Annex A - Area Case Studies ANNEX A iii - HACKNEY 1. Hackney is an inner London borough situated to the north of the City and the east of Islington. 2. Ranked 4th in terms of overall disadvantage out of 357 areas listed in DETR's Index of Local Deprivation, much of the borough has yet to benefit from the overall buoyancy of the London economy. In June 1998 the unemployment rate was 15.7% which was the highest in Greater London. 3. The borough has a relatively high turnover of residents, and suffers particularly from "successes" moving away as quickly as possible, perpetuating the concentration of low skills and unemployment.. Hackney has played host to successive waves of refugees and asylum-seekers which also adds to overall poverty and complicates the provision of education because of the need for English language tuition. 4. Housing in much of the borough is predominantly rented public sector (including several large estates of Council flats in varying stages of repair and reconstruction). Low property prices, and the vibrancy generated by a very diverse population, do attract a relatively high proportion of educated, employed owner-occupiers, producing some very localised examples of "gentrification", but their working and social lives lie largely outside the borough. 5. The lack of good access to the tube is considered a major isolating factor. Employment 6. Local employment opportunities are mainly in the public and voluntary sector. There have been some successful small-scale efforts to secure construction jobs for local people under regeneration projects but the scope to insist on this is limited by legislation. In the private sector, SMEs predominate, though even they are relatively thin on the ground; only 2% of London businesses registered for VAT are in Hackney. 7. On the doorstep, the City and the West End abound with jobs but few disadvantaged Hackney residents work in either area: those who do are generally in unskilled support jobs. Hackney residents lose out because of: commuting; UK and overseas migration; lack of transport; low education base and lack of appropriate skills. 8. Recruitment agencies are a very significant player in the London labour market (only 10% of private sector jobs are filled through ES) but they are situated near employers i.e. not in poor areas like Hackney. 9. An Employers Equality Network, with members committed to recruiting local people, operates under the umbrella of the borough's voluntary sector network. Educational institutions 10. Hackney Community College was formed in 1992 from the merger of a local 6th form centre, adult education and technical college. Several older centres around the borough have been closed and provision is now focused on two main sites in the south of the borough (including a new purpose-built campus funded from a variety of sources including a large contribution from FEFC) and through some 80 community-based groups (largely ESOL tuition). Provision is characterised as predominantly "second chance" education: basic skills and ESOL from the bulk of FEFC-funded programmes and demand outstrips supply. 11. Learning also takes place through the borough's extensive voluntary sector training base, coordinated by Hackney Training and Employment Network (H10) which also provides training for staff and volunteers. Previous regeneration activity New Deal For Communities (NDC): Shoreditch New Deal Trust 12. Shoreditch was selected as one of the Pathfinder New Deal. It is a deprived community, with unemployment double the Greater London average, poor levels of educational achievement, high incidence of long-term illness, high proportions of pensioners and single parent families and high levels of drug related crime. 13. The Shoreditch Trust is currently working on the Phase 2 of the programme - developing a delivery plan for the scheme to take up the £50 million New Deal funding offered over 10 years. The Trust has a clear vision of a sustainable community fit to work and to enjoy a good quality of life. They want to realise real benefits for their children, and the long-term aim is that future generations will want to stay in Shoreditch, because they will have the quality of homes, the skills and the employment prospects to do so. City Challenge - Dalston City Partnership (DCP) 14. DCP was funded for 5 years up to March 1998 to deliver physical, social and economic regeneration in the Dalston area. The scheme was funded with a grant of £37.5 million and levered in just over £110 million of private sector funding. 15. DCP revitalised the area by delivering a range of projects from large-scale commercial developments, refurbished buildings and housing schemes, to community based education, training and employment initiatives and crime prevention projects. Outputs include:- almost 3,000 dwellings completed or improved, 9,900 jobs created or safeguarded, 107,000 square metres of business floorspace created or improved and 570 business start ups. Hackney Task Force (HTF) 16. HTF was funded up to March 1998 at around £1 million per annum to assist local people into employment through assistance with training provision, business advice, and educational support. It provided smaller grants than most other regeneration schemes in the area, often supporting locally-based community and voluntary sector projects. SRB Round 5 Bid: A Sustainable Future For Stamford Hill 17. A bid was submitted for SRB Round 5 funding of £32 million over seven years, attracting match funding of a further £66 million. The community, which is very diverse and includes a significant proportion of Orthodox Jews and other ethnic minority groups, had been developing the bid for some time and there was a very high level of local partnership and support on the ground. 