The Director of Regeneration and Place agreed to enter into a contract extension with Involve Northwest for the delivery of the Worklessness Support Service for a period of 12 months from 1 April 2024 to 31 March 2025, to the value of £1,108,749.

The Worklessness Support Service is helping to address worklessness in Wirral. Wirral is an area which has levels of worklessness exceeding regional and national averages. The Wirral Ways to Work programme has been identified as an essential activity in the Economic Strategy 2021-26 to tackle the level of worklessness across the borough. The Worklessness Support Service is a key element of the Ways to Work Programme delivering accessible community-based services which ensure that out of work residents are provided with the relevant 1:1 support to compete both for jobs currently available in the labour market and for future opportunities created through the wider regeneration programme. This programme is designed to focus on those furthest away from the labour market and in the most deprived communities in Wirral, complementing the mainstream services provided by the Department of Work and Pensions.

Do Nothing: The Council takes no action and did not extend the Worklessness Support Service. This option would leave a significant gap in Employment Support Services across the borough and would also impact the delivery of the wider LCR Ways to Work Programme managed by the Liverpool City Region Combined Authority. The Council would not be able to fulfil the output obligations of the LCR UKSPF Phase 3 for Employment & Skills.

Re-commission the service: The Council made provisions within the original tender for the Worklessness Support Service to extend the contract, subject to securing future funding to ensure continuity of delivery.