By Joe Locker, Local Democracy Reporter
More than £300,000 has been given to Nottingham City Council to help the authority provide employment support to people undergoing drug and alcohol treatment.
The Office for Health Improvement and Disparities (OHID) has awarded the council £323,197, and the money will go towards providing “tailored and intensive” support to help people find and maintain jobs.
The intensive employment support will be delivered by trained employment specialists, rather than through mainstream employment support services.
One senior employment specialist and two employment specialists will be hired to work alongside other professionals from a variety of services, the council says.
Council delegated decision documents say: “It is widely accepted that a person is more likely to achieve recovery if they have stability in other areas of their lives; one of the pivotal factors is obtaining and maintaining employment.
“It can contribute to a person’s self-esteem, perceived self-worth and can improve overall mental well-being, in addition to providing an income.
“The service will also contribute to social value through supporting people who are accessing drug and alcohol support services, and who would not be able to access employment without specifically tailored, intensive support, to access support to work.”
The support comes as a ‘substance misuse’ report, published in 2022, revealed how many people regularly drink alcohol or use drugs.
It was produced by the council’s Substance Misuse Strategic Oversight Group via a series of surveys.
According to the report, 11,166 people, or seven per cent of Nottingham’s drinking population, tend to drink more than 14 units of alcohol a week, while the same survey found roughly 1.2 per cent, or 1,914 people, regularly drink more than 50 units per week.
The survey also found that 20 per cent, or 31,903 citizens, who drank alcohol, tended to binge drink, but a large proportion of this could be owing to the city’s large student population.
And according to the report, the best estimates available show Nottingham has just over 11 opiate and crack users per 1,000 people, exceeding the national average of just under nine.
It is estimated 63 per cent of people who use opiate and crack are aged 35-64, with 81 per cent of those accessing structured treatment.
The council report says “this suggests there is a potential unmet need in opiate and crack users aged under 35 years.”
Of those aged 15 to 24, who use opiate and crack in Nottingham city, 93 per cent are not accessing treatment.
There is also an unmet treatment need of 74 per cent of alcohol dependent people aged 18 and over, which equates to around 3,800 dependent drinkers who could benefit from specialist treatment, the report adds.
The funding has been awarded for the period from April 2023 to March 2025.
Council documents add: “The aim of the service is for people who would otherwise be unable to work to access employment and have secure income, leading to financial recovery as part of their overall recovery, with the wider economic benefits that this brings.”
