Future Jobs Fund

The Future Jobs Fund was announced in the Budget 2009. It is run by the Department of Work and Pensions and is aimed to provide over 150,000 jobs for 18-24 year olds who have been unemployed for over six months. Here at Hill Holt Wood together with West Lindsey District Council, we were successful in bidding and are able to provide valuable work skills and experience for these young people for a six month period. Since October 2009 we have been able to offer a wide variety of jobs from working in our office to gardening and forestry. It is an excellent opportunity for both young unemployed people and employers. Since the Future Jobs Fund started Hill Holt Wood and West Lindsey District Council have employed around 130 people through this scheme and we are still growing. This scheme gives young people the opportunity to gain skills and work experience but it also gives them the confidence they will need to get back into work after a long period of unemployment. The Future Jobs Fund finishes in March 2011, and through this we have taken on a number of full-time permanent staff at Hill Holt Wood. We would like to thank West Lindsey, the external employers, and the staff for all their hard work during Future Jobs Fund.

Future Jobs Fund employee Anne-Marie Holmes has been at Hill Holt Wood for two months working as a Receptionist. She says “I think that the Future Jobs Fund is an excellent idea to get people back into work. I was unemployed for seven months before I got employed through the Future Jobs Fund and it takes away your confidence when you are unemployed for so long and constantly applying for jobs and not getting anywhere. Since I have been working here at Hill Holt Wood I have become a lot happier in myself and have gained lots of skills and experience that I wouldn’t have got if I was still unemployed”.