Two Islingtons: Understanding the Problem - Islington Council

4.2. In terms of poverty around 40% of 0-15 year olds are living in families on means tested
workless benefits, which represents 14,055 of a total of 35,453 Islington children aged 0-
15. There are over 16,500 children and young people aged 0-19 living in workless
families. Older people from BME groups are more likely to live in households below
national income level (31% compared with general figure of 20%) and are far more likely to
experience problems claiming benefits than White British (only 11% BME have NOT had
problems compared with 42% White). In Islington, the highest rate of people never having
worked is amongst the Bangladeshi community around 29%. This rate is proportionally
nine times that of White British residents and significantly higher than the Islington average
with is around 6%. A range of activities and actions has been in place to mitigate the
impact of the recession upon residents including
4.3. Islington Working, Islington Working for Parents and Adult and Community Learning
provide Islington’s main support services to helping local people become skilled,
employable and confident about finding work. The services work closely together to
ensure that there is a progression route towards getting and keeping a job and at the same
time offers a recruitment service to employers.
4.4. The Islington Working package of training and employment support assists a wide range
of Islington clients, offering paid work and work experience placements to Islington
residents. The worklessness programmes are targeted to address the needs of
disadvantaged communities with BME clients making up 68% or over of the total of those
receiving employment support or starting a paid job. Disabled clients make up 15% of
those receiving employment support. Activities have included Islington Working link officers
working with ‘Connect’ to roll out neighbourhood outreach and referral door knocking in
Finsbury Park while community ‘employment coaches’ are also working with out-reach
health workers and health centres. There are eight specialist parent advisers to delivery
new services to support lone parents with children under 7 and other parents with children
under 4 to help them work towards employability and to start planning towards
employment. The staff work very closely with benefits advisers, health workers and
children’s centre staff to ensure that parents receive their maximum benefits entitlement
and ‘better off’ calculations before entering work. To date the team have supported 627
parents and 141 have been referred for training.
4.5. During 2009/10 Islington engaged with 2,000 clients who were 44% female, 10% disabled
and 67% BME of which 50% had been out of work for 6 months or more. Over the year,
689 clients were successful in securing either paid employment or a substantial work
experience placement. 539 clients secured paid employment of 16 hours a week or more
through Islington Working, including 167 through the Future Jobs Fund project; a further 20
secured paid employment for less than 16 hours a week and 130 secured a work
experience placement. During 2010/11 to date a further 579 clients are being supported
including 142 parents with 102 gaining work. The service to deliver on this project is
through Islington Working for Parents.
4.6. The Adult and Community Learning (ACL) programme helps residents in the
development of functional and employability skills, including language skills, and referral to
projects that can assist with vocational training, job hunting skills and introductions to
employers with vacancies. The main educational partner is City and Islington College
(CIC). ACL and CIC are working together to deliver a new ESOL, literacy and numeracy
project funded through the Islington Strategic Partnership’s Social and Economic Well-
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