Today, Friday 19 April 2024, the Prime Minister has unveiled a series of welfare reforms he wishes to roll out if the Conservative government wins the next general election.
In response to his proposal Paul Cheal, CEO of the Big Issue Group, said: “Like the Prime Minister, we believe that, with the right approach, people can be moved into sustainable employment.
“However, we believe the solution to ensuring people facing barriers to work find sustainable and fulfilling employment is to put in place measures and programmes that offer bespoke support for individuals on a case by case basis.
“We launched Big Issue Recruit (BIR), our specialist recruitment service, in 2022, with a very clear objective: to give marginalised people the same access to job opportunities as everyone else. BIR is a person-centred service, supporting individuals pre, during and post-employment. Our Job Coaches work closely with all candidates to ensure they are upskilled in appropriate areas and equipped with the tools required to successfully move into, and sustain, employment. Our candidates range from prison leavers, caregivers, those with skills gaps, to people experiencing social, health, financial or digital barriers to work. We recently reported more than £755,000 of social value in BIR’s first year of operation. To date, BIR has registered and supported 229 candidates with 102 securing employment.
“We have shown that, with the right approach we can get the right people with the right skills into sustainable employment. We would urge the government to review our model to make sure that their welfare reforms do not leave those facing barriers to work out in the cold.”
For further comment, please email press@bigissue.com.
