At this week’s meeting corporate wellbeing expert Alexis Garnaut-Miller of The Happiness Centre raved about the quality of the young graduates she’s taken on for 6 months’ work experience, at no cost to her, via the government’s Future Jobs Fund Programme – the scheme pays for all their wages and National Insurance. London chocolatier Kirsty Jolie of Perfectly Tempered was also enthusiastic about the scheme and emailed details. Judging by these members’ feedback, it seems to be fantastic programme and a win-win situation for all, so I’ve summarised the details Kirsty emailed below for anyone who may be interested.

If you could offer work experience opportunities to young people at NO COST to you and with NO OBLIGATION to keep them on after, how many would you take?

Future Jobs Fund (FJF) is a new Department of Work and Pensions (DWP) initiative designed to give ‘real world’ work experience to eligible young (18-24) people with the programme paying all salary and NIC costs for 6 months. All the rules and standards are set by the DWP.

For employers wishing to expand but reluctant to invest in salary and training costs without first proving the worth of the candidates, or where new opportunities exist that would not otherwise be cost‐effective to entertain, this is an ideal solution. The young people involved have been claiming Job Seekers Allowance for a minimum of 26 weeks,

Home Training CIC (HTCIC) http://www.htcic.org/ to date has been the UK’s most successful independent contract delivery provider under the FJF programme. They will offer you a number of pre-screened candidates, matched to your requirements, and it is up to you to select the one/s you would like to engage. Thereafter, they provide the candidates with in-work mentoring and 5 e-learning courses (from a choice of 360), together with ongoing support for the participating employer. In addition they will be:

- Paying candidate wages (National Min Wage) for 25hrs per week for 26 weeks

- Paying the employer’s National Insurance contributions for the candidate(s).

How the FJF programme (through Home Training CIC) works:

• The candidate is confirmed as being eligible for the FJF programme (this is determined by Job Centre Plus based on the rules set by the DWP).
• The employer commits to employing the candidate on a temporary work-placement basis for a period of 26 weeks, for which HTCIC will reimburse gross salary to a maximum of 25 hours per week at National Minimum Wage.
• If the employer would like to pay more or engage the candidate for longer hours per week, this would be a cost to the employer.
• The employer commits to training the candidate (as necessary) for the job they have been employed to do.
• The candidate is required and expected to work for the full 26 weeks to complete the programme.
• The candidate is supported throughout the 26 week period by a coach/mentor from HTCIC, to address any difficulties if and when they arise and to encourage success during their period of employment.
• The employer will also provide regular feedback to the coach/mentor and HTCIC to make sure that the candidate has integrated successfully, or to assist with any problems that may arise relating to the employee.
• The employer will provide a record of hours worked, time off (authorised or unauthorised), etc., from which the salary for the candidate will be reimbursed regularly to the employer’s bank account by BACS transfer (on dates to be agreed).

If you are interested in taking on young employees via the FJF programme visit www.hometraininginitiative.com/partners_futurejobs.htm or contact Home Training CIC by calling 0844 888 7640 or emailing b.burden@htcic.org