Salvation Army expands its employment service with jobseekers in Oldham offered support

A Salvation Army service that helps people find and stay in work is expanding its provision into Oldham as more job seekers need support to find employment.

The church and charity’s Employment Plus team, which provides tailored employability support, already operates throughout the North West and will now be covering Oldham during its first phase roll out into the Greater Manchester region.

The one-to-one sessions take place at the Salvation Army in Oldham Roundthorn, located on Roundthorn Road, on Fridays from 10am – 1pm and are available to anyone who is struggling to find work.

Referrals can be made through agencies such as Citizen’s Advice and the Job Centre and people can also turn up to book an appointment.

Peter Maybury, regional manager for the Salvation Army’s Employment Plus, said: “Our Employment Plus service seeks to help people who are unemployed, underemployed and economically inactive; people who want work and can work but for multiple reasons are unable to find and keep work. 

"We see thousands of people who are being held back by the job market for reasons that are very often beyond their control.

"People who have had to stop work to care for loved ones, people who have had their own long term health problems and people trying to rebuild their lives after being homeless.

"People can find that the job market has moved on while they have been ill or caring for others. 

“Our employment development co-ordinators work to transform lives through specialist support, doing this via a tailored, person-centred approach, helping people to identify what skills they have and what roles would suit them.

"We support people into quality work, not just any job, giving them the encouragement and confidence to achieve their goals and have hope for, and build, their future.”

Employment development co-ordinators, which make up part of the Salvation Army’s Employment Plus team, help jobseekers overcome or manage barriers to finding and staying in work, help with writing CVs, job applications, training opportunities and confidence building.

The expansion into Oldham comes as The Salvation Army has released a new report which has found that a staggering 1.6 million people who want to work are not receiving Government employment support.

Official figures state that there are 1.45 million unemployed people but an analysis by the Salvation Army argues that the ‘real unemployment’ figure is actually 3.2 million.

To be classed as unemployed you must have actively sought work within the last four weeks and are available to start work within the next two weeks.

However, that classification does not include people who want to work but cannot actively search for a job for reasons usually beyond their control such as lack of affordable childcare or adult social care, lack of up-to-date skills and homelessness. 

The Salvation Army’s Employment Development Co-ordinator for Greater Manchester can be contacted to book and appointment at: paula.edge@salvationarmy.org.uk

---

Do you have a story for us? Want to tell us about something going on in and around Oldham? Let us know by emailing news@oldham-chronicle.co.uk , calling our Oldham-based newsroom on 0161 633 2121 , tweeting us @oldhamchronicle or messaging us through our Facebook page. All contact will be treated in confidence.