WDC Employability Grants Programme 2024-25

Third, public, private and further/higher education sector organisations are all eligible to apply.

If you are applying as a partnership, the lead partner should apply, and detail partners involved. The lead partner would be responsible for the overall management and delivery of the project including budget management and monitoring and reporting requirements.

We invite applications that complement existing service and provision in West Dunbartonshire. 

Working4U currently offer end to end Key Worker support providing tailored employability support for all ages.  Current training provision includes:

• REHIS Food Hygiene
• REHIS Health and Safety
• REHIS Emergency First Aid
• Steps to Excellence
• Customer Service Training

We welcome bids supporting the key priority areas as detailed below and in the Data Challenges & Themes supporting document in the Grant Guidance:

• Vulnerable Young People
• Long-term Unemployed
• Economically Inactive
• Families facing Poverty
• Individuals with Disabilities
• Long-term Health Conditions
• Neurodiversity
• Care Experienced
• Minority Ethnic Communities
• Community Justice
• Areas of Multiple Deprivation

We are particularly keen to receive bids around the following specialist themes/projects below however other innovative projects will be considered.

• Community Outreach/West Dunbartonshire Employability Bus Project – Working4U have secured a bus which has been kitted out for outreach activity and the delivery of Employability services across West Dunbartonshire. We are inviting bids from partners who will coordinate and manage the use of the bus for outreach, engagement, and employability service delivery across West Dunbartonshire throughout 2024-25.

• Parents – to support unemployed and low income employed parents move towards and into work. The following priority family groups are most at risk of experiencing poverty, however support for parents would not just be limited to these groups. 
  • Lone Parent families
  • Families with a young mother (aged under 25 years)
  • Minority ethnic families
  • Larger families (3 or more children)
  • Families where the youngest child is under 1 year
  • Families with a disabled adult or child

• Disability/Long-term health condition – *specialist support for individuals with a disability/long-term health condition to help secure and sustain employment.

• Long-term unemployed – *specialist support for those who are either Long-term unemployed or at risk of being long-term unemployed to help secure and sustain employment.

• Community Justice – *specialist support for those engaging with the Community Justice Service to help secure and sustain employment.

*Specialist Employability Support is targeted at people with significant and on-going barriers to employment whose needs are not able to be met by mainstream employability support.  Typically, they will require longer-term access to services including significant aftercare and in-work support to sustain employment. Participants may include, but are not limited to, disabled people including those with severe and enduring mental ill health, in recovery from addictions or experiencing long term health conditions and who require support from Key Workers with relevant experience and training.

This guidance document and the associated grant application form outlines the West Dunbartonshire Strategic Employability Group intentions, principles and priorities to be met through the new West Dunbartonshire Employability Grant Programme supporting employability and skills provision in 2024-25.

The Grant Guidance will help inform your application.

Grant Guidance

To find out more about this round of Employability Grant Funding in West Dunbartonshire, the type of applications we are looking for and how to apply, please come along to our online Information Session on the MS Teams platform.

Date of Information Session:

Wednesday 22nd May 2024, 10am - 11.30am

Attendees can access the information session using the online link below:

West Dunbartonshire Employability Grant 2024-25 Information Session

The closing date for applications is NOON Wednesday 5th June 2024. 

Bids must be submitted using the Employability Grants Programme Application Form.

Bids must be submitted to West Dunbartonshire Council using this email address: WDC_NOLB_Grants@west-dunbarton.gov.uk 

Bids submitted in any other format will not be accepted.

West Dunbartonshire Council Employability Grant Award is a competitive process and West Dunbartonshire Council will not enter into discussions with bidders.

We try to ensure that all the required information is provided in the grant guidance. However, below you will find some questions that have been asked that may not be covered within the grant guidance document, with associated answers: