COVENTRY MESSAGE BOARD

Coventry City Council is preparing to axe the funding of a jobs service aimed at helping some of the most vulnerable people in the city.

The Employment Support Service (TESS) helps people with disabilities, health conditions and mental illness find jobs and supports them and employers once they begin working.

But the award-winning service, which has been running over 20 years and has helped hundreds of people into work, is set to be shut down - possibly as early as July this year.

A council review into how the service is run is ongoing, but officials say the authority can no longer afford to run the service which costs taxpayers around £300,000 a year.

The closure of TESS will come despite a repeated, long-term pledge from the council’s ruling Labour group to shield the city’s most vulnerable residents from cuts.

The review of the service is set to end next month and the council currently plans to make the entire TESS team redundant by July - putting around 10 jobs at risk.

One concerned resident, who did not want to be named, said: “These are some of the city’s most vulnerable people and it is shocking that they are cutting the service totally.

“This helps people with disabilities and mental health problems get into work and live relatively normal lives, but it is going to be taken away from them.

“It’s not just about getting these people into work, it supports them while they are there. What will happen to the people already in jobs?”

Labour Coun Kevin Maton, cabinet member for employment, said the council was looking to others to deliver a similar service rather than just walking away and dismissed suggestions the review was simply a box-ticking exercise.

Asked about apparent backtracking on the council’s pledge to protect the city’s most vulnerable, Coun Maton said: “The fact we have been able to ensure the service has not been cut this financial year is an indication of how important it is.

“It doesn’t solve the problem that these are groups of people who do need help, but we don’t have the resources to keep on doing things the way they have been done.

“I’m committed to ensuring that the needs of the most vulnerable who have the ability to work are not missed.”

He added that volunteers and neighbouring councils might play a part in any replacement service.

“In cash terms it is relatively expensive to run and the review is looking at how some of those costs can be reduced,” he said.

“There isn’t the money from the council alone to continue the operation in its current form. Beyond the end of the year, it needs to be delivered in a more efficient way to the council tax budget.

“I can make a case for why we should be doing it, but it’s a case of cost against diminishing resources.”

Stay of execution for Coventry council disabled jobs service

A jobs service which helps some of the most vulnerable people in Coventry appears to have had a stay of execution – at least until December.

The Telegraph reported earlier this month how Coventry City Council was preparing to axe the funding of The Employment Support Service (TESS).

The award-winning service, which has helped hundreds into work since it was set up over 20 years ago, helps people with disabilities, health conditions and mental illness find jobs and supports them and employers once they begin working.

Council bosses had said they could no longer afford to run the service, which costs around £320,000 a year, and were due to scrap it by July. Around 10 people were set to lose their jobs as a result.

But leader of the city council Ann Lucas said this evening she had asked finance chief Damian Gannon to identify cash which could keep the service going until the end of the year.

In a statement sent to council colleagues she says: “I have therefore asked Damian to identify resources today (which will be taken from the Policy Contingency Budget) to enable the service to continue, initially, until the end of December. This figure could be between £100,000 and £150,000.

“This, I understand from officers, will allow us to continue work already underway to identify new sources of funding.

“In particular, officers think we have a good case for European funding which would provide 50 per cent of the funds needed to continue the service.”

It’s thought that the local Clinical Commissioning Group could also contribute financially towards the running of the service in future, as long as some council funding continues.

Coun Lucas added that the council’s chief executive, Martin Yardley, remained “keen to review the service and identify ways of making the service better value for money”.

The initial announcement about the axing of the service had been heavily criticised as the Labour-run council had repeatedly pledged to shield the city’s most vulnerable residents from cuts.

One resident, who asked not to be named, said: “These are some of the city’s most vulnerable people and it is shocking that they are cutting the service totally.”

dutchman wrote:Anybody would think there was going to be an election in a couple of weeks' time?

Future of Coventry jobs service for vulnerable residents remains uncertain

A jobs service for some of the most vulnerable residents in Coventry has been granted another stay of execution as the city council battles to find alternative funding.

Coventry City Council is exploring different ways to fund The Employment Support Service (TESS) which helps people with disabilities, health problems or mental illness find jobs and then supports them - along with employers.

The council has said it can no longer afford to pay for the service, which cost about £320,000 a year to run, as it is contends with £65milllion of funding cuts from central government.

Council support was initially due to end in July, but the council agreed to extend that until December as alternative ways of providing the service were explored.

That deadline has now been extended again until March 2016, as the council waits for responses to two bids for European funding and from the Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG).

The council expects to hear whether the CCG will agree to takeover funding of the service later this month, and is due to hear back from Europe by the end of the year.

Coun Kevin Maton, Labour cabinet member for business, confirmed the extension during a public meeting on Monday.

He said the benefits of keeping the service outweighed those of shutting it down, citing a council report which shows it costs £8,500 per person to get people into work, but reduced the cost to the benefits system by £15,000 per person.

He said: “This forms part of the council’s priorities for helping the most vulnerable. The difficulty we face is that we are having a 40 per cent budget cut while trying to deliver it.

“Our intention as a council is to be able to maintain this level of support.”

The Conservative opposition backed the council’s efforts to retain the service.

Coun Gary Crookes, shadow cabinet member for business, said: “This is a cross party issue, you have our support with this. We believe it’s a very valuable service that needs to be continued.”

TESS supports about 100 people and helps between 25 and 35 people into work every year. More than 2,000 people have signed a petition calling for the service to be saved.