[ssf] Sheffield firm to pilot Blairite policies in Israel

Tue Feb 1 18:52:30 GMT 2005

hello

re A4e

A4e(very Orwellian) is a New Deal company which has
made millions from the rise in training and cheap
labour schemes, particulalry since the NU Labour
accession. Formerly known as Action for Employment, it
is owned by the Gridland family who first made their
mint through training schemes for unemployed steel
workers. The director is very influential as is/was? a
governor of Sheffield college. There have been been
rumours of very dodgy corporate practices and i
definitely know of some as i knew, one of the family.
this is dynamite, A cheap labour/private training
company supporting Israel and so on, would be great
copy for our newsletter, and also a feature, know your
enemy. 

btw, this needs forwarding to Sheffileld PSC, etc.

dt

 jolly <rogerjolly at writeme.com> wrote:

---------------------------------

Strict Embargo: 00:01 Wednesday 2 February, 2004

1 February 2005

Sheffield-based A4e provides the blueprint for Israeli
welfare reform pilot

A4e, an Inner City 100 company, has today been awarded
a prestigious contract from the Israeli government on
the strength of work carried out in South Yorkshire. 

The contract, to implement the country's first welfare
reform pilot, aims to reduce Israel's unemployment and
benefit dependency and will inform the plans for a
national roll out of these services in Israel. A4e
will implement a two-year pilot in Jerusalem in
partnership with Israeli firm, Aman.

A4e based its proposals on over 20 years experience of
delivering innovative programmes as part of the UK
Government's welfare to work strategy. In particular,
it aims to emulate the success of employment
initiatives in South Yorkshire, such as the New Deal
which gives people on benefits the training and job
preparation they need to find work. 

The Israeli welfare reform pilot will provide
unemployed people with the training and skills to help
prepare them for the workplace. The A4e pilot will
also work with businesses in the local community to
develop employment opportunities and to ensure
individuals have the relevant skills, qualifications
and long-term career development.

A4e Group Chief Executive, Mark Lovell says: "I am
delighted at A4e's success in this bid round for such
an important social project in Israel. We have spent
12-months working in the country, listening to people
involved with welfare reforms. We have received huge
support and a great welcome from the Israeli people
and our partner organisations.

"After speaking to Mr Netanyahu at the Bidder's
Conference, I was convinced that A4e would be able to
add value to this programme of reform - there are
commonalities between the Israeli economy and the
challenges faced by the UK economy over the last
decade. A4e's approach to implementing UK welfare
reforms provides a strong foundation for our work in
Israel."

The contract is the first overseas work carried out by
A4e and marks the start of an international expansion
strategy to work in areas where there are
disadvantaged communities around the world. For its
successful bid in Israel, A4e combined its expertise
in supporting unemployed people into work with focused
job creation and business support strategies.

"Jerusalem has similarities to areas in South
Yorkshire where we have achieved outstanding results.
We are operating in an environment that has a high
level of unemployment, high welfare costs, a diverse
population, higher incidence of poverty and declining
traditional industry. In our bid we have used our
experience across business support and welfare
services to develop an approach that works with both
welfare recipients and employers to stimulate job
creation." says Mark Lovell.

Working with its joint venture partner, Aman, and
other local stakeholders, A4e has used its long-term
experience of welfare provision and extensive work in
Israel to develop proposals to specifically support
benefit recipients in Jerusalem. Community engagement,
sustainable job creation strategies and individually
tailored solutions to address barriers to employment
all form critical components of the pilot programme.
Initially 3,500 unemployed households will take part
in the Jerusalem programme.

Mark Lovell said: "Jerusalem was our first choice
location and I am delighted we secured that pilot
area. The city encapsulates many challenges and as
such, it is great place to operate the pilot and test
ways of working. The location lends itself to A4e's
experience which has been developed in disadvantaged
cities and neighborhoods across Britain. We have been
based in Jerusalem throughout our time in Israel so it
is an area we enjoy working in and we have come to
know well. 

"This is a tremendous opportunity for A4e to make a
real difference to people's lives. I encourage a
business approach that focuses on doing the right
thing, rather than the easy one and this will underpin
our work in Jerusalem - it is an approach that
delivers the best results for people, for communities
and for the business."

ENDS

For further information about A4e and the Israel
Welfare-to-Work programme, please contact Chris Hughes
(c.hughes at brahm.com) on 0113 220 0626 or Juliet
Shedden (j.shedden at brahm.com) on 0113 230 4000. 

Notes to editors:

A4e is one of four foreign companies -two from the
Netherlands, and one from the US - to win the tender
to open four employment centres in Israel. Following a
two-year experimental period, the most successful
elements of the four methodologies will then be used
to revamp Israel's interventions to provide services
and support to people helping them off benefits. The
pilots will begin in June/July. 

A4e's core mission:

To develop and implement programmes that deliver
social change on behalf of governments across the
world in order to improve people's lives.

About A4e:

A4e was founded in 1986 to provide re-training and new
career opportunities to workers from traditional
industries in decline in an area of exceptionally high
unemployment.

A4e now operates from over 100 locations across the UK
and is recognised as one of the UK's premier
organisations in the delivery of social change on
behalf of Government.

It has twice won awards in the Sunday Times Fast Track
100 Index and Inner City 100 index, being awarded
second place in the Inner City 100 in 2003.

Since 1997 it has delivered over £230m of welfare to
work programmes. 4,000 new participants start A4e's
adult welfare to work programmes every month and A4e
moves one participant off benefits into work every 10
minutes across the UK.

A4e will turnover £70m in 2004/05.

A4e Group has six divisions operating in different
markets including services for: " Employment, welfare
& training " Education & Childcare " Business support
" Regeneration " Fund Management Services " Financial
exclusion and benefits

Brahm LTD
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