A NEW £2million scheme to help the vulnerable and disadvantaged across Lancashire into work through volunteering is being developed.

The scheme will be lead by Blackburn with Darwen Council after its executive board gave the go-ahead for the project.

It will contribute £286,500 towards its cost with £1.2m coming from the European Structural and Investment Funds Programme and the remainder from Lancashire County and Blackpool Borough councils.

The ‘Strengthening Communities; Volunteering in Lancashire’ project will target ‘hard to reach’ groups of unemployed people with targeted support and training and unpaid work experience to prepare them for the jobs market.

Blackburn with Darwen Council neighbourhoods boss Cllr Arshid Mahmood said: “This about helping those people with disabilities and disadvantages back into work.

“It is about using volunteering, training and support to release their potential, get them off benefits and provide employers with people with the skills and willingness to take on jobs.

“This is probably the last significant amount of European Union money for the county before Brexit.”

The scheme will dovetail with a similar £5.5m National Lottery-funded project announced in September to help 2,270 hard-to employ young and older people across the county into jobs.

Led by the Social Enterprise Lancashire Network (SELNET), that project involves 61 voluntary organisations.

The new scheme has been developed with Blackburn with Darwen Council for Voluntary Service, Lancashire Adult Learning College, Blackpool Council Adult Learning, Lancashire Police, and the Department for Work and Pension.

'Hard to reach groups' include the long term unemployed, over 50s, people from black and ethnic minority backgrounds, those with disabilities, physical or mental health problems, women, residents in disadvantaged areas, those overcoming drug or alcohol abuse and care leavers.