Last Thursday I was invited by our Motiv-8 team in Honiton to welcome guests to our inaugural launch event of the Restart Programme at The Beehive in Honiton. It was a fantastic event attended by representatives from The Heart of the South West Local Enterprise Partnership, Devon County Council, the Lord Mayor of Honiton, Seetec Pluss, Cosmic and dignitaries from all those organisations involved with Restart in the East Devon area. The team laid on a wonderful spread of locally made cupcakes, teas, coffees and decorated the room with balloons and a slide show highlighting our work. It was a real celebration and enabled those present to meet our amazing team personally.

During 2020 the Government’s spending review identified a need to help people into work post Covid and the chancellor allocated £2.9 billion as part of the “plan for jobs”. Anyone who is currently claiming Universal Credit and has been out of work for between 12 to 18 months can now access enhanced support to find jobs. The Restart Scheme will help to break down employment barriers that could be holding people back from finding work. Motiv-8 will work with employers, local government and other partners to deliver tailored support for individuals. This chimes exactly with our own philosophy of “Every Individual Matters” which always remains at the forefront of our work.

Referrals will be made over a three-year period and the Restart Scheme will benefit more than 1 million Universal Credit claimants nationally, who are expected to look for and be available for work but have no sustained earnings. The scheme will provide up to 12 months of tailored support for each participant. Early access can be considered on a case by case basis where conversations with a Job Centre work coach suggest this is the most appropriate route for the individual.

Seetec Pluss were selected as the prime contractors in the South West of England and Motiv-8 are working in partnership with Seetec Pluss to get 2,000 people back into work in East Devon. Based out of The Honiton Beehive, the team have already started on this challenging mission. They have already had some wonderful successes as people have moved into local jobs, thanks to the amazing coaches within the team.

The wonderful thing about all of this is it is a local organisation helping local people back into work and this was pointed out by Phill Willis from the Heart of the South West LEP during his speech at the opening. Previously large Government schemes have meant that people from miles away would be expected to help local people back into work. The advantages of the current local arrangement are for all to see as the success rate already shows Motiv-8 appearing at the top of some of the South West league tables for their work in East Devon.

Localisation is surely something that has come out of Covid particularly in the agricultural, food and beverage and manufacturing industries. The empty supermarket shelves, the predicted shortage of turkeys, the threatened slaughter and disposal of healthy pigs are all evidence of the national systems’ failings. I hope and believe localisation is here to stay because local money then stays in and supports the local region through Jobs and local buying. Motiv-8 itself has already created eight new jobs in the region as a result of Restart even before it starts in its own role of bridging the gap between potential employees and employers.

If you live in East Devon, within the Honiton Job Centre catchment area and you are interested in getting onto the Restart scheme please contact your local Job Centre or speak to your Job Coach. If you are a local employer who is recruiting please do get in touch with Robbie at Motiv-8 on 01392 873939 or Robert.Gardiner@motiv-8sw.co.uk. They are all here to help East Devon get back on its feet again post Covid.