closing date of Friday 2 May 2008.

The judging panel will be chaired by the Minister of State for Employment and Welfare Reform, Stephen Timms.  Panel members include:

• John Cridland, Deputy Director General CBI;
• Chris Humphries, Chief Executive, Commission for Employment and Skills;
• Frances O’Grady, Deputy General Secretary TUC;
• David Lammy, Minister for Skills;
• Jackie Orme, Chief Executive, CIPD;
• Helen Reynolds, Acting Chief Executive, Recruitment and Employment Federation .

Notes to Editors

The Awards Categories

• Employer award for best practice in recruitment;
• Employer award for best career progression;
• Employer award for work-life balance;
• Individual award for overcoming barriers to employment;
• Individual Award for outstanding achievement in training;
• Partnership award for best practice in partnership working.

Local Employment Partnerships (LEPs) are a ‘deal’ between Government and employers, with Government taking responsibility by preparing people for work and working with employers in a new, more collaborative way:

• The Government, through Jobcentre Plus and its partners, gets disadvantaged people ready for work;
• Employers with vacancies give them a fair shot at the job, through their recruitment processes, interviews, work placements, work trials and mentoring.

To date over 600 employers (April 2008) have committed to LEPs.

Jobcentre Plus, part of the Department for Work and Pensions, brings together employment and benefit services for people of working age and is a key element in the Government's objectives to help people based on ‘Work for those who can, support for those who cannot’. It provides a professional and modern service to meet the diverse needs of employers and those seeking work, including:

• Personal advisers to provide practical support and advice to help those in need find and keep work, including training provision and benefits guidance;
• A dedicated service to support employers in filling their vacancies quickly and successfully, including the ability to place jobs online;
• Ability to search for jobs both online and over the phone through Jobpoints in Jobcentre Plus offices, the Jobseeker Direct phone line and through the; website
• Swift, secure and professional access to benefits for those entitled to them.

Customers can access Jobcentre Plus services through around 1,000 locations across Great Britain, including over 800 newly refurbished Jobcentre Plus offices. Touch-screen terminals and Customer Access Phones are also available in a further 120 sites such as libraries and local authority premises. Jobcentre Plus works with over 275,000 employers to place 17,000 people into work every week. Over 400,000 vacancies are listed each week on its website and more than 4m job search requests are received, making it the number one UK recruitment website.

For further information on the services that Jobcentre Plus provides employers and people of working age visit www.jobcentreplus.gov.uk

 

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