Page 158 - Socially-responsible-restructuring-Effective-strategies-for-supporting-redundant-workers

Socially responsible restructuring
Effective strategies for supporting redundant workers

In terms of judging the impact of the approach, the Better West Midlands
project team tracks their clients until they have been in work for 13 weeks, and
can offer some insight into their destinations and success on reintegration into
the labour market. The project claims to have achieved over 90% of returns to
work before the current recession, but success rates are likely to decrease in
periods of economic downturn, due to the reduced demand for labour.

6.13.3. Innovation and effectiveness
The innovation here comes from the strong involvement of the trade unions,
which is less frequent in the UK where social partnership is less structured than
in other Member States. Of particular importance is their role as an early warning
of impending redundancies.

6.14. The East of England Development Agency,

Response to Redundancy (R2R) (CASE STUDY 14)

6.14.1. Background and context
The East of England Development Agency (EEDA) established the Response to
Redundancy (R2R) in early 2005 in conjunction with the European Social Fund
(ESF). R2R offers services to people whose jobs are at risk or who are in the
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process of being made redundant. Those eligible are employed ( ) by public or
private sector organisations at a location in the east of England (in the counties of
Bedfordshire, Cambridgeshire, Essex, Hertfordshire, Norfolk and Suffolk). EEDA
is now, with ESF, investing GBP 2.2 million in a new Response to Redundancy
package as part of a wider GBP 6.2 million Beyond 2010 skills training
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programme ( ).
The Response to Redundancy Programme complements the Rapid Response
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Service ( ), initiated in 2002 to support larger scale redundancies, which is
operated on a regional basis by Jobcentre Plus, and other provisions recently
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introduced by the Learning and Skills Council ( ). Response to Redundancy
(R2R) provides a range of support to individuals including career guidance on an

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( ) The staff concerned must be directly employed and temporary. Agency staff are excluded.
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( ) For further details see: http://www.eeda.org.uk/beyond-2010.asp [cited 17.5.2010].
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( ) For further details see:
http://www.jobcentreplus.gov.uk/JCP/stellent/groups/jcp/documents/websitecontent/dev_01059
4.doc. [cited 17.5.2010].
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( ) There are some concerns about overlap between initiatives which are being addressed
progressively by EEDA.

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