Blog

Empowering communities to find local solutions

16 Dec 2024

Julie Graham, CEO of Ingeus’ employment services, explains how the devolution of employability services will benefit local people.  

Employability services are entering a bold new future of devolution, empowering local accountable bodies to deliver tailored services that suit the specific needs of their communities.   

Different areas have different socio-economic challenges – and the people who understand these issues best are the ones on the ground. They know which employers are searching for staff, what the skills shortages are, and whether there are any specific societal problems in their area.  

Devolution will give groups of councils or local authorities the freedom to find their own creative solutions to deliver effective services. One example of devolution, starting in 2025, is Connect to Work, part of the Government’s new Get Britain Working Strategy. It will be a voluntary Supported Employment programme, connecting work, health and skills support across all of England and Wales. It will be delivered via grants across clusters of local authorities, who will lead the design of their local offer. This will be shaped around local services and priorities, to help remove barriers for unemployed people.  

At Ingeus, we have always recognised the benefits of localism. Our teams delivering our services live in the areas they are providing services – they too are local residents, and the people we support benefit from their local knowledge and quite often, their shared lived experiences. We have long been proud of our commitment to working with partners of all sizes, joining forces to deliver programmes in the employment, health, justice and youth sectors. Our partners include local authorities, combined bodies, public health services, charities and community groups. The whole is indeed greater than the sum of the parts.   

Our teams are local people working with local communities, we get to help people overcome barriers and progress, as well as leverage the resources of a larger company to support and empower smaller, grass-roots organisations grow and deliver more services at a local level. Enabling them to do what they do best.  Ingeus can work in the background, looking after the wider IT, compliance, governance, finance, HR and marketing. 

We currently work with 90 organisations in our supply chains, over a third of which are from the voluntary and community sector, and even more supporting partnerships. Contracts we deliver together with our partners include the Restart Scheme, Central London Works, Working Well (Work and Health Programme), Commissioned Rehabilitative Services (CRS), and Access to Work (Mental Health Support Service).  

Working with Ingeus can open doors for small organisations, we joined forces to launch a successful bid to deliver CRS with Midlands-based charity, The Recovery Foundation. The charity caught our attention when it was offering peer-led mental health groups to people on probation in Birmingham. They hadn’t put a large scale tender together before so we were able to help them participate and become part of an equal partnership.   

Partnering with the Restart Scheme enabled DailyStep English with opportunities for business growth, where they have been working with jobseekers to boost their English skills and gain accreditation with Continuing Professional Development (CPD) Service. 

Devolving services helps to create local wealth for local needs, building community pride and skills. Different services can be streamlined and integrated at local level to provide holistic support for residents, helping them to improve their health, wellbeing and employability skills.  

I am proud to be a member of the ERSA board, which shares ideas and expertise across employability service providers of all sizes. With our broad reach, Ingeus can share best practice from one area to another, pinpointing the most efficient methods for engaging with employers, reaching economically inactive people and tackling health problems. These are all common issues that local authorities will jointly face, and by sharing solutions, we can create a better impact for everyone.