First Choice Homes are helping more and more people into work

A new report is championing the work of housing associations in combatting unemployment, just as First Choice Homes Oldham celebrates another year of great success with its own employment service.

The findings of the report are echoed by First Choice’s Directions Team, which has seen the number of job starts for its customers more than double from 122 during 2016/17, to 264 during 2017/18.

The new report by the Institute of Policy Research says the Government could do more to help.

The report estimates that the housing sector spends £70m a year helping the unemployed into work, while the Government spends approximately £130m a year.

But it also says that national employment and skills policies have failed to engage effectively with housing associations even though housing association tenants are more likely to be unemployed and live in poverty.

Michelle Tomlin, employment and skills manager at First Choice, said: “As the report highlights, housing associations are well-placed to help people secure, sustain and to progress in work or undertake training or placements.

"At First Choice we endeavour to understand our residents’ needs, they really want to work so we’re very proud of what we’ve achieved in just two years, and they should be too.

“The success of our Directions service shows that as a housing association we are not simply about maintaining and improving homes but that we also take a wider approach and consider our customers’ health and wellbeing as well as their employment prospects.

"In turn, our work helps to improve Oldham by supporting the local economy and local businesses as we provide a free employment service for them too.

“Moving forward, we will continue to build thriving communities by ensuring our customers and their neighbours can add to and make the most of their skills.

"But, we can always do with extra help to place more people into work so it will be interesting to see how the Government responds to the IPPR research.”

Directions was created in 2016 as a proactive measure to ensure that with the changes in Universal Credit and the benefits cap, customers had a way to find suitable and sustainable employment and avoid financial hardship.

The team offers one-to-one support, training, work placements and volunteering opportunities and is made up of motivated and passionate advisors with backgrounds in welfare and employment.

Since launch it has increased from two team members to eight, including an apprentice.

What’s more, the team celebrated a Women in Housing award at the end of last year for Excellence in Career Development.

For more information about the Directions service, email: directions@fcho.co.uk or call 0161 393 5550.

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