FOLLOWING successful free events across the county Cumbria Local Enterprise Partnership’s (CLEP) flexible working event is coming to Whitehaven’s Solway Hall tomorrow (Thurs Sep 28) between 10am – 5pm.

With the passing of the new Flexible Working Bill, CLEP is bringing together businesses and people who might want to work flexibly to fill job vacancies across Cumbria.

Rachel Wlodarczak, CLEP’s Head of Employment and Skills, said: “As of July this year there were 6,795 people looking for work in Cumbria and an Office for National Statistics survey estimates there are around 57k economically inactive people aged 16 to 64 in our county who are not working and not available for work.

“Yet despite these numbers there are huge staffing challenges in many sectors like hospitality and health and social care. There are many reasons people don’t or can’t find employment, but we know flexibility is increasingly important post pandemic as people face long-term health issues or have caring or family responsibilities.”

The events which saw over 800 attendees in Barrow are open to anyone seeking work particularly retirees or those who are considering returning to work if they can find flexibility around school hours or caring responsibilities.

Rachel added: “There are many businesses across West Cumbria who already actively embrace flexible working policies but it’s often not something they shout about. Because flexible working is so varied from reduced and condensed hours to hybrid-working it’s often difficult to promote these in a job advert. We hope tomorrow will provide the link between businesses and potential employees to ultimately attract more people into the labour market.”

For more information, please visit www.thecumbrialep.co.uk/events/ or contact rachel.wlodarczak@thecumbrialep.co.uk