Employment support

Unemployment is at historically low levels but there are still many who struggle to find and keep a job. We want to do as much as we can to ensure that as many people as possible benefit from work.

Actions

We are:

• helping those facing the greatest barriers to work to find and stay in jobs, through our employment support service - Fair Start Scotland 
• promoting fair work and pay, including plans to increase the number of people paid the Living Wage
• supporting those affected by redundancy through the Partnership Action for Continuing Employment (PACE)

We are also:

• providing support to help disabled people into training and employment
• taking action to reduce youth unemployment and support young people into work
• developing links between employment support and other services through the £2.5 million Employability Innovation and Integration Fund
• helping employers partner with colleges to upskill their staff through the £10 million Flexible Workforce Development Fund
• providing careers and skills advice to people of all ages through the Skills Development Scotland agency
• setting out how we will deliver more effective and joined up employability support with the publication of No One Left Behind: Next Steps for the Integration and Alignment of Employability Support in Scotland

And we have developed a severe weather charter to help ensure that workers are treated fairly during extreme weather conditions.

Background

We carried out a consultation in 2015 to inform the development of Scotland's employability services.

We published our response: Creating a Fairer Scotland: A New Future for Employability Support in Scotland, in March 2016. This set out the key principles and values that will underpin devolved employability services.

Labour market statistics can be found on the gov.scot website.

Archived content

Employment support information before January 2018 can be found on the gov.scot archive.

Bills and legislation

The Scotland Act (2016) transferred new powers to Scotland to provide employment support for disabled people and those at risk of long term unemployment. The changes took effect in April 2017.

Contact

Email: Central Enquiries Unit ceu@gov.scot

Telephone: 0300 244 4000

Social media:

Twitter: @EmployinScot