Greater Manchester to receive £10 million to support Live Well plan for employment support

Greater Manchester is one of eight Trailblazer areas to receive funding address health, inequality and support more people back into employment and will receive £10 million in government funding to advance plans.

The city-region’s funding will support its Live Well plan that joins up health, wellbeing and employment support at a local level to address inequality. The scheme was previously recognised in a government White Paper titled Get Britain Working, which set out reforms to employment support to address rising economic inactivity.

Mayor of Greater Manchester Andy Burnham said:

“For people to be working well, they have to be living well – and the current job support system cannot do that with a narrow, box-ticking focus.

“Greater Manchester has already got a proven track record of helping people back into work. Our focus is on names and not numbers, and on providing a more empowering, more supportive experience within the community.

“This trailblazer will enable us to build on strong foundations and develop Live Well on a bigger scale, so we can tackle the root causes of inequality and help more people get good jobs here in our city-region.”

Greater Manchester’s Working Well pilot scheme, which has been managed at a local level, has helped around 27,500 people into new jobs, and helped another 76,500 to access training opportunities and support to prepare them for employment. With nearly half a million people are out of work and 137,000 of Greater Manchester residents on long term sick, estimates are that the additional funding to help overcome health and social barriers holding people back could bring 150,000 back into employment in the next five years.

Live Well centres and spaces will bring together NHS Primary Care facilities with the skills and employment support currently delivered through Job Centre Plus.

Embedded in local communities, they will offer social prescribing as well as other services, tailored to local need – from debt counselling, mental health services and help getting online to food banks, family hubs and social and sports clubs.

They will be run in partnership with social enterprises and the voluntary, community and faith organisations who know our residents best, providing practical wraparound help to overcome the everyday issues holding people back.

Live Well will be further supported by Greater Manchester’s Housing First approach which recognises that good health, good education, and good jobs cannot come without a good, permanent home. Live Well centres will offer housing advice and support for renters, including access to property checks and enforcement action against rogue landlords to legal advice to challenge wrongful evictions.