As the UK economy reopens, unemployment rates in the UK have dropped for the fourth month in a row according to the Office for National Statistics (ONS). But will this sign of recovery reflect in employability?

Since working from home, mental health issues such as depression, anxiety and loneliness have all increased for a lot of people. Suffering from isolation and loneliness many people are lacking the confidence they once had when applying for new job positions. Due to this, there is a growing concern that people may be left behind as lockdown restrictions ease. It’s likely that employability and training providers are going to have a harder job when it comes to securing employment opportunities.

The current unemployment rate stands at 4.7%, meaning 1 in 20 people who want a job can’t find one.

Despite the UK Furlough scheme protecting jobs during the pandemic, it’s undeniable that the impact of the pandemic has affected some industries and age groups more than others. Hospitality has been one of the worst hit sectors for job losses, with redundancies rising from 58,000 to 171,000 last year alone. Young people have also suffered greatly from the pandemic, with the number of under-25s on company payrolls falling by 289,000. This is largely down to most young people working in the retail and hospitality industry, both of which were unable to fully reopen during the pandemic.

To address these gloomy figures, The Restart Scheme will provide Universal Credit claimants enhanced support to help them regain employment. Those who have been out of work for over 12 months are able to receive help to find jobs in their local area.

As part of the Government’s Plan for Jobs, Restart is one of the biggest employability programmes in a generation. Restart aims to address the obstacles millions of long-term unemployed face and provide them with extra help in their journey back into employment.

Minister for Employment, Mims Davies, said: “Our Plan for Jobs is already delivering fresh hope and new opportunity across the country after the impact of the pandemic on our Labour market. The new Restart programme will give over a million jobseekers the crucial tailored support they need to get back into employment as we push to build back better.”

With the government support scheme due to end in September and Restart about to begin, now is the time to start considering how well you’re set up to deliver your employability and training services.

How can CogniSoft support employability and training providers?

CogniSoft’s case management system doesn’t limit you in terms of tailoring it to suit your exact needs. Our software is completely configurable and bespoke, so you can benefit from:

• Customisable employability forms
• Easy to use internal communication enabling you to provide reports on users, set up notifications to ensure candidates never miss an interview with full access to candidate profiles
• Full candidate history to show employment journey
• Bespoke business rules can be set up to notify you if any required information is missing

And much more! 

If you would like any more information, visit our product pages here or get in touch with one of the CogniSoft team who would be happy to help.