Welfare to work in action

A new project designed to help social housing tenants into work and training is getting underway in Kensington and Chelsea.

Its aims are to link social housing tenants on benefits with employment and training opportunities in the borough, especially opportunities provided by social landlords. 

In addition the Council is encouraging landlords to club together when commissioning employment and skills initiatives so they get better value for their money, help more people and provide a more coordinated approach so that tenants on benefits can get into work or training. 

The project is part of the Council's response to profound changes in the welfare system including a benefit cap of £26,000 per year and the possibility of time limited tenancies. Amongst other things, the Council is providing advice and support to residents subject to the benefit changes and supporting a range of employment and training initiatives.

"Whatever political view one takes of the welfare reforms," said Cllr Tim Coleridge, Cabinet Member for Housing "most of us can agree that worklessness harms the individual and society and that training leading to employment is the answer.

"Right now we have a lot of landlords doing a lot of things to help, often with their own tenants in mind. We hope that by taking on a coordination role the Council can help them do more for more people."

The project will run for 18 months and the impact will be monitored throughout.