As part of the Manchester WorkWell programme, Manchester City Council (MCC) wishes to grant fund two voluntary, community, faith sector (VCFS) organisations to provide a service which integrates employment and health support for communities experiencing racial discrimination and disadvantage.
What is WorkWell?
WorkWell is a national initiative to develop integrated work and health services across the country through a series of Vanguard areas who applied for funding. Launched by the UK government, it aims to reduce health-related economic inactivity and support the broader goals of economic prosperity and social well-being. It forms part of government policy to upstream interventions supporting people before they become longer term unemployed due to ill health.
The WorkWell programme is designed to provide holistic support for individuals with health conditions or disabilities, enabling them to start, stay, and succeed in work. A key purpose of this commission is to improve access to employability and health support to marginalised groups across the city.
What is the Racially Minoritised Groups strand of WorkWell?
Manchester City Council has commissioned three small pilots over the last two years to provide pre-employability support for South Asian women. Delivery has been via VCSE organisations who have a strong reach into specific communities. These pilots have demonstrated the advantages of having culturally competent provision when compared to a mainstream universal support offer. WorkWell Racially Minoritised Groups will expand on these pilots and provide citywide geographically targeted health and work support to those currently affected by racial inequality.
The WorkWell Racially Minoritised Groups pathway is an early-intervention work and health support and assessment service, providing holistic support to overcome health-related barriers to employment, and a single, joined-up gateway to other support services. The service will also serve as a triage function, connecting participants into the rest of the local work and health infrastructure through signposting and referral. In general, where there are needs or requirements of the participant that go beyond what can be offered, the Work and Health Coach will connect them to whatever other local service they need and follow up to ensure what support they receive elsewhere is fully integrated into their return-to-work or thrive-in work plan.
What will successful applicants be required to do?
- To engage residents from black and South Asian ethnic groups with health barriers to employment
- To recruit dedicated Work and Health Coaches (WHC)
- To work with residents in and out of work to develop WorkWell ‘return to work’ or ‘thrive in work’ plans
- To support residents transitioning from unemployment to paid employment
- To support residents in work to maintain employment
- To refer and signpost to specialist support where required
Total Funding Available
Maximum = £228,269
Minimum = £127,320
Funding per organisation
Maximum = £114,134.50
Minimum = £63,660
The grant funding period will run from December 2024 to March 2026
For more information and to apply, see the attached documents.
The Work and Skills Team will be holding a 'WorkWell: Racially Minoritised Groups information session' via Teams meeting on Friday 1 November 1:30pm-3pm to provide an opportunity to ask questions before submitting an application. Please email [email protected] if you are interested in attending and joining instructions will be provided to you.
Deadline: Friday 15 November 2024