Employment Support Scotland has today welcomed the latest statistics release for Fair Start Scotland, the country’s first largescale devolved employment support service that launched in April last year. The figures show the programme has got off to a strong start, with 2,013 job starts up until March 2019. In addition, 10,063 people have started their journey into work by joining the programme.
Fair Start Scotland is available on a voluntary basis for those facing barriers to entering work. It is delivered collaboratively across a range of specialists providers and is intended to emphasise the principals of dignity and respect.
Despite being early in the long term programme’s lifespan, today’s job start figures show a good beginning. Figures will be released on a quarterly basis and developed as the programme progresses.
Commenting on today’s figures, Chair of Employment Support Scotland, Kate Still said:
‘Whilst Fair Start Scotland has only been running for just over a year, today’s figures show more than 2,000 people have already been supported into employment by the programme. This is a promising start for Scotland’s newly devolved employment support service, which aims to deliver dynamic and innovative approaches to support people furthest from the labour market. As a long term programme, we will need to wait for the programme to progress before we can fully assess its performance, but today’s figures give a strong indication that the tireless efforts of the providers and participants are starting to pay off.’
Employment Support Scotland is an ERSA network that gives providers a voice in the emerging employment support sector in Scotland. The network is formed of organisations across Scotland working collaboratively to support people to enter, sustain and progress in work.
