Twin named as provider on families programme

Twin has been named as one of the eight welfare-to-work companies who will be implementing a new £200m government programme to help families overcome barriers to employment.

The new service will be run in conjunction with local authorities and private companies like Twin who have been selected for their commitment to helping disadvantaged families in England solve a range of issues.

Beth O'Shea, director of Twin Group's employment and training division, said: "Twin will be providing support to Families in the South West region of England. We have an excellent track record in the welfare-to-work industry over the past ten years and we are looking to build on it with this new programme. Our innovative service delivery method will harness the expertise of voluntary sector organisations and charities to provide specialist support where it's needed most."

The programme is hoped to make a large contribution to the Government's stated priority of helping 120,000 of the most troubled families in England improve their circumstances.

Chris Grayling, Minister for Employment, said of the programme:

"This will be a big part of the work we do to tackle the challenge of troubled families. The organisations taking part in this programme are staking their own money on their ability to turn the lives of these people around.

"This is our second big payment by results project, and demonstrates clearly that there is a real commitment out there to deliver social change and to help people do much better with their lives."

The initiative, which covers families in England with at least one person on out-of-work benefits, is being backed by £200m in funding from the European Social Fund, money the UK receives from the European Union each year.

Support measures involved in the programme include:

• Skills to help people find work such as CV writing, job preparation, timekeeping, problem solving
• Tackling family issues - support for parenting, role models, support for needs children may have, working with schools
• Social and economic issues - debt management, money management, how to look for work
• Health and housing issues - alcohol or drug abuse, working with health agencies, issues around accommodation
• Helping those who are in work to stay in work and progress
• Identifying suitable employment opportunities and helping people get into work
• Helping to move people into the Work Programme

Local authorities will decide which eligible families are referred to the support programme.