Lancashire to get new £4.75m scheme to help support people in work

Not-for-profit organisation Active Lancashire, has been given the green light for its new employment-focused project inspired by the More Positive Together (MPT) project whihc is due to end this December.

The new scheme, More Positive Together Steps, (MPT Steps) is a partnership aiming to engage with more than 4,000 job seekers recently made unemployed or economically inactive living in Lancashire.

The project will be supported by the European Social Fund, receiving £4.75m to take the project through until December 2023.

In that time, the project will seek to address the issues faced by disadvantaged Lancashire communities in accessing or re-accessing the job market as a result of the Covid-19 Pandemic.

MPT Steps mirrors a number of approaches tried and tested by its predecessor, such as the partnership model which brings together various organisations from different sectors to share best practice.

Residents will get tailored support to address their specific needs such as improving mental and physical health, overcoming financial difficulties and accessing housing or transport.

The existing MPT delivery partners will work together again on the new MPT Steps project and provide match funding.

But also Lancashire Women, Positive Action in the Community (PAC) and Inspire Youth Zone are among new partners coming on board.

Operations manager for the MPT Steps project, Darren Wright “The MPT Steps project really builds on and extends the strong partnership that has been developed delivering the original More Positive Together Project since 2017.

“We know the pandemic has had a huge effect on the people of Lancashire but I feel hopeful that this project will provide further reassurance that high quality support is available for getting people back into work.”

As at June 2020, according to Northern Powerhouse there had been 18,834 redundancies across Lancashire.

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