New Jobcentre in Fareham opens in boost to those looking for work

As part of the government’s Plan for Jobs, the new Jobcentre in West Street, Fareham officially opened its doors on Wednesday, giving jobseekers more access to support and the latest opportunities.

Work Coaches at the new site in Fareham will join thousands of colleagues up and down the country at the forefront of the government’s drive to get 500,000 people currently out of work into jobs by the end of June as part of the ‘Way to Work’ campaign.

The Jobcentre has 15 Work Coaches, some of whom joined the Department for Work and Pensions as part of the successful recruitment drive to hire 13,500 new Work Coaches across the country.

Each new Work Coach will help local people looking for work in the Fareham, Gosport and Cosham areas with one-on-one tailored support to find their next role.

Fareham West Street Jobcentre Plus is one of the new temporary sites announced by the Department for Work and Pensions earlier this year, building on the existing 639 Jobcentres across the UK.

The additional space will accommodate new Work Coaches recruited in Fareham, Gosport and Cosham helping more people to transform their lives through tailored employment support.

Denise Wood is one of those new recruits based at Fareham.

She said: ‘I am excited about the move to this new Jobcentre Plus and the opportunities it will give to me and my and customers.’

Customer service leader Sharon Ellerington said: ‘In all of my 36 years with the DWP I have never been so excited about overseeing the opening of this new site and how this will impact on our Universal Credit customer within the Solent Area.

‘We will be able to see them more often to support them into work as we now have this expansion of our premises to do this. We have capacity to hold regular recruitment days bringing in the local employers to support the economic recovery and getting more people into work as part of our Way to Work campaign.’

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Mims Davies MP, minister for employment, said: ‘We know this has been a challenging time for many people and that’s why we’re boosting our DWP Jobcentre support in every community of the UK, including here in Fareham.

‘Every customer benefits from having a dedicated Work Coach. They know the local jobs market and work with local businesses to match jobseekers to the latest opportunities.

‘It’s brilliant to see our Plan for Jobs in action, from Kickstart to Sector-based Work Academy Programmes, our Work Coaches are there to help people thrive and progress in work.’

A message from the Editor, Mark Waldron

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