Following the end of the European Social Fund in September 2023 and the start of the Employment and Skills strand of UK Shared Prosperity Fund in April 2024 there is a gap period of 6 months where no external grant funding was available for the continuation of the Liverpool City Region Ways to Work Programme, which includes the Wirral Ways to Work programme. An application was made to the Liverpool City Region Combined Authority for Strategic Investment Fund funding to cover this gap period, which was successful.

The Director of Regeneration and Place has agreed to approve the allocation of the Strategic Investment Funds funding as set out in paragraph 4.1 of the attached report. 

The Ways to Work Programme is helping to address worklessness in Wirral. Wirral is an area which has had persistent levels of worklessness exceeding regional and national averages for many years. The Wirral Ways to Work programme has been identified as an essential activity in the Economic Strategy 2021-2026 to tackle the level of worklessness across the borough. The services deliver accessible community-based services which ensures 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 Wirral Ways to Work Programme. This option would leave a significant gap in Employment Support Services across the borough and would also impact the delivery of the wider Ways to Work Programme managed by the Liverpool City Region Combined Authority.