Agenda Reports Pack (Public) 15/10/2012, 19.00 - Meetings ...

Building a Housing Ladder of Opportunity – Housing Allocation Scheme2. VolunteeringVolunteers must have been volunteering for a continuous period of at least 6 months upto the point of application and the same at point of offer. Volunteering must be for a notforprofit organisation that is recognised by the Council, or a charity that is registeredwith the Charity Commission or is funded by the Council or another local authority.Consideration will also be given to unpaid voluntary work associated with socialenterprises; community interest companies; and private registered providers (usuallyhousing associations). Tenants and Residents Associations which are constituted areclassified as not-for-profit organisation. They must be registered with Hammersmith &Fulham Council or a Private Registered Provider to qualify. Volunteering must be for aminimum of 20 hours per month. This will link to the Council’s broader ‘slivers of time’approach whereby residents build up equity through volunteering.Evidence Required for voluntary workA letter on the organisation’s headed paper from the manager responsible forvolunteers confirming the applicant’s involvement in a minimum of 20 hours per monthof voluntary work for at least 6 months. This person must not be related to the applicantin any way.3. Training or EducationWe want to encourage people to move closer to gaining paid employment by gainingemployability skills and becoming job ready. This may be achieved by attending higheror further education or by accessing a longer vocational course of study or engaging ina programme of work-related training courses. In all cases the course of study mustlead to achieving accredited qualifications and / or certification by a registered awardingbody.Study or training may be undertaken at a range of recognised institutions andorganisations such as: Further Education College; registered Private Training Provider;registered Voluntary Sector Organisation or University.To be eligible for the vocational training award a person must initially access arecognised Information, Advice and Guidance (IAG) service, such as Next Steps forAdults or Connexions for young people up to age 19 years to develop an agreedemployment action plan and to be signposted to relevant training providers. Candidatesmust be working towards gaining employment in a vocational occupation.A person must have been studying or training against the eligible criteria and definitionoutlined, for a continuous period of at least 6 months up to the point of application andthe same at point of offer. Applicants eligible for out-of-work related benefits must alsobe registered with Job Centre Plus and accessing mainstream job brokerage provision,thus actively seeking work (this may not apply to full time students dependent on thehours they are studying). Training must be in addition to, or supplementary to anymandatory training required and may be undertaken in conjunction with volunteering to35Page 418