Profile
The Jobs and Benefits Office in Banbridge is responsible for providing vacancy recruitment and training advice to both employers and jobseekers. With a province wide network of offices linked by computer, Banbridge Jobs and Benefits Office offers its clients a free, efficient, easy to use and professional service.

Programmes and Services

• Bridge to Employment
  This programme is aimed at inward investor companies and local companies undergoing expansion and maybe finding difficulties addressing skills shortages. Employers can use the Bridge to Employment Programme to find and train unemployed people to fill their job vacancies. It provides customised training courses to equip unemployed people with the skills necessary to compete for new employment opportunities on an equal basis with others.

• New Deal/Steps to Work
  New Deal will be replaced by the Steps to Work programme at the end of September 2008. This new programme is a menu based approach providing a flexible approach to help assess your individual employment and training needs.
• Training for Success
  Training for Success is designed for young people aged 16-18 (up to 24 years for those requiring additional support) and provides training to give them the tools and skills they need to get a job. This training provides young people with relevant qualifications as well as the required personal and behavioural skills they need to get a job. From September 2008, if a young person goes into training through one of the components of Training for Success, they will automatically receive a non means tested Educational Maintenance Allowance (EMA) of £40 per week. If their parent(s) / guardian(s) is in receipt of Income Support, means tested Job Seeker's Allowance or Housing Benefit, that benefit will not be affected by the EMA. If the young person is entitled to one of these benefits in their own right, that benefit will not be affected either. The parent(s)/guardian(s) will also be entitled to receive Child Benefit & Child Tax Credit in respect of the young person provided all other conditions for receipt of the benefits are met. Training for Success also gives employers the opportunity to develop a workforce with the specific skills to drive their business forward.
• Employers Online NI
  Employers, submit and manage your vacanies online. This service gives employers round the clock access to vacancies on one of the largest job websites in Northern Ireland.  Vacancies will be advertised immediately on www.jobcentreonline.com, which is one of the most visited job matching websites in Northern Ireland. As with all the employment services offered by the DEL there is no charge. Go online to www.employersonline.com or call the Online Support team on 0800 3289135 between 9am and 5pm Monday to Friday.
• EURES
  Public Employment Services provides a recruitment and information service to employers who wish to recruit in other EEA countries and Switzerland. This service is especially useful too employers who wish to recruit person who can speak another language or where there is a skills gap in the local labour market.  Vacancies can be advertised on the European website www.eures-jobs.com and locally www.jobcentreonline.com
  

• Management Development
  There are a range of programmes available which offer managers an opportunity to acquire the skills, knowledge, understanding, competence and attributes, which may only be developed through carefully targeted development and guidance. The programmes available include Business Education Initiative, Leaders for Tomorrow, Management and Leadership Development Programme, Premiere and Rapid Advancement Programme.

• Recruitment Advice and Services
  Banbridge Jobs and Benefits Office can offer employers information and advice in all areas such as recruitment methods, vacancy handling, wage rates and employment legislation. Additionally, it can provide employers with standard or issue and return application forms, and advise them about financial incentives for recruiting unemployed people through programmes such as Steps to Work and Training for Success. Its Disablement Advisory Service can support employers who employ people with a disability.
  
• Careers Service NI
  Careers Service NI offers information, advice and guidance to people of all ages in Northern Ireland. Careers advisers are based in every town throughout Northern Ireland in Careers Offices, Jobcentres and Jobs and Benefit offices. Visit Careers Service NI for further information.

Contact:
Jobs and Benefits Office
18 Castlewellan Road, Banbridge, Co. Down BT32 4AZ 
T: 028 4062 0800
W: www.delni.gov.uk