THE authority’s Employability and Skills team is launching the ABZWorks Employer Recruitment Incentive (ERI) scheme which will provide up to £6,000 worth of funding to help offset the costs of taking on a new member of staff.
The scheme is primarily aimed at small to medium-sized enterprise, including third sector organisations, and provides a premium to those organisations which commit to paying new employees at least the real living wage (£9.90 per hour) although a lower level of grant funding is available to employers paying a lesser wage rate.
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Councillor Christian Allard, anti-poverty spokesperson for Aberdeen City Council, said: “This ABZWorks incentive will not only support local businesses, but also help some of the city’s most vulnerable people into employment they may otherwise struggle to secure.
“The scheme will give employers flexibility and encourages them to consider the level of hourly pay, the number of hours worked, or enable parents and people with other caring responsibilities to take on jobs to suit the needs of their families.
“Recruitment incentives do play an important role in supporting those with the greatest barriers to jobs, and this scheme has been developed to integrate and link fully with existing employability and skills programmes.”
Employers can apply for funding to help with the costs of recruiting and employing someone who fits the eligibility criteria for the fund. It can provide up to £6,000 for newly created jobs or vacancies. ERI funding cannot be used to replace members of staff or contractors – it must not cause detriment to any employees.
The ABZWorks ERI opportunities are being funded via the No One Left Behind, Parental Employability Support Fund, and Young Person Guarantee funding streams from Scottish Government.
Employees taken on through the scheme must meet eligibility criteria, including being a city resident, unemployed or unemployed to qualify for the funding. The full list of eligibility criteria is available in an employers’ information and application pack at https://abzworks.co.uk/employability-support
