1. Personal Advisors: The emerging role in employment and skills
West London Working
Personal Advisors: The emerging role in employment and skills
23 June 2009
Graeme Caul

2. Overview
Who and what is West London Working?
Summary of WLW work programme
How West London Working is supporting Personal Advisers to make appropriate referrals and improve their understanding of support available

3. Who is West London Working?
Partners responsible for employment & skills
in West London
West London Alliance Local Authorities
Jobcentre Plus
Learning and Skills Council
London Development Agency
Employer led Board incl. BAA, Compass,
Arora Hotels
946,000 people of working age
63,000 employers
685,000 jobs
Strong economic growth between 1998 and 2004 with 3.2% increase in employment rate
69.8% employment rate, a down turn from 2004
115,000 people on work related benefits
282,000 estimated workless population
Estimated 85,000 children living in poverty
Concentrations of workless residents near major areas of employment growth
£190m total investment in employment and skills
£40m investment in employment specific services
£150m investment by LSC

4. Vision
To transform the coherence and effectiveness of the existing structure of skills and employment services in West London to deliver a sustainable increase in the number of residents in employment and a reduction in child poverty.
946,000 people of working age
63,000 employers
685,000 jobs
Strong economic growth between 1998 and 2004 with 3.2% increase in employment rate
69.8% employment rate, a down turn from 2004
115,000 people on work related benefits
282,000 estimated workless population
Estimated 85,000 children living in poverty
Concentrations of workless residents near major areas of employment growth
£190m total investment in employment and skills
£40m investment in employment specific services
£150m investment by LSC

5. What is West London Working Doing?
A flavour of our work so far:
West London Directory - & investigating/piloting tracking
Investment and Target Group - commissioning
Performance Rating
Personal Advice & Outreach
Building Employability Pathways
Work Focused English as a Second Language

6. What is West London Working Doing?
And further work to come:
Business Partner programme
Further work to develop and publicise a coherent employer offer
Further work on commissioning

7. Supporting Personal Advice
How is West London Working supporting Personal Advisers to make appropriate referrals and improve their understanding of support available?

8. Supporting Personal Advice
Developing a performance rating that will:
Benchmark providers and help them identify areas for improvement
Give a transparent rating of Provider’s track record
Assess customer satisfaction
Client Satisfaction Questionnaire to be used by suppliers of services that help people into work
Employer Satisfaction Questionnaire
Will help personal advisors advise residents by giving a transparent service rating, and helps identify which providers to refer to

9. Supporting Personal Advice
The West London Directory of Employment Services:
Available at
Designed to make sense of the 200+ different organisations in West London delivering multiple contracts of provision that target different geographies and different client groups
Help personal advisors access the right support to help people into work
Help service delivers understand who they can link with to customise their services to residents

10. Supporting Personal Advice
Developing a Confederation of Providers that will:
Open new channels of communications channels across West London between delivery organisations and strategy makers
Allow policy makers to learn what’s happening from the ground up – what works when tackling worklessness?
Develop trust between providers to develop partnerships and open up referral channels
Promote capacity building support
Your unique offer
Delivering for a prime contractor

11. Supporting Personal Advice
To pilot innovative methods of personal support to increase the number of people that successfully achieve their goal through accessing skills and employment services.
To create an innovative approach to outreach that links frontline staff delivering other public and third sector services with employment and skills provision.

12. Supporting Personal Advice What are we testing?
What is the most effective way to reach individuals to help them access skills and employment support? e.g. through other NDC services, through Adult Education, through RSLs?
How do we create a personalised journey for individuals, that makes best use of ‘skills and employment’ and ‘non skills’ provision?
Does referring an individual between a number of services work? What are the challenges?
What is the best method of providing personal support? e.g. What is ideal case load number, when does a personal advisor need to intervene, what frequency, what interventions work?

13. Questions?