schemes to get older folk back into work

[APC]

I'm interested in finding out about any schemes or grants for people over the age of 25 who have been out of work for a long time. I ask this as I regularly get asked by members of the public at my park whether we have any jobs going, as they have lost their jobs etc. If they were the smaller side of 25 there seems to be loads of help available, such as Future Jobs Fund.

 

I quite resent this, as we have had almost 10 FJF's in various roles around the park, and only one of them was any good. Most of the others were consistently late, by several hours, take massive amounts of instances of sick-leave (one guy been here 5 months hasn't managed to work a full 3 day week yet ) or complain about the work causing them all manner or injuries (manual handling training provided). One even said, on his first day "I'm quite happy at home claiming, it's much easier". The one who was good, we now have on our books as a casual and have happily put him through cs30/31. He seems to be a rare occurance. We have tried to get rid of the chaff but the process is longwinded and very much in the FJF's favour.

 

I think there is too much emphasis on getting young people who genuninely don't want to work, into positions where they have to be micromanaged throughout the whole day. With the recession knocking 1000's of people out of jobs, through no fault of their own, there must be a hell of a lot of more worthwhile candidates out there, to fit into a variety of roles. I would love to be able to say to someone that if they approach X company and ask about Y scheme then they might be able to get them back into work again. After all, they might have contributed several decades worth of NI and Income Tax and so should expect something in return. A lot of younger folk get it all on a plate and live with no consequences, after willingly contributing nothing.

 

So question is, are there any schemes available for the over 25's?