JETS is soaring and breaking all targets

An employment programme set up to support people who lost their jobs in the pandemic has helped more than 3,000 clients back into work.

The Local London Work and Health Programme: Job Entry Targeted Support (JETS) service has also met all its Government-set targets.

Cllr Darren Rodwell, Chairman of Local London said: “The JETS programme continues to deliver positive results for unemployed people in East London.

“Whilst numerous sectors have been ravaged by the pandemic, JETS is helping people to understand their transferable skills and find alternatives, whilst also re-building their confidence and self-belief. It’s a brilliant programme.”

JETS is an employment programme for people who have been out of work and claiming Universal Credit or New Style Jobseeker’s Allowance for at least 13 weeks.

The East London JETS team is made up of dedicated staff, some of whom were made unemployed in the pandemic themselves and have shown a great example by moving into a different type of role from their previous work.

Since launching in October 2020, Jobcentre Plus has referred thousands of people to it, a consequence of the damaging impact that Covid has had on East London.

Thanks to the scheme, which provides up to 6 months of support from employment advisers, 3,201 people to date from across the eight Local London boroughs and Bromley have successfully returned to work.

The programme, which is delivered on behalf of Local London by Maximus UK, also provides help with IT skills, job searching, CV writing, interview support and support to consider different employment sectors, routes and ways of working including home working. Clients can also access mental health support to develop self-belief and self-motivation and build confidence.

The Covid impact on Local London

• More than a quarter of the Local London workforce have either lost their job or were furloughed during the pandemic, a figure considerably above the Greater London and wider UK average.
• For many residents working in London’s foundational economy – particularly around retail and hospitality – the impact of the pandemic was a sharp increase in the precarity of work.
• Sectors such as construction, manufacturing, hospitality and retail –disproportionately represented in Local London – were most significantly affected by the pandemic.
• Research from the Joseph Rowntree Foundation found that four Local London boroughs (Barking and Dagenham, Newham, Waltham Forest and Enfield) were likely to be among the twenty most heavily hit areas – economically – in the country.
• Young people – Research by Volterra, commissioned by London Councils predicts the 16-24 age group will be the hardest hit sub-group for unemployment by 2022 making up around a third of jobless Londoners. More than 45,000 of that 147,000 will live in the Local London area.
• In respect of our general population, the unemployment rate is predicted to remain persistently high for longest, according to the same research. Local London is forecast to be home to some of the worst hit boroughs both in absolute (Newham with 25,300 unemployed residents is the 2nd worst hit) and relative (Waltham Forest with a peak unemployment rate of 15.0% is the worst hit) terms.

For more information about JETS, visit the programme website.

JETS is funded by the Department for Work and Pensions.