MORE than £1million has been utilised in the financial year to support Wee County people into work, councillors will hear this week.

Clackmannanshire Council is on track to spend around £1.38m on employability programmes in the Wee County, with the money allocated by the Scottish and UK governments for various initiatives in 2023-24.

The details will be heard by elected representatives at a meeting of the local authority's Audit and Scrutiny Committee on Thursday, March 7.

Councillors will hear how the employability service supports around 700 Wee County residents each year in a bid to provide them with the confidence and skills to progress into work.

The in-house Clackmannanshire Works service helps around 400 annually and a report to Kilncragis will highlight how 200 of those were supported into work, with more than 100 going into training, mainly for vocational courses.

Delivered in partnership with Falkirk and Stirling councils, the Fair Start Scotland programme has been providing person-centred support for unemployed people, including those with long-term health conditions and disabilities.

With £150,000 funding from the Scottish Government, the programme is in its sixth and final year with delivery set to be complete this month.

Clackmannanshire Works supported 626 individuals between April 2018 and November 2023 as part of the initiative.

The council has also been working in partnership with Clackmannanshire Economic Regeneration Trust (CERT) on the Positive Moves programme to support an economically inactive group of clients to take their first steps towards employment.

A successor to a previous ESF funded employability programme, it is supported through the UK Shared Prosperity Fund up to March 2025.

Parental employability support is also ongoing with the council currently supporting 84 people.

A school key worker post has also been created this year to support Wee County school leavers with  multiple barriers.

Funding is in place up to March 2025 with 19 young people currently supported.

The council has also been utilising Scottish Government funding to help tackle child poverty with £441,000 allocated for a range of interventions.

This includes six paid work placements for parents in council nurseries, seven paid work placements with the area's employers including NHS Forth Valley as well as parental welfare payments to support people transitioning into employment.

Amongst other initiatives, funding is also provided to 11 projects across 11, mainly third sector, organisations to deliver a range of activities and services for parents.

Supported by a share of £262,000 as part of the Scottish Government's No One Left Behind strategy, there are also three programmes for young people aged 16-19, delivered by council partners.

This includes a 20 week programme for those with multiple barriers or additional support needs to help build confidence and skills, a 13 week constructions sector skills programme and a 16 week customer facing sector skills programme.

All young people taking part are paid a weekly training allowance of £55.