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Fund to help returning to work launched

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new fund, returning to work, time away caring, guidance, toolkitNearly 90 per cent of people out of paid work to care for the home or family are women.

The Minister for Women and Equalities, Amber Rudd, has announced a £1.5 million fund to support people back into work after time out caring.

The fund, which was launched earlier this month, offers grants to projects which help people to return to work in the private sector.

These projects could help ‘returners’ update their skills, provide other training, or support businesses to increase employment opportunities for returners.

The fund will prioritise projects that focus on small and medium enterprises, employers outside London, and projects that support returners at all skill levels.

And a toolkit and guidance have been created to support companies that would like to employ returners.

The guidance, which was developed by Timewise and Women Returners, is aimed at employers across sectors and of all sizes.

The toolkit, which has been sponsored by Vodafone, explains the business benefits of employing returners.

Helen Lamprell, Vodafone’s UK General Counsel and External Affairs Director and member of the Women’s Business Council, said Vodafone was proud to support ‘Returners: A toolkit for employers’.

“Having launched ReConnect – Vodafone’s programme to help both women and men return to work after a career break – we’ve seen first-hand the benefits of hiring returners, and the positive impact this can have on them, as well as on our business,” Lamprell said.

“We are keen to share what we’ve learned, and to learn from other employers, so that we can all do more to support people back into work.

“With this toolkit, which contains best practices and clear advice on supporting returners, we hope to help even more employers develop returner programmes of their own.”

The guidance, toolkit and fund are all part of a commitment of £5 million made by the Prime Minister in the 2017 Spring Budget, to help people back into employment after a career break.

There are already public sector returner projects running in the health professions, social work, and the civil service.

And a Cyber Security Skills impact fund, run by the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, will be particularly looking for initiatives that help women who have been out of the labour market due to caring responsibilities to get jobs in cyber security.

Commenting on Rudd’s announcement, the chair of the Women and Equalities Committee, Maria Miller MP, said: “Ensuring that women who left the labour market temporarily to care for their children or for other reasons have a clear route back into jobs at the right pay and skill level is crucial to efforts to reduce the gender pay gap.

“Meanwhile, employers will benefit from access to a pool of talented people whose skills are too often overlooked.

“In our report on the gender pay gap we urged the government to pursue a national strategy on supporting women back into work, including provision of targeted careers guidance, training and information on opportunities, and we look forward to seeing the returnships fund play a part in this.”

And Amber Rudd said: “It is truly striking that nearly 90 per cent of people out of paid work because they are caring for the home or family are women.

“Too often people struggle to get back into paid work after taking time out to care for others. That is a huge loss not only to those individuals, but to our economy and to businesses all over the country.

“That’s why I’m delighted to announce this government will be launching a £1.5 million fund to support people, particularly women, back into work after time out looking after children and other relatives,” she continued.

“By offering meaningful work that pays, the fund will give people who want to return to employment the opportunity to use their valuable skills, talents and experience.”

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