18. The bid was for an ambitious and comprehensive scheme, including a large housing element aimed at regenerating the notorious Woodberry Down estate and improving some of the worst private sector stock. GOL believed the bid to be achievable, but it was not supported by the LDP. However, the LDP indicated that they may be prepared to consider a bid under the next round of the SRB. Hackney SRB Schemes Hackney Wick: Another Piece In The Stratford Regeneration Jigsaw 19. The aim of this scheme is to ensure that the residents of Hackney Wick reap the maximum rewards from the changes planned for the Stratford area over the next decade by equipping people with the necessary skills and training to succeed, creating a successful and vibrant sector and establishing a confident and sustainable community. Hackney Wick is situated in the south-east corner of the borough, on the borders with LB's Tower Hamlets and Waltham Forest, and its population at the start of the scheme was 12,194. 20. The scheme is currently in its third year and will finish in 2003/04. The total funding for this scheme is £65,906,000 of which £19,235,000 is SRB, £12,187,000 is public sector and £34,484,000 is private sector. 21. By the end of the scheme, the Hackney Wick Partnership aim to create 1,168 jobs, train 3,623 people to gain qualifications and ensure that 11,070 pupils will benefit from projects designed to enhance or improve their level of attainment. The Heart Of Hackney - Building On Our Strengths 22. The aim of this scheme is to provide sustainable development through education and training and provide business support in order to improve the competitiveness of the local economy. The scheme includes initiatives for better quality housing through a greater choice of tenure and diversity of management and maintenance arrangements and measures to tackle crime and fear of crime though community safety projects. The Heart of Hackney Partnership also hope to attain a better quality of life for local people by improving arts and recreation provision, health and social care facilities and by improving the local environment as a whole. The Heart of Hackney area is situated along the Mare Street corridor, running from the border with LB Tower Hamlets in the south to the Lea Bridge roundabout in the north, and its population at the start of the scheme was 18,783. 23. The scheme is currently in its fifth year and will finish in 2001/02. The total funding for this scheme is £116,228,340 of which £25,296,000 is SRB, £44,167,340 is public sector and £46,765,000 is private sector. 24. By the end of the scheme, the Heart of Hackney Partnership aim to create 540 jobs, train 453 people to gain qualifications and ensure that 9,949 pupils will benefit from projects designed to enhance or improve their level of attainment. Haggerston Partnership - Connecting Regeneration 25. This scheme aims to empower the local community to seize opportunities offered by local regeneration initiatives and enable them to take a key role in the revitalisation of the economy and environment of Haggerston. The Haggerston Partnership hope to achieve this by reducing unemployment through skills development, business development and by reducing crime and the fear of crime. Haggerston stretches from St Leonard's Church in Shoreditch to Broadway Market, and its population at the start of the scheme was 11,878. 26. The scheme is currently in its third year and will finish in 2003/04. The total funding for this scheme is £31,701,000 of which £9,987,000 is SRB, £15,450,000 is public sector and £6,264,000 is private sector. 27. By the end of the scheme, the Haggerston Partnership aim to create 683 jobs, train 816 people to gain qualifications and ensure that 4,520 pupils will benefit from projects designed to enhance or improve their level of attainment. Main agencies 28. Renaisi Ltd., established by the local Council as a single, "arm's length" agency, supports local projects in writing bids for funding. Each project is run by a local partnership board involving key local agencies and community representatives. Renaisi has set up two agencies brokering local jobs in construction and other work, and are developing contacts with a set of quality-assured providers to provide customised training. Another Renaisi project will offer 12 months work experience with employers in Hackney, the City and further afield e.g. Stansted Airport. 29. A long-standing partnership involving the Council, TEC, ES, College, Careers Service, New Deal provider and H10 (voluntary sector network) has agreed an Employment Action Plan for Hackney which coordinates each player's activities and acts as a strategy document to guide funding applications. The partnership is working on a strategy for business support. 30. Hackney is a New Deal for Communities pathfinder area: plans are currently being agreed with DETR . Main issues emerging 31. Hackney has the usual problems associated with inter-generational unemployment and the low value placed on education by local residents. Several agencies highlighted a growing gap between Hackney residents' skills and employers' expectations (which are felt to be unrealistic). Level 3 is generally considered the minimum for entry to employment. Employers can afford to be choosy and take people with well above the minimum criteria set for any job. The local (private sector) New Deal provider's view is that apart from a general low education base, specific skills lacking are: appropriate communication; motivation and self-esteem; basic skills/English language. 