MAXIMUS are Partnering with CDG in Groundbreaking Alliance to Help More People Back Into Work
Combining expertise in the charitable and private sectors in helping those who are unemployed back into work, international welfare to work provider MAXIMUS and welfare to work charity Careers Development Group (CDG) have agreed an alliance to bid for the government's new Work Programme in each of England’s nine regions. This alliance is a significant development in the UK welfare to work sector.
By bidding as an alliance, both organisations are looking to increase the number of people they help in obtaining the skills and support they need to get back into employment.
Both MAXIMUS and CDG currently provide welfare to work programmes for the government and across the two organisations currently cover the South East, South West, London and East Midlands regions. MAXIMUS and CDG collectively helped support over 50,000 people on their journey back into work in 2009/10.
As well as the experience both organisations have in this sector, both MAXIMUS and CDG have expertise in supporting hard-to-reach groups, especially those who have multiple barriers. In addition to its UK expertise, MAXIMUS brings international experience including from Australia and the US.
Bob Leach, managing director of MAXIMUS UK, said: “This alliance has the best interests of all stakeholders at its centre.
“Both MAXIMUS and CDG recognise that the Work Programme is a step change from previous programmes and that new and innovative approaches to helping unemployed people from a wide range of backgrounds will be required. Through this alliance we will be focusing our efforts to achieve the results required.
“I and my team look forward to working with Roy and his team in the months and years ahead.”
Roy O’Shaughnessy, chief executive of Careers Development Group, said: “This forward-thinking and groundbreaking alliance combines the expertise of the private and charitable sectors, with the common goal of helping those who are unemployed back into work.
“Together we will be able to reach more people while improving the level of individual support we can give - it is the best of both worlds.
“There should not be artificial barriers between sectors when we share the same interests at heart.”
ENDS
Notes to editors:
(1) About MAXIMUS
MAXIMUS Employment UK specialises in helping UK citizens with disadvantages in the labour market to obtain meaningful employment. Since the 2008 acquisition of WTCS, Ltd. a UK research and training company founded in 1991, MAXIMUS has helped numerous individuals achieve sustainable employment.
Operating in over 30 sites, spanning the south of England, MAXIMUS is ultimately a wholly owned subsidiary of its parent company MAXIMUS, Inc. A leading pure-play provider of government health and human services programmes, MAXIMUS has offices in the US, Australia, Canada, the UK and Israel. MAXIMUS (NYSE: MMS) is a publicly traded company listed on the New York Stock Exchange.
(2) About Careers Development Group
CDG is a UK charity with nearly 30 years’ experience in helping those who are unemployed find and sustain employment. Many of the people CDG supports have multiple barriers to employment including a lack of recent work experience, disabilities, health problems and lack of relevant employability skills. CDG helped over 33,000 people into jobs in 2009/10 and works across 29 centres in the UK (London, the South East, the Isle of Wight and the East Midlands.
(3) About the Framework Agreement for the Provision of Employment Related Support Services and the Work Programme
The deadline for submissions to the new framework being created by the Department for Work and Pensions, which also includes the Work Programme, is 27 September 2010. For full details please visit http://www.dwp.gov.uk/docs/framework-eoi.pdf
The Work Programme to be introduced by the coalition government next summer will provide a single, personalised welfare to work programme for all those who find themselves out of work, rather than the wide range of differing programmes currently offered which are largely based on the type of benefit being claimed.
The Work Programme Framework is an umbrella commercial which sets out some terms of agreement on future contract arrangements. For full details please visit http://www.dwp.gov.uk/docs/work-programme-prospectus.pdf
(4) The nine English regions are: Eastern, East Midlands, London, North East, North West, South East, South West, West Midlands and Yorkshire and The Humber
(5) Further information
MAXIMUS
Journalists requiring further information should contact Marilyn Saunders via:
(t) 01392 446198
(m) 07821 417602
(e) msaunders@maximusuk.co.uk
Careers Development Group
Journalists requiring further information should contact Mark Brooks via:
(t) 020 7811 3164
(m) 07766 197727
(e) mark.brooks@cdguk.org
