Oral Statement - JobStart

Date published: 6 October 2025

Mr Speaker, on 2 June 2025 I made a statement to the Assembly regarding my department’s 2025-26 budget allocation. In that statement I conveyed my desire to increase opportunities and life chances for everyone in Northern Ireland and announced my intent to invest in a multi-million-pound employment programme that would support all age groups and help to tackle the barriers to economic activity.

For too long we have had the highest rates of economic inactivity across the UK. Too many of our citizens of working age are not able to enjoy the benefits of fulfilling, quality employment. Earlier today I launched a public consultation on an ambitious ten-year Disability & Work Strategy, and I encourage responses to that.

But Mr Speaker that is not all I am doing. I want to tackle the full range of issues of unemployment and inactivity, and I want to break down those barriers to employment. That is why, today, I am also announcing a £12.4million pound investment into employment support. The biggest single programme that my department will deliver in addition to existing employability provisions across my Department. That programme is JobStart, Creating Work Opportunities.

This new employment scheme is wider reaching than ever before. It will provide flexible, responsive support to those who need that extra help to enter or re-enter the labour market.

The scheme will build on the successes of previous JobStart programmes - but it will go further. It will widen access to all working age benefit claimants and will include more flexible options to respond to the needs of people who have additional barriers.

I have had the pleasure of meeting participants from previous schemes, and they have told me how this support has changed their lives. Many had low confidence, no experience, or multiple barriers to employment – and, yet employers across Northern Ireland were willing to give them a chance. And their faith in these participants has paid off. 96% of previous employers were satisfied with the scheme and many have found excellent employees.

For participants, many of them did not have the confidence to find employment on their own. Indeed, those participants now working in my own department told me they thought they would never get a job in the Civil Service. When those young people arrived with us, they struggled to make eye contact with anyone, and their confidence was very low. What a difference a training plan, a patient line manager and a supportive team makes.

My department recruited 9 young people at the end of the first JobStart scheme. Two years later these young people are thriving in their roles, their confidence levels are through the roof, and one has already secured a promotion.

As is the case for the programme I am launching today, Mr Speaker, the previous schemes were open to the public, private, voluntary and community sectors and there are many good news stories.

Let me share just a few….

A 16-year-old who was not in Employment, Education or Training was placed in a local GP surgery, supporting the team in an administrative role. She tells us that JobStart helped her find a job she truly loves. It uncovered skills and qualities she didn’t know she had and gave her the confidence to come out of her shell. She said the belief that was shown in her, gave her hope in herself. Her employer was so impressed by her performance that she secured a permanent role in the team two months before her placement was due to end.

Another participant was a new mother. Following her involvement in the JobStart Scheme she shared how it gave her access to a wide range of training, built her confidence, and provided the experience she needed to apply for future roles. But Mr Speaker, she also told us that JobStart did not just help her professionally, it helped her become a financially stable new mother. This is the power of high-quality employment support.

Mr Speaker, I want to see more people have these opportunities to participate in work, to develop and build new skills, to have a better future for themselves, their families, and their communities.

I am committed to delivering long-term, sustainable solutions to poverty across Northern Ireland. The Executive’s Anti-Poverty Strategy identifies work as one of the most effective ways out of poverty for working age people. The programme I am announcing today promotes access to good quality, inclusive employment, particularly for those who face barriers in the labour market.

The opportunity to participate in supportive employment improves people’s health and well-being, protects against social exclusion, provides individuals with income, identity, and a sense of purpose, as well as helping to drive us towards a more productive and competitive economy.

This approach is central to the third pillar of the Anti-Poverty Strategy, which is to support people to exit poverty. This is an approach which helps ensure that we are tackling the root causes of poverty in a sustainable way and for all of those who questioned, this is just one of the many actions as a result of this strategy.

Mr Speaker, JobStart, Creating Work Opportunities is open today. We have employers already applying to offer quality work opportunities that so many of our citizens need access to. I look forward to hearing of many more transformational experiences.