32. "External" reasons for Hackney residents not accessing City/West End jobs are: the tradition of commuting e.g. a very high proportion of clerical workers in the City are women living in Essex. Word of mouth is still an extremely common method of recruitment so the situation is self-perpetuating. migration to London from UK and abroad, which makes for a transient workforce and lower salaries. Local people with low skills now lose out to bright motivated young "year out" types. globalisation, which means employers do not necessarily feel responsibility for the well-being of London or Londoners on their doorstep employers reportedly prefer to run with vacancies rather than take any sort of risk in employing someone. A rare local employer who tries to employ local people reports a pattern of drop-out in the first two months - signalling a need for some sort of transitional support. Transport - costs, logistics and reliability - is also cited as a complicating factor.. People from ethnic minorities have particular concerns about where they will travel for work e.g. young black men worry about being stopped by the police outside what is considered their usual area TEC research on one estate found people would need a starting salary of £13.5k a year to make working worthwhile - yet most do not have the skills to command this level of income straight away. Lack of affordable childcare for people in work is a major concern. Rationalisation of the Hackney College estate is a mixed blessing. There are fewer local centres (nothing now in the north of the borough) and some potential users may find the spectacular new campus intimidating (we heard it referred to as "Fortress Hackney") - though conversely it creates a safe environment for study which is appreciated by those who do join the FE funding regime has led the college to introduce more Level 1 courses to combat previous drop-out from Level 2 provision - yet level 3 is generally considered "entry" level for employment FOCUS Central London (the TEC covering Hackney) is felt by some to be too big and remote. Local people feel the borough receives relatively little of the TEC's overall budget. High proportions of refugees and asylum seekers mean: lack of recognition for overseas qualifications is a major problem - Hackney would be a richer borough if refugee residents could work in their previous professions demand for ESOL provision - particularly "pre-entry" level - outstrips supply Locally-based voluntary groups proliferate but experience all the familiar problems of short-term, uncertain funding and associated bureaucracy. As small organisations their effectiveness is often dependent on the calibre and personality of key individual staff exposes their activity to significant risks if those staff leave or become ill. Examples of good practice 34. "Silver surfers" on the Woodberry Down estate is a good example of: i) taking learning out to where people live; and ii) happenstance providing further opportunities that have paid off. 35. After the "rationalisation" of Hackney College, Woodberry Down estate in far north of Hackney found itself without any local learning provision. An IT organisation based in South Hackney took over a vacant flat on the ground floor of one block and filled one of two small rooms with laptops with internet access then advertised drop-in, cyber café-style provision by leafleting all estate households. Further recruitment by word-of-mouth followed. A good response led to a request for more organised courses at introductory level - which in turn has led to some people now being prepared to make the journey to South Hackney to carry on learning at the provider's main premises. 36. Premises are very cramped so the project asked for temporary use of the over-60s club in the flat next door. The quid pro quo was that the project should provide an introduction to IT courses specifically for over-60s. Despite all stereotypes about IT being a young person's thing, these classes have proved extremely popular, with big demand and excellent retention. Hoxton bibliotheque 37. Hoxton bibliotech is an unusual project, offering training to Levels 3-4 in electronic media and webpage design. Their funding means they recruit Hackney residents only. Courses are developed and constantly reviewed by providers in close contact with employers in the industry. The course also involved industrial placements too, which are brokered by the providers. Electronic media is a fast-moving field so the provider is constantly referring back to employers to ensure courses stay relevant. But the speed of development also means it is hard to get people who are trained in up-to-the -minute techniques - so the bibliotheque's nippy footwork suits employers too. Again, a case of an agency being effective and getting results because it has built up a relationship of trust with employers. 38. The provider is clear that they can't deal with people who have low basic skills or no acquaintance with IT but apart from this what they look for is interest and enthusiasm. Trainees are not all IT enthusiasts - they often have an artistic background, for example. The Queensbridge Trust/Holly Street Estate 39. On the patch is a well-known and -documented example of local community empowerment. The local residents association demanded training from the Council to make it more effective in planning the regeneration of the estate. Features which they initiated included: customised refurbishment rather than demolition of one of the tower block and restriction of tenancies to the over-50s; employment for local people in construction work associated with regeneration; introduction of a range of alternative therapies to the new health centre. Relevant local research Survey of 1000 Unemployed People in Hackney, USER Research Ltd (1996) Vocational Education and Training for Unemployed People in Hackney, Mike Cushman (1996) An Overview of the City Fringe Labour Market, City Fringe Regeneration Audit Group for London Borough of Hackney (1997) Unemployment in Hackney - A Review, Hackney Task Force (1996) Living in Hackney and Islington: Labour Market Experience and Working Lives, Focus central London (1998) Getting Hackney Back to Work: An Employment Plan for Hackney, Hackney Employment Action Group (1998) Data Adult population 147,700 Ethnic minorities 35.8% Unemployment rate 15.7% (June 1998) Long-Term Unemployment 34% (1 year+) Households without a car 61.7% School leavers with 5+ GCSEs at grades A-C 30.4% 16-19 participation 62% Lone parent households 9.2% (1991 census) Under-16 pregnancies per 1000 conceptions 11.8 (East London & The City)

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