Please see the information below from Barnsley Council:

We are writing out to let you know of a new service available for residents of Barnsley, please can you help us raise awareness of the support available.

During these difficult times, many residents are unfortunately facing uncertainty about their current and future employment. To address this and to support our residents, the employment and skills team have developed a simple, single point of contact to make it easier to speak to someone and access the free support available to residents who may have been:

• Furloughed
• Laid off/unemployed
• Are at risk of redundancy
• Looking to develop or grow skills

Barnsley Council’s Employment and Skills service has joined forces with Enterprising Barnsley and other employment support providers to make it easier for residents to access employment and skills support.  We have launched the Barnsley Employment Helpdesk providing a simple single point of contact for all residents who would like to speak to someone and access support.   We aim to respond to enquiries on the same day with a referral to support within 24 hours.

• Support can be accessed through the website and its webchat function:   https://www.enterprisingbarnsley.co.uk/support-for-employment/
• Or, directly through our email address: employmentsupport@barnsley.gov.uk

We’re on the end of a phone and can provide advice to determine eligibility for Universal Credit and how to start and prepare claims; job searching, getting a CV ready, support with applications and interviews and access to free training if residents want to develop your skills for a new role or promotion.

Please help us raise awareness of this support across your networks, we are ready to receive referrals. Just make sure people are happy for you to share their contact details and email them through or direct people to us on the details above.

We are working on getting a contact phone number and unfortunately in the meantime we are only able to receive enquiries through the email or webchat.  However, if individuals are not able to access email or webchat, if they can ask a friend, neighbour or professional to email us their phone number we will phone them straight back.   

Our partners include: Barnsley Council Adult and Community Learning, Enterprising Barnsley, The Growth Company & Wiseability, The Coalfields Regeneration Trust, The Citizen’s Advice Service

For further information about Barnsley Council’s response to Covid-19, visit: barnsley.gov.uk/services/health-and-wellbeing/covid-19-coronavirus-advice-and-guidance/