Education, training and employment (ETE)

For many people, training and employment are the key to moving on from homelessness. However, there are barriers that homeless people face in taking this step. To counter this, the vast majority of homelessness services are supporting people to enter work, training or to engage in other activities.

Context

There is a strong association between homelessness and a lack of engagement with education, training and employment (ETE). The majority of homeless people or people living in hostels are unemployed. The Places of Change agenda has encouraged homelessness services to focus on moving service users forward by improving access to meaningful occupation and training and employment opportunities.

Homeless Link’s Survey of Needs and Provision in 2010/11 found that the availability of ETE services has remained broadly stable in the face of challenging funding circumstances. Literacy and numeracy courses and IT related activities are available (in house or via external referral) in 97% of projects compared to around 70% of projects in 2009. Significantly however, employment and education funding streams continue to contribute a low proportion of funding.

In 2011, the Government’s "Vision to End Rough Sleeping: No Second Night Out Nationwide" set out its ambitions to tackle worklessness amongst homeless people. They commit to closer working with Jobcentre Plus, a new round of the Spark social enterprise initiative, the testing of Working Hostels and promoting opportunities for employment in the homelessness sector. Additional outcomes from the strategy include offering homeless people on JSA early access to the DWP Work Programme and providing an enhanced offer for homeless men and women at Jobcentre Plus during the pre-Work Programme period.

Commitment 3 of the strategy outlines the steps that the Government intends to take along with voluntary sector partners and Jobcentre Plus.

Solutions

Our ETE Handbook is dedicated to education, training and employment services for homeless people. It features good practice guidance and considerations for a wide range of services and activities, from engagement and stabilisation activities, to volunteering, placements, self-employment and social enterprise. It is designed for homelessness services to find resources to support and complement their work.

Crisis published a report in 2006 on Homeless People and Learning and Skills: Participation, Barriers and Progression. Crisis has merged with Off the Streets and into Work (OSW) which tackles homelessness by helping people access education, training, volunteering and employment opportunities, and to move into their own home in the private rented sector.

Business Action on Homelessness (BAOH) which is a part of Business in the Community, have published resources to promote the emotional resilience of homeless people for the workplace. They have also published a report Work it Out on the barriers to employment that homeless people experience. BAOH supports homeless people to gain and sustain employment and campaigns for the removal of barriers.

Ready for Work is a BAOH programme that equips homeless people, or those at risk of homelessness, with the confidence and skills to re-enter the job market. This includes pre-employment training, work experience placements and post-placement support.

Homelessness charity St Mungo's helps people to overcome barriers through education, vocational training, help with finding employment and engaging in meaningful activities. They provide a large programme of occupation and learning opportunities for homeless people including gardening, furniture making and hospitality training. A 2010 report by St Mungo's called Work Matters examines homelessness and worklessness.

ThamesReach run the National GROW (Giving Real Opportunities for Work) Programme. Supported by Communities and Local Government, this programme is changing the culture of the homelessness sector so that it fully embraces employment of service users. It delivers a bespoke consultancy service to homelessness organisations across the country.

Spark is a pioneering development and investment programme designed to build and inspire organisations to tackle homelessness through social enterprise.

Further Information

In 2005 OSW published No Home, No Job which looked at the link between unemployment and homelessness, and a 2008 report The Right Deal for Homeless People.

Research published in June 2006 by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation looked at the experiences of people in low-paid informal work.

Homeless Pages gives details of many further publications and research on education, training and employment.

Homeless Link carried out a survey of the homelessness sector in early 2011, looking at the experiences of agencies during the intitial DWP Work Programme procurement round: a summary of the findings can be read here.

If you would like to discuss anything on these pages or employment in the context of the homelessness sector more widely, please contact Homeless Link's Employment Manager:

Paul Anders
Homeless Link
Gateway House
Milverton Street
London SE11 4AP

Email: paul.anders@homelesslink.org.uk
Mob: 07798 631 357
Tel: 020 7840 4460