Section head

Department for Work and Pensions

REACH Programme - 2009

Reach is a 12 month positive action talent development programme designed for people in administrative and junior/middle management grades who are from ethnic minority groups, and/or who have a disability. Applications are sought from across the whole organisation, from high potential individuals, and the aim is to provide specific developmental opportunities to help them overcome any individual barriers to success and compete for progression.
The highlights of the programme are innovative learning interventions, which are tailored to the individual needs of the group. The opportunities offered to participants are events that do not feature in the mainstream learning and development catalogues. Participants are also given a good deal of exposure to senior leaders and some have had the opportunity to job shadow Government Ministers.

Impact:

10 of the first 50 participants have been promoted, one participant by two grades.

Community Involvement - 2008

“Closing the Ethnic Minority Employment Gap”

This case study profiles the DWPs’ Partners Outreach for Ethnic Minorities (POEM) Programme which helps people who do not use mainstream job-brokering services to improve their household incomes and find work.

The programme is innovative because it considers the dynamics of different communities and has developed programmes tailored to different groups including contracting with different organisations to deliver programmes to diverse communities - recognising that one size does not fit all.

As a result it has increased the number of ethnic minority people finding jobs.

Impact:

6,215 people joined DWP’s POEM programme during the period Feb 2007 - June 2008 of which 1,464 gained self-confidence and skills and found a job.
Through their Highcross project in Leicester they managed to get more than 50 people who could not previously find work, into jobs in one day.
The ethnic minority employment rate has been above 60% for 5 successive quarters - the first time since records began and there has been a reduction in the ethnic minority employment gap of 2% since Q2 2005.