Service Birmingham claims it is on target to recruit 720 people from "some of the most disadvantaged communities in the city” by 1 April 2013 – 126 of them this year alone.
According to our sister site www.publictechnology.net, in sharp contrast to now cancelled plans to offshore staff, the joint venture between the UK’s biggest local authority and supplier Capita is targeting the long-term unemployed, lone parents, disabled people and those living in parts of the city “blighted by social and economic deprivation” for hiring purposes.
Around forty of the latest recruits are homeworkers – based at home but providing frontline services as part of Service Birmingham’s contact centre operation, while many of the group work flexible shifts, fitting their working schedules around their caring responsibilities.
The initiative is part of the Jobs and Skills Charter between the council and Service Birmingham, which was signed last year and which actions Brum’s employment access team to work with local recruiters in the city to identify potential candidates and forward them to Service Birmingham for interview as part of the company’s commitment to create jobs in the city.
Welcoming the success of the scheme Deputy Leader of Birmingham City Council, Councillor Paul Tilsley, claimed that the Jobs and Skills Charter was helping to secure decent jobs for Birmingham people from groups that traditionally struggle to enter the labour market.
"It is important that we do everything we can to ensure that all people have the opportunity to work, but this is considerably more difficult if you are disabled, have caring responsibilities or have been out of the labour market for some time," he said. "This charter is delivering on the ambition we set it and the success of the recruits shows that no group of people should ever be overlooked by employers.”
