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Support for our Armed Forcesand Veterans

Callum Grigor Armed Forces ChampionJobcentre Plus East and South East Scotland DistrictWelfare to Work Convention Manchester

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Background to the Role

The MOD published a paper ‘The Nation’s Commitment: Cross- Government Support to our Armed Forces, their Families and Veterans’ in 2008.

The paper set out a strategy for improved delivery of access to support this group to move into employment after their period of service.

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Background to the Role

• As a consequence of this commitment, Jobcentre Plus agreed with Ministers to set up points of contact within each district, which has resulted in the role of Armed Forces Champions (AFC).

• While support has been offered in Jobcentres in the past, it had not been formalised.

• In November 2009, Products and Transformation Team asked District Managers to nominate staff to be Armed Forces Champions for their districts.

• Each of the 4 Districts in Scotland has Champions

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Soldiers on parade at Paisley Abbey

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Regional Armed Forces Champion Network

• The first formal networking meeting took place in April 2010 .

• Discussions took place between the Armed Forces Champions and invited guests from the Career Transition Partnership (CTP). Some of the issues raised were that;

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Action Points

• The profile of the role needed to be raised.• Veterans needed to be identified at an early stage or

at first contact. • Networking and sharing of good practices was vital.• Regular meetings were required .• Identification and contact were to be made with other

organisations who work with Veterans and their families.

• Request changes to New Claims script to identify Veterans.

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Regional Armed Forces Champion Network

• The second networking meeting took place in June 2010. Guests at the meeting were the Armed Forces Resettlement Team and Poppy Scotland.

• The meeting was also attended by Jo Harpley Products and Transformation Division (PTD) who coordinates the project nationally.

• Meetings and Telekits are now held regularly.

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Armed Forces Champion’s Role

• AFC’s are the first point of contact for all service personnel issues within their District.

• Work very closely with the Ministry of Defence’s Career Transition Partnership (CTP), who are under contract to the MoD to provide support to service leavers – resettlement advice / job search / training activity.

• Work very closely with the Regular Forces Employment Association (RFEA).

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Armed Forces Champion’s Role

• Complete a monthly activity return. • Identify employers prepared to offer employment to

service leavers, veterans and/or their partners.• Visit Armed Forces establishments to give information

about Jobcentre plus services and support.• Offer support to the Personnel Recovery Unit and

Centre.• Attend Armed Forces and Veterans recruitment

events.

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JCP at the CTP Scottish Employment Fair

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Armed Forces Champion’s Role

• Making links to other providers and charities in the area who are better placed to provide specialist support, for example, Veterans First Point, Poppy Scotland etc

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Armed Forces Champion’s Role

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Armed Forces Champion’s Stakeholders

• Who are our key Internal Stakeholders:

• Local Office Contacts• Employer Advisers• Disability Employment Advisers• JCP Front line staff

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Local Office Contacts (LOCs)

• In Scotland we have introduced Local Office Contacts within each of our JCP offices to support the Champions.

• They are the first point of contact for Veterans and their families within their office and liaise closely with the Champion.

• They signpost veterans or their families to the appropriate team.

• Telekits are held to encourage networking with LOC’s in other offices.

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• A monthly activity return is completed and is collated by the Champion.

• A contact list of our LOC’s has been circulated to external stakeholders including CTP and service resettlement teams.

• LOC’s are currently rolling out the new Armed Services Advice Project (ASAP) Training Tool (Only available in Scotland) for Advisers: www.asaplearning.co.uk

Local Office Contacts (LOCs)

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ASAP Training Tool

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Disability Employment Advisers (DEAs)

• DEA’s are specialist advisers, assisting people with health conditions or disabilities that need extra support to get back to work, or stay in work due to barriers associated with their disability.

• District DEA’s host presentations from the Armed Forces Resettlement Team and CTP.

• DEA’s explained their job role in an article published in the Armed Forces Resettlement newsletter.

• Contact lists of Scotland’s DEA’s have been circulated to external stakeholders including CTP and Veterans First Point.

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Employer Advisers (EA’s)

• There are Employer Adviser’s EA’s in every Jobcentre who are experts on the local labour market.

• Many EA’s double as the LOC for their offices.• Our EA’s actively promote veterans and the services

of RFEA/ CTP to employers at every suitable contact.• CTP have attended District EA conferences and EA’s

maintain regular contact with CTP Recruitment Consultants in their Districts.

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Some of our Key External Stakeholders

• Career Transition Partnership : www.ctp.org.uk• RFEA: www.rfea.org.uk• Poppy Scotland: www.poppyscotland.org.uk• Veterans First Point : www.veteransfirstpoint.org.uk• Officers Association Scotland : www.oascotland.org.uk• Scottish Government : www.scotland.gov.uk• Personnel Recovery Unit : www.army.mod.uk• Mark Wright Project: www.themarkwrightproject.org.uk• Armed Forces Advice Project (ASAP):

www.citizensadvicedirect.org.uk

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Regular Forces Employment Association (RFEA)

Stephen Gledhill

Chief Executive

RFEA

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Working in Partnership with CTP/ RFEA

• Armed Forces Champions have attended along with CTP military establishments such as the Personal Recovery Units and Centre in Edinburgh.

• AFC’s have attended Employer Liaison visits to HMS Illustrious at Rosyth.

• RFEA/ CTP use Jobcentre offices to hold meetings and interview their customers.

• RFEA/ CTP have co presented to employers and to overseas official visits to JCP.

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HMS ILLUSTRIOUS

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Examples of how our partnership works

Example 1: West Lothian EA’s identified an employer looking for the qualities exhibited by veterans and referred the employer to CTP.

This has proved a useful introduction and CTP secured work for one of their veterans.

Example 2: RFEA/ CTP and other veterans organisations liaise with the AFC and JCP to ensure that veterans receive the appropriate support and are not disadvantaged in their engagements with JCP.

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Examples of how our partnerships works

Example 3: Direct contact between service organisations and AFC’s have helped clarify mandatory JCP actions to the benefit of veterans.

Example 4: We are currently operating a pilot exercise to identify veterans in a local JCP office near Edinburgh.

Example 5:Through introductions from RFEA/ CTP our DEA’s will now be delivering Workshops at the Personal Recovery Centre in Edinburgh.

Example 6: Through collaborative working with CTP we have provided services such as The Big Word to Veterans making claims.

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Joint JCP and RFEA/ CTP presentation to Chinese Ministerial visit.

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Any Questions?

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