Within the West of England at September 2014 there were 159,000 economically inactive people (aged 16 – 64). Of these, and refining the target group further, approximately 50,000 were classified as inactive for reasons of long-term and temporary sickness, discouragement and other reasons.

 

 

Despite the area’s increasing prosperity in recent years, the West of England still has a significant number of localities and groups experiencing high levels of deprivation, with underrepresentation of key groups in enterprise. This includes wards with inter-generational worklessness, leading to poor health and wellbeing for residents. Specific groups are underrepresented in enterprise, including ethnic minorities, women, disabled people, young people and older people. The common barriers to employment are well documented: limited education, lack of employability skills, disability, childcare, debt, digital exclusion and lack of English for Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL) skills.

 

PSE will work on four strands as follows: BME, Employability, ESOL with Employability & IT and the Informal Economy.