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Wheell Website launch
27th OCTOBER
After months of development and preparation the wheell website has come to life.....Read More >
Wheell Partners
The London Employer Coalition (LEC)
The LONDON Employer Coalition (LEC) is a group of business leaders from London’s main employment sectors who use their expertise and influence to address the capital’s employment and skills issues.
Funded by the Department of Work and Pensions, the LEC was set up in 1998 by the National Employment Panel. It is one of ten Coalitions nationwide.
Background
Around half a million Londoners are unemployed or claiming Incapacity Benefit. But almost half of London’s businesses identify a lack of staff with key skills as a barrier to growth. And although 3.5 million Londoners have jobs, about 4.5 million jobs are done every day in the capital.
At the same time London has an active welfare–to–work system including Jobcentre Plus, the Learning and Skills Council, local and regional government, and a diverse voluntary sector.
London therefore has the potential to solve its employment problems. But a key element in realising this potential is to help welfare-to-work bodies and employers work together.
The London Employer Coalition’s Role
The LEC occupies the space between the strategic and the operational. It does not have a policy remit; rather its role is to be
- a deal broker between employers and welfare-to-work, helping both sides co-operate to mutual advantage;
- an enabler but not an implementer, spreading good practice, promoting innovation, helping welfare-to-work programmes reflect the needs of employers;
- a performance improver, raising aspirations and helping welfare-to-work do more with less by bringing a business perspective to bear.
One of the key ways of delivering our objectives is through Brokerage:
Making deals between welfare-to-work bodies and employers to help both sides learn from one another and work together to mutual advantage; taking advantage of opportunities in the labour market to help the employment and skills system get people into work by meeting the needs of employers; growing the London-wide network of welfare-to-work providers and employers. We expect to develop initiatives in a number of sectors, including: IT, Food Service, Utilities, Retail, Security, Transport, Health, Construction.
Employer Resource
This ‘Employer section’ on the ‘wheell’ website will inform employers about support available when recruiting or retaining people with disabilities or those who have or could be in receipt of incapacity benefits.
This is an information package targeted towards HR practitioners in the public and private sector and not limited to health and social care employers, (it will also be of use to health and social care strategic and operational partners).