Millions of pounds has been awarded to fund a new programme which aims to get Southampton residents back into paid employment.

The £4.8 million allocation from the Department for Work and Pensions comes at a time when the city has more than 35,000 working age residents who are economically inactive.

This is defined as anyone who is out of work and not looking for work.

The figure for Southampton equates to 20.2 per cent of the city’s working age population.

Southampton City Council’s cabinet member for economic development Cllr Sarah Bogle said getting more people in paid work helped on many levels.

Councillors approved accepting the Connect to Work grant to cover the next four years at a full council meeting on Wednesday, February 26.

Cllr Bogle said this was the first initiative to come out of the government’s Get Britain Working white paper, which was published in November last year.

She said the money will be used to to try and get “particularly difficult” cohorts of people back into work.

“People who are not claiming benefits or anything but actually have real barriers like long-term health conditions, our carers or ex-carers, people who are victims of domestic violence, armed forces veterans and those with disabilities, and other cohorts as well.

“It is a really positive initiative. We have a particularly strong team who help with getting people back to work."

Cllr Bogle said Connect to Work will build on strong collaborations the local authority already has, including the youth employment hub based in the library and a recently launched pilot focused on getting people aged over 50 back to work.

Referencing economic inactivity in the city, Cllr Bogle said: “Even if we can get five or 10 per cent more of those people back into work what that will do with our economy is fantastic.

Conservative group leader Cllr Peter Baillie welcomed the grant to support the city, describing the economically inactive figure as “fairly shocking”.

He added: “Sadly with how the government’s national policies are going on employment, these are exactly the sort of things we are going to need because we will have more people out of a job because of the national policies.”

A report to full council said Connect to Work will be “personalised, strengths-based and an entirely voluntarily programme”.

It said the funding will be focused on targeting workless people or people at risk of losing their paid employment with disabilities, health conditions and additional barriers to work.

Approximately 8,500 of the economically inactive residents in Southampton would like to have paid work, the report added.

Participants in the programme must be economically inactive and available to start a job, aged 18 or over, have a right to live and work in the UK with an entitlement to public funds, and not on any other Department for Work and Pensions employment programme.

A list of target cohorts includes:

  • People with a disability (including self-diagnosed)
  • People with a long-term health condition
  • People who are ex-offenders or offenders
  • Carers and ex-carers
  • People who are homeless
  • Armed Forces veterans and their partners
  • People who are drug or alcohol dependent (or have a history of this)
  • People who are care experienced
  • People who are refugees or are resettled Afghan or Ukrainians
  • People who are or have been victims of domestic abuse
  • Young people at risk of being involved in gangs or serious violence
  • People who are victims of modern slavery