These UK Shared Prosperity Fund projects in Edinburgh are under the People and Skills theme.
This theme reduces the barriers some people face to employment and support them to move towards employment and education.
It has two main elements:
Apex helps those with a history of offending or at risk of offending to progress into training and work.
Apex delivers a new sector-based skills academy called Strides, targeting sectors that are experiencing recruitment challenges.
Individuals get one-to-one support, life and career skills, and access to training and sector-based placements.
The project also engages with employers to understand their needs and skills gaps.
Capital City Partnership is funded to provide the Macmillan Skills Hub, a local corridor of employability support in an area of high deprivation in the north of Edinburgh with a focus on connecting with the Waterfront development regeneration. Since the establishment of the Skills Hub, plans for the Forth Green Freeport have been confirmed, which promise 50,000 new jobs spread across several sites including Leith.
Additional funding granted for Year 3 is creating a new strategic arm of the Macmillan Skills Hub, designed specifically to focus on engaging with employers connected to the Freeport development.
The Skills Hub also works closely with partners to establish and strengthen education and training pathways that enable local people to benefit from emerging opportunities as the Freeport grows.
Making Work Work supports women returning to the labour market. The programme connects women and offers opportunities to learn, collaborate, create, catalyse change and make work work.
Volunteering opportunities for women to support those affected by sexual violence. Volunteers develop transferable trauma-informed skills and knowledge. Each person takes part in a bespoke rape crisis training program and complete a supervised long-term placement at ERCC.
Works4Women is an employability programme that supports women who have experienced domestic abuse. It is run by Edinburgh Women’s Aid in partnership with Shakti Women’s Aid (which serves women in the minority ethnic community). The UK Shared Prosperity Fund funds the continuation and expansion of the service.
The All in Edinburgh consortium delivers a supported employment model increasing jobs and supports the retention of jobs for those clients furthest removed from the labour market.
Networking Key Services (NKS) are funded by UKSPF to deliver holistic support for those from South-Asian communities. Digital skills are important for access to basic services but also support many participants to progress into education and work.
NKS empowers South Asians through building capacity and resilience and by using a person-centred and bespoke approach where people can develop their skills to improve their life chances.
Examples of activities include digital skills, confidence building and welfare rights advocacy with bi-lingual support.
People Know How partnered with organisations in local communities to run weekly digital and well-being support sessions. People Know How have now ceased to offer direct support. You can read more here People Know How Update | People Know How.
Funding is supporting a new depot in Gorgie, and the flagship community programme Shifting Gears. Shifting Gears is an evidence-based approach to support marginalised communities and those from low-socioeconomic backgrounds to recover from the pandemic, mitigate the impact of the cost-of-living crisis and climate emergency, enhance life and employment skills, and provide much-needed work experience and employment opportunities.
The grant supports several of Action for Children’s employability projects including Youth Build, an industry-recognised construction training programme, a customer service and hospitality training programme and the Aiming High programme.
Barnardos Employment Skills Training programme is for 15 – 29-year-olds. It offers personal development opportunities and a range of options supporting young people in training, education and career progression.
The King’s Trust offers courses offered for young people aged 11-30, supporting them to develop essential life skills, get ready for work and access job opportunities.
Funding particularly supports the Get Into programme, which helps those closer to the labour market, and the Explore programme, designed for those further away from moving into work.
The Learning, Employability, and Purpose (LEAP) programme supports 10 women facing barriers to employment to return to work through an 8–10-week volunteering placement. The placement is accompanied by management and leadership training. In parallel, training and support is offered to third sector organisations in how to find, recruit, and retain this talent through flexible working and positive workplace cultures.
Individuals from the South Asian community are supported with digital learning and English conversation to enhance their basic career skills. Twenty individuals are supported one-to-one, to improve their digital and English-speaking skills and to decrease the barriers they face in accessing the labour market.
Volunteering Vibes built community and office-based volunteering capacity within Edinburgh, creating opportunities that develop skills, confidence, and relationships long-term. This project included immediate volunteer recruitment, training, and support, as well as building a foundation of activity and collaborations to consistently deliver more city-wide volunteering opportunities past the funding period. The UKSPF funding for this project has now come to an end.
Lend a Hand delivered support to people over 50, who were economically inactive, to re-enter the labour market, by providing community-based learning and development opportunities in joinery, horticulture, and construction, within community greenspace/growing projects across the city. The UKSPF funding for this project has now come to an end.
Additional ESOL provision at Fresh Start supported new Scots to make a life for themselves in Scotland. The programme supported the social integration, language development skills, and employability opportunities of new Scots and refugees living in the northwest locality of Edinburgh.
This project is funded through the Multiply strand of UKSPF for Year 3 of the programme (April 2024 – March 2025).
This project provided two ‘English as a Second Language’ classes per week for up to 30 people from community groups in Southwest Edinburgh, helping to promote community cohesion, and integration into Scottish society. The classes also foster employment and learning outcomes for adults aged 16+.
This project is funded through the Multiply strand of UKSPF for Year 3 of the programme (April 2024 – March 2025).
The Edinburgh Supported Employment Consortium delivered digital skills courses to clients who had disabilities and health conditions to boost digital inclusion and enhance the life skills of 80 individuals from Edinburgh’s most disadvantaged groups. Topics included IT confidence, computing skills for employability, managing your money, social media, and staying safe online. The UKSPF funding for this project has now come to an end.
This additional funding will extend the current MacMillan Skills Hub capacity to reach out and engage with 40 additional people who are economically inactive. The Hub will also run a 50+ Transferable Skills Academy and a Green Skills Academy with employers offering a guaranteed interview. The latter will link into the Green Freeport vision.
Additional funding made provision for an extra 40 people who were unemployed and who were homeless or with experience of homelessness to gain skills, experience, and qualifications in food hygiene and preparation. Many participants were aged 50 or over. This extension funding has now come to an end.
e. helix@capitalcitypartnership.org
Capital City Partnership is the anchor delivery body for Edinburgh’s employability strategy, working together to tackle inequality and poverty. Capital City Partnership is an Arm’s Length External Organisation of The City of Edinburgh Council and a not-for-profit registered charity (SCO31026).
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