New £50m North East scheme to get over 13,000 people back into work aims to break joblessness cycle

A £50 million project to break the cycle of joblessness could help thousands of North East people with disabilities and health conditions get into work, it is hoped.

The region’s leaders have signed off plans to launch a new Connect to Work programme, aimed at supporting at least 13,500 people to get a job over the next three to four years – and to stay in employment. North East mayor Kim McGuinness said that the scheme, funded by the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP), marked a “real step forward for devolution” by taking local control over employment support services.

The Connect to Work project, first announced earlier this month as part of a package of measures to reduce child poverty, was formally backed by the North East Combined Authority’s (NECA) cabinet in Morpeth on Tuesday. It will work with employers and healthcare services to offer faster and more tailored one-to-one support for people with disabilities, physical or mental health issues, and other multiple and complex barriers to sustained employment.

The unemployment rate in the North East is 4.8%, which equates to 60,000 working age people who are unemployed. But a quarter of the region’s working age population, 25.2%, is classed as economically inactive – a rate that is higher among women (28.1%) than men (22.2%).

The figures equate to 174,700 women and 134,600 men across Northumberland, Tyne and Wear, and County Durham and the main reason for economic inactivity is long-term sickness, which has increased over the past five years and now accounts for almost one third of those numbers. There are currently 107,100 people in the area who are economically inactive due to long-term sickness, of which 56,300 are male and 50,800 are female, with the most common reason being depression, bad nerves, or anxiety.

Ms McGuinness said that the Connect to Work programme could be “transformative” for many people trapped out of work and expressed hopes that it could reach many more than the “quite modest” 13,500 target. It comes alongside news this week that the North East will be a trailblazer area for the Government’s new plan to “get Britain working again”, which will see Jobcentres replaced by a new National Jobs and Careers Service, and receive extra funding as an “NHS accelerator” to stop people falling out of work due to ill health.

The mayor told Tuesday’s NECA meeting: “It is a real step forward for devolution. It is a real sign of doing things differently and an acknowledgement that the Jobcentre model we have had before just hasn’t given the support needed for people stuck in this cycle of ill health and economic inactivity. We hope that by doing things differently and bringing devolution of these services to our region we will be able to make a difference and give access to opportunity.”

The part of the North East with the highest rate of economic inactivity currently is South Tyneside (31%), followed by Newcastle (28.1%) and Northumberland (26.1%). Meanwhile, the lowest rate is in County Durham (23%).

South Tyneside Council leader Tracey Dixon said that politicians had to address the “persistent inactivity” holding back the region’s economy and that the Connect to Work system would be a voluntary programme offering a “carrot not stick” approach. She added that the aim is to get the project set up to receive its first referrals in June or July next year.

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