120,000 jobseekers supported by JETS

Today Reed in Partnership receives the last of over 120,000 jobseekers referred to us for employability support through our delivery of the Job Entry: Targeted Support (JETS) service in the North East, Yorkshire & Humber, East Midlands, South London and in Scotland.

The national JETS programme was established and funded by the Department of Work and Pensions as an extension of the Work and Health Programme in 2020 (and as a separate programme in Scotland) during the height of the Covid-19 pandemic to support people who had recently – and for many, unexpectedly – become unemployed.

It was a response to the unthinkable economic emergency caused by the pandemic and to support the needs of jobseekers and employers across the country. In just a few weeks, Reed in Partnership implemented the remote service in the depths of a national lockdown.

At Reed in Partnership, nearly 2,000 people, including Employment Advisers, Skills Trainers, Health & Wellbeing Coaches, plus our seven delivery partners in the North East, worked together to rapidly deliver a service that would bring work, and hope, to thousands of jobseekers.

Uncertain times

The disruption caused by the pandemic meant that the industries that many jobseekers using JETS had been working in for years were suddenly gone - with no indication of when, or if, people might return to work.

Many of these people had great skills and continuous employment experience but no recent history of having had to navigate the ever-changing jobs market. Frequent issues to address were: what job could they do now? What industry was still operating, or growing, and could provide sustainable employment? What would the impact be on their finances? And how did they even go about applying? For many, digital exclusion and not knowing how to apply for jobs online presented an extra barrier and cause of anxiety.

Unsurprisingly, sudden worklessness and the pandemic itself meant many people using JETS spoke of wellbeing issues they needed help with. Stress, lack of self-confidence and anxiety were common themes. Support to start working needed a wellbeing element too – to ensure that these issues did not create further barriers to being able to quickly find work again.

Paul Rose, a Health and Wellbeing Adviser for JETS in Scotland – tells us about the intensive health and wellbeing support we provide:

Supporting people through significant change

The JETS service supported each of the jobseekers using it as they explored new avenues and prepared to overcome significant changes to their working lives.

We equipped JETS participants with personally developed action plans, appointments every 10 days with an expert Employment Adviser, access to our Online Career Centre, health and wellbeing support, self-employment advice for those looking to set up themselves, much needed funding for travel and interview clothes and access to our local partners who could provide specialist support, such as with language or housing issues, if needed.

“They offered me an enormous amount of support,” recalls Tamara, who used our JETS service in the North East.

“It’s impacted my life incredibly I’m more financially stable now. I get up and I want to come to work, instead of just lying in bed, not feeling it and quite depressed. JETS gave me some sort of energy boost; it helped me through a lot.”

We also set up Career Routeways that could help those using JETS to work towards a job in a specific sector. This would involve partnering with relevant training providers and employers to help them quickly obtain the qualifications and experience they would need to enter new and more stable sectors. One example was our HGV Routeway – for Jessica, it helped her to start a driving job with a local firm that she loves.

“It’s made everything better. I’ve got money coming in, everybody’s happy at home. I’ve got a job that I really enjoy, I love driving. I didn’t think about going for these kind of jobs – if it wasn’t for Reed in Partnership putting it forward, I wouldn’t have even thought about it.

"I’m not struggling at all anymore.”

Extending help to more jobseekers

“Today marks the end of jobseekers being referred to JETS for support.” said Nick Morgan, Reed in Partnership’s Divisional Director for our employability services. “I’m really proud that we were able to play an important role in helping such a large number of people, so quickly.

“While the restrictions of the pandemic are becoming a distant memory, we have still seen people, whose livelihoods and careers have been interrupted or complicated by circumstances out of their control, coming to Reed in Partnership for help to get going again.

“Although no new people will access the service now, those who are currently using it will, over the next six months, continue to get the same high levels of dedicated support from our team.”