Renfrewshire Local Employability Partnership (RLEP)
Renfrewshire Local Employability Partnership (RLEP)
RLEP is the local strategic employability partnership . Our purpose is to support the effective implementation of local and national employability policy .
In doing so our partnership, working closely with local delivery partners, will make the best use of resources available to deliver services that help Renfrewshire residents make a successful transition towards and into employment.
You can find out more about our Partnership, and the local employability services in Renfrewshire by contacting the Partnership Coordinator: kay.mcintosh@renfrewshire.gov.uk
RLEP has published it’s Renfrewshire Employability Delivery Plan for 2022-25.
Summary Plan : Renfrewshire Employability Delivery Plan 2022.25 – summary
How RLEP Commissions Services
The key employment services in Renfrewshire include Invest in Renfrewshire, Skills Development Scotland and the DWP ( Renfrew, Johnstone and Paisley job centres) all of which deliver together core employability services to local residents and employers.
Each year RLEP reviews these core services and others available locally and nationally, and with the assistance of 6 RLEP operational groups focussing on key priority groups, it identifies gaps in service delivery which they wish to fill through commissioning processes.
This ensures the local service offer meets the employability support needs of local residents, in particular those with barriers to employment who require more support than others.
RELP currently uses a local employability grants process to commission delivery partners from across the public, third and private sector to work alongside the core/statutory local services.
Renfrewshire LEP’s Employability Grants Programme 2025/26 is now open for applications.
Renfrewshire’s Local Employability Partnership welcomes proposals for delivery of employability related activity from April 2025 to March 2026 across 8 different themes/priority groups that it has identified following a robust needs assessment process. The closing date for applications is the 31st January 2025. Any queries should be directed to kay.mcintosh@renfrewshire.gov.uk. Guidance, application form and budget template can be downloaded below Information sessions for those interested will take place via Teams on Monday 13th Jan 10am – 12 noon and Monday 20th Jan 10am – 12 noon. Anyone interested in attending can request an invite from Kay above and should thoroughly read the guidance document and application beforehand.
All commissioned delivery partners are required to complete these self assessments as part of the LEPs grants award process. We would encourage all employability partners to use to help drive continuous improvement.
Renfrewshire-Employability-Standards-Self-Evaluation-templatehttp://sandra
Renfrewshire-Fair-Work-Self-Evaluation-template
Renfrewshire Employability Practitioners Forum
Renfrewshire Council’s Employability Service – INVEST, on behalf of the Renfrewshire Local Employability Partnership supports a Practitioners Forum for front line workers who either provide services and programmes to support residents towards and into work or who may refer residents for employability support.
The aim of the forum is to provide partners/agencies the opportunity to showcase the services available within Renfrewshire. It offers a platform to engage, refer or signpost to other agencies to assist residents to access training, employment, education, or volunteering opportunities.
It’s also a great opportunity to discuss opportunities and challenges practitioners are experiencing and to highlight any unmet employability support needs which others may be able to help with.
Over 60 practitioners from a wide range of organisations attend the forum and receive information via emails.
The Forum meets the first Thursday of every month 2pm-4pm.
To join the Forum; receive meeting invites and regular emails or simply to find out more, please email the Forum Chair, Isobel McLaughlan on isobel.mclaughlan@renfrewshire.gov.uk
Training and Events
Every year RLEP hosts a conference. These are great capacity building opportunities for a wide range of partners and staff either delivering employability and associated support or whose client groups would benefit from employability support.
Always very popular, the conferences help to inform RLEP’s future priorities and delivery plans. They also provide an opportunity to raise awareness of the employability and economic landscape at a local and national level.
We are currently planning our 2025 conference which will take place in September 2025.
Other staff training and development activity takes place throughout the year and these are promoted using our mailing lists/networks and sub groups. If you have a request for specific training, please get in touch with the Partnership Coordinator (contact details above) and the LEP may be able to organise this for your staff and others .
Jobs Fairs take place regularly in Renfrewshire involving a wide range of employers. These can be related to specific sectors or are generic. Information is always shared across local partners and to the public. Many people find jobs or training opportunities via these events.
Renfrewshire Customer Charter
A new CUSTOMER CHARTER has been produced for anyone accessing employment support In Renfrewshire.
It provides those using services with a means of feeding back good and bad experiences of the services/support they have been receiving. This could include complaints or ideas for service improvements or highlighting a good experience or something positive that has happened to them as a result of the support. Produced by Renfrewshire LEP, with the help of a group of local young people and a local person on a traineeship with Invest (with design expertise), the leaflet can be shared electronically as well as being available in local employment support offices.