Local residents can be helped through advice and services or through more direct forms of support. Both have their place but we would argue for more emphasis on providing direct support to individuals. It can have impressive effects on the individuals and can reach more people than traditional services. Small training and other grants given directly to individuals, combined with some advice and support, can help people progress in work, education or other ways, but also helps build confidence.
In EC1, the NDC set up the Support Fund. This was designed to pay small grants to people to help them on the journey to work and to link provider payments to residents. Over 1200 EC1 residents benefitted from the Support Fund, which highlights how this type of funding can reach larger numbers of people than traditional funding models. Over 220 residents received direct grants for training and, based on a follow-up sample of these, over half of these (56%) went into employment.
This concept is gaining momentum in a number of fields, such as health and social care – and is often known as the ‘personalisation’ agenda. There is however, scope to extend it – for example could unemployed people be given the ability to choose their employment support.
