The team is working from home and is in good health.

Despite having had to postpone our Leadership Forum and North East launch event in Newcastle earlier in March, our new team member Chris Gallon, seconded from Sage, is pushing ahead with our local youth-employment programme in the North East and has made some great contacts and good progress.

Simon Beckman seconded from Unilever, is another new team member and will be leading Movement to Work programmes in the North West. Simon has already begun work with the Greater Manchester Combined Authority and is driving forward some great partnerships working with our Partner Network. If you can make any introductions for Chris or Simon, please click on their names above and drop them a line.

We recently welcomed Sam Olsen as the new CEO of Movement to Work.  As many of you know, Sam is on secondment to us from the Department for Education (DfE), the government department responsible not just for schools but also vulnerable children. Since the Coronavirus outbreak, DfE asked if Sam can temporarily return to her former role to help coordinate its response to the virus, to ensure we are protecting children in the care system during this period.

As a result, from Monday 23 March 2020, Sam will return to DfE and Dal Channa will temporarily step into the CEO position during this period. Dal, a senior manager at Accenture, had already begun her induction as the incoming COO for MtW.

Movement to Work is supporting employers with their continuity plans by communicating news of innovative support provided by our network of training providers, youth-outreach agencies and employer members. Many of MtW’s employer members are continuing to offer fantastic vocational and work experience opportunities, albeit some employability schemes have had to be postponed.

Some industries’ workforces have been laid-off for the time being, whilst others need to ramp up employee numbers quickly. MtW is here to help and advise those involved in all industries and all circumstances.