On 6 July we held the latest of our 50+ Matters seminar in Newcastle. Although it was primarily aimed at Personal Advisers of Jobcentre Plus in the North East region, other ESF providers also attended.

Romi Jones from Age Concern North Tyneside joined our normal roster of speakers to describe the activities and achievements of their local Back on Board (BoB) project with older jobseekers.

The session provided a useful opportunity to see how much these two groups of stakeholders know about each other and to discuss what more could be done to enhance the support for older clients.

From the ESF providers we heard that they were being reasonably successful working with their older clients.  They had established a good relationship with local Jobcentre Plus staff and were receiving lots of referrals. But, as one of the providers noted, they can’t just wait for older people to come to them, they have to engage in outreach activities, particularly in rural areas.

When discussing the sorts of typical labour market barriers older jobseekers might experience, a participant from JCP commented:

“Often the biggest barrier is the perception they have that it is their age that is the problem. It is usually not true, it might be, or example, a lack of the necessary skills or it might be qualifications.

“Very often I hear complaints about age from younger jobseekers too when they feel that they can’t get a job because of their lack of work experience.

“So we need to work with this ‘I am too old’ perception, break it down to find out what the issue is and to deal with it.”

There was general agreement among the attendees that volunteering can be a very important tool in supporting unemployed people get back into paid work.  Seminar participants shared some sources they used in the region to involve their older clients in volunteering:

Personal Best is a Skills Funding Agency-funded programme where JCP advisers can signpost customers: http://www.personalbestprogramme.co.uk/

SCAN (Student Community Action Newcastle) regularly advertise voluntary placements and despite what the name might suggest, it is widely used for older people too! http://www.scan.ncl.ac.uk/navigation/

Do-it is a national website offering volunteering opportunities http://www.do-it.org.uk/