UNEMPLOYED residents in Northumberland have been urged to take advantage of a Government-funded scheme aimed at removing barriers to work.

Back2Work offers training courses for residents across the North East, working alongside the North East combined authority. However, the project is keen to reach residents in Northumberland.

The group offers a range of training courses in the North East area to help you get back to work within key industry sectors including construction, warehousing and customer service.

Staff work across five local authorities in the North East to “help local people to build their confidence, gain a qualification and achieve their career goals”.

Back2Work’s Community Engagement officer Alasdair Mitton attended Thursday’s meeting (September 26) of the North Northumberland Local Area Committee to explain more about the services offered.

He said: “We work with people aged 16 and over to remove barriers to employment. We operate from Newcastle to Berwick but we don’t want it all to be Newcastle-centric.

“We try to help people with anything to do with health, finance, training, volunteering – anything down to a bus to take them to the job centre. We’re just trying to get our name out and around in the community.

“If you know anyone who works in the NHS or in mental health services or at different charities, suggest them to us and we will see if they have any referrals. We work on a one-to-one basis for 16 weeks and we will travel to people.”

Mr Mitton explained that the project was funded until March, but he was hopeful of receiving more cash from the North East Combined Authority.

He continued: “We have hit every single target figure so hopefully we will get recommissioned for another two years. We had quite a big pot of money and normally these programmes don’t reach the outskirts.

“I wanted to get out here and bring some of that money to people in Northumberland.”