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Refugee & Asylum Seekers: “Employability of Refugees, BME Communities and the Long-term Unemployed: Issues and Challenges”
Thursday 21st July saw SPAT-C's open discussion forum on the theme “Employability of Refugees, BME Communities and the Long-term Unemployed: Issues and Challenges”
With 36% unemployment among refugees (7 times the national average), half of the UK's refugee jobseekers are unaware of Jobcentre Plus and New Deal, yet 30% brought professional skills and experience with them (Nurses, teachers, doctors). 80% have no English ability on arrival
Prof. Dan Finn , University of Portsmouth set the context with a keynote address entitled “Welfare to Work: Tackling Inactivity and Jobcentre Plus”. Highlighting Unemployment, ‘Worklessness' and Economic Inactivity, he depicted the impacts on poverty, ill health, youth disaffection, crime and family breakdown; variations and concentrations in cities; impacts on black and minority ethnic communities; and consequent impacts on refugees.
Government Strategy, Jobcentre Plus ‘Ethnic Minority Employment Agenda', Refugee Employment Strategy, local projects Key to making employment initiatives effective, No simple ‘blueprint' of best practice but a ‘toolkit' of good practice that could be adapted to local circumstances |
Left S Sachdeva, Right Dan Finn |
Stealing the show, Employability Forum Director, Patrick Wintour and colleague Beryl Randall journeyed from London to speak on links with employers and JobCentre Plus strategy for refugees, and how Progress measured up to the plans set out in its new Refugee Employment Strategy, “Working to Rebuild Lives” .
It took the form of a lively interactive discussion - with contributors from the Sheffield refugee community – culminating in the Director's undertaking that their comments would be put to the Home Secretary on his visit to Sheffield the following day.
Strategic Aims of “Working to Rebuild Lives”:
• move more unemployed refugees into Jobcentre Plus support quickly after they receive refugee status; and
• ensure that Jobcentre Plus gives them the help they need to find sustainable employment
They concluded by saying the next steps in the strategy centred around local stakeholder partnerships, the transition to refugee status, more unemployed refugees into Jobcentre Plus offices with appropriate support into work, strengthening the role of NGOs and the voluntary sector to help refugee professionals and pilots with Home Office SUNRISE funding.
Introducing a local Sheffield perspective, Daljit Kaur (Black Community Forum) rounded the presentations off with the theme, “Local community experiences on the issue of employability”.
As an excellent demonstration of local practice, Sheffield project, Positive-Negatives, gave a screening of a home-produced video presentation: “Black communities & employment in creative industries”.
The Seminar took place at Forum House, Spital Hill.
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