Forties People

Government officials have unveiled a scheme designed to help out-of-work people across Britain find office jobs and other forms of employment.

Helen Goodman, minister for work and pensions, announced that more than 15,000 people in less well-off communities will be given expert job advice in a bid to tackle the issues of deep-seated and intergenerational unemployment.

The scheme, known as Outreach, will be backed by £12 million of government funding.

Advice and other services will no longer be restricted to Jobcentres, Ms Goodman explained. Sessions will be held in GPs surgeries, community centres and even in peoples' own homes in order to help them find employment in office jobs.

"Work is the best way out of poverty and our Outreach programme is part of the broad range of support available through Jobcentre Plus to help people into work," she added.

Data released last month by the Office for National Statistics suggested that the number of office jobs may be on the rise.

It revealed the number of unemployed people in the UK fell to 2.46 million in the final quarter of 2009.

Posted by Mary King