- Area:
- Scotland
- Programme:
- Making it Work
- Release date:
- 17 4 2013
The Big Lottery Fund (BIG) Scotland today (17 APRIL) announces a package of funding worth up to £7 million to support Scotland’s poorest single parent families. The Making it Work scheme will help lone parents tackle the many challenges they face in getting into the job market.
It is estimated that there are over 174,000 lone parents with 295,000 children in Scotland. Just below half are living in income poverty. While many lone parents want to work, escalating competition for jobs along with the challenge of finding the right childcare can mean some struggle to sustain or secure a job.
Big Lottery Fund Scotland Director, Jackie Killeen said: “Making it Work has a big ambition: to improve the lives of single parent families. The five partnerships we are supporting today have taken approaches which suit their local needs and circumstances. We want to see services such as education, employability and childcare coming together to help create a more holistic service and give lone parent families a better chance of a brighter future.”
North Lanarkshire Making it Work will help lone parents develop methods to help manage childcare and family budgets at the same time as they are improving their employability skills. In North Lanarkshire, Routes to Work Action: Lone Parents project will use their grant of £1,248,738 to offer single parents personal development programmes, training and access to education. Individuals will then be given assistance to stay in work with one to one coaching and groupwork in personal development, financial education and promoting health.
Councillor Harry Curran, Chair of Routes to Work Limited said: “The Big Lottery Fund’s Making It Work scheme is going to help change the lives of some of the most vulnerable and isolated lone parents in North Lanarkshire. Our project will support lone parents to improve their employability prospects. Assisting them with a range of support from financial advice to accessing suitable childcare will help remove their barriers to employment. We’re delighted that our bid to the Big Lottery Fund Scotland was successful. We can’t wait to start working with local communities and helping lone parents reach their employment potential.”
South Lanarkshire Making it Work will help lone parents with a child aged 3 - 5 to move closer to and into employment through a range of tailored support. Lone parents can access a personal development plan through key workers which will include childcare, financial advice, training opportunities, peer support, pre-employability training and in work support. Routes to Work South Ltd have received a grant of £1,250,000 and will run the project along with Healthy N Happy, Jobcentre Plus, Scottish Child Minding Association, South Lanarkshire Citizens Advice Bureau Network, Healthy Valleys, Voluntary Action South Lanarkshire, South Lanarkshire Council's Lone Parent Support Project and SLC Regeneration and Inclusion.
Stephen Barr, Chief Executive, Routes to Work South Ltd, said: “We are extremely grateful for the support received from Big Lottery Fund Scotland. Routes to Work South and partners target particularly vulnerable groups and this award will allow us to support lone parents back into work and provide the platform to build a brighter future for their families. The grant will change the lives of lone parents in South Lanarkshire by unlocking opportunity and giving them control of their future. The grant will increase the number of people progressing into sustainable employment and will also support lone parents to set up their own business and develop the flexible working arrangements desired by so many.”
Frances Chisholm, Press Team Scotland: 0141 242 1458
Public Enquiries Line: 0300 123 7110 Text phone: 0845 6021 659
Full details of the Big Lottery Fund programmes and grant awards are available on the website:
www.biglotteryfund.org.uk
• Making it Work is targeting Glasgow, Edinburgh, Fife, North and South Lanarkshire.
• The Big Lottery Fund (BIG), the largest distributor of National Lottery good cause funding, is responsible for giving out 40% of the money raised for good causes by the National Lottery.
• BIG is committed to bringing real improvements to communities and the lives of people most in need and has been rolling out grants to health, education, environment and charitable causes across the UK since June 2004. The Fund was formally established by Parliament on 1 December 2006.
• Since the National Lottery began in 1994, 28p from every pound spent by the public has gone to good causes. As a result, over £25 billion over £28 billion has now been raised and more than 383,000 grants awarded across arts, sport, heritage, charities, health, education and the environment.
• The Scotland Committee, has been making Big Lottery Fund decisions on Scottish projects since March 2007. As well as taking devolved decisions on Lottery spending, the Committee, led by Chair, Maureen McGinn, has and will continue to play a strategic role in the future direction of BIG in Scotland.
• The Big Lottery Fund is investing in Scotland’s communities through its Investing in Communities portfolio, as well as the small grants schemes Awards for All, Investing in Ideas, Communities and Families and 2014 Communities.
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