Aim
KEEP is the short name for the Kent Equal Employability Partnership. The aim of the KEEP DP was to develop and transfer new methods of supporting people from several disadvantaged groups to gain and retain employment.
Target Beneficiary Groups
KEEP worked with the following disadvantaged groups:
- Long-term unemployed people living in Ashford, Dartford, Dover, Maidstone, Shepway, Swale and Thanet (these districts are in the 157 most deprived in the UK)
- People across Kent with specific disadvantages including:
- Problems of addiction
- Mental health problems
- Learning or physical disability
- Ethnic minorities, including refugees.
These groups were chosen because local and national research shows these groups experience the most disadvantage in the labour market.
Objectives
The specific objectives of KEEP in Action 2 were:
- To enhance the ability for voluntary and community sector to access EU and other funds and to work in partnership with agreed common aims and objectives.
- Develop social enterprise
- Bring together service providers and creating a new way of working together (empowerment of partnerships)
- Develop training schemes and materials to benefit the discriminated and disadvantaged people in the labour market
Background
KEEP formed an intermediary network which brought together unemployed members of disadvantaged groups with employers, on the basis of the employers needs for skills, and the unemployed people's needs for support. KEEP did not duplicate existing training provision, but involved more members of disadvantaged groups in training and employment support, and provided ongoing support to those who were placed in work.
KEEP promoted the employability of disadvantaged groups through three types of services:
- Pre-vocational training
- Support through transitions into employment
- Development of social firms.
Each of these services were developed in partnership, and made available to all beneficiaries in KEEP.
These activities were adapted to the needs of each of the individual target group, and each had elements that were common to all groups (e.g. accreditation systems, employer marketing and liaison, IT support, cost-benefit analysis).
The project was based in Kent in the south east of the UK.
Main Outcomes
Over the two-year period from May 2002-2004, KEEP partners helped to support almost 700 disabled or otherwise disadvantaged people of Kent to enter training and sustainable, long-term employment.
