Insight: Place-based employment support. Embedded in communities, focused on work.

We continue our series marking five years of delivering the Department for Work and Pensions Restart Scheme by exploring the importance of place-based delivery. Anna Warner, Senior+ Partnership Manager, explains how community integration and local partnerships are helping us respond to the needs of jobseekers across the North East:

Reed in Partnership's Restart Scheme delivery across the North East is built on a simple principle: sustainable job outcomes are achieved not only through expert employment support, but through strong connections to wider community services that can help individuals overcome their barriers to work.

As a Partnership Manager, I work with local authorities, voluntary and community organisations, housing providers, health services and specialist support agencies, so that the Restart Scheme is deeply embedded within local community networks. The aim is to ensure participants can access tailored, holistic support that reflects the realities of their lives.

A bedrock of this approach is our delivery of Community Corners. These regular sessions bring trusted local organisations and specialist providers into our Restart Scheme offices, creating informal and welcoming spaces where participants can meet experts and access important advice.

Each session responds to the needs we are seeing locally, with partners offering support on issues including fuel poverty, debt, housing, digital inclusion and English for Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL). By inviting participants to "take a seat, have a cuppa, and have a chat", Community Corners make specialist support easier to access and help people address challenges that may be affecting their ability to find and sustain work.

Where we identify a common challenge across a local cohort of participants, my job is to bring together those that can help. In Gateshead, over a third of households live below the poverty line. With unemployment a primary cause of poverty, we have joined forces with Gateshead Council's Tackling Poverty Partnership. Together we are helping shape local approaches to poverty reduction by sharing insight from Restart Scheme participants experiencing financial hardship. Contributions have informed discussions around food insecurity, fuel poverty, welfare support, financial inclusion and access to community services.

We have also been exploring the impact of the housing benefits trap, collaborating with Tyne Housing to better understand how concerns about changes to benefits can prevent individuals from entering or progressing in work. These discussions have focused on identifying practical solutions and improving advice services that support sustainable employment outcomes.

Working alongside the North East Migration Partnership, we have contributed to projects aimed at improving employment opportunities for people with ESOL needs. This included helping develop employer research to better understand employers' readiness and confidence in recruiting individuals with ESOL support needs, highlighting opportunities to unlock an often-underutilised talent pool.

Transport is another significant barrier, particularly in the North East’s rural and coastal communities. We have worked with transport providers to share participant and employer experiences of affordability, connectivity and route availability, informing decisions about route planning and timetabling.

My role also involves delivering additional social value, through a range of community-focused projects. We have delivered three-day employability programmes for secondary school students at Walbottle Academy and Durham Johnston School, through our partnership with Speakers for Schools, helping young people better understand the skills and behaviours valued by employers.

Place-based employment support works best when its connections with the community are thoroughly embedded in service delivery. Our partnership-driven model connects participants through networks that can help them best. It enables us to address barriers that conventional employment support alone cannot always resolve.

Its success is playing an important role in supporting thousands of jobseekers move towards employment, strengthening community networks and contributing to wider social and economic outcomes across the region.