• Employee wages will be reimbursed at a rate of £12.60 per hour to a maximum of 25 hours per week.

• Funding is for a period of 6 months.

• Funding is only to be used for the wages of the employee.

• Payments will be made monthly in arrears, following the submission of a completed invoice template and supporting wage slip evidence. It may take up to 30 days for payment to be processed.

• If you wish to pay a higher hourly rate, offer more than 25 hours per week or continue the employment beyond 6 months this will be at your own cost.

​

Application Process

​

The MERI application form is available at www.moraypathways.co.uk/funding-application. We aim to score applications within 10 working days of submission. Due to demand and funding the number of positions is capped at 2 per organisation and each requires a separate application.

​

Recruitment

​

If you have someone in mind:
 

• you will be required to provide details of the potential employee after notification of a successful application. This information will be used to complete an eligibility check to confirm they can be supported by the funding (see below criteria). If you are aware they currently have a keyworker you do not need to provide this form.

​

If you do not have someone in mind:
 

• the opportunity will be shared within the Moray Pathways partnership – initially for 2 weeks then reviewed - with a view of finding suitable applicants. The final recruitment decision is always yours.

​

An appropriate and fair recruitment process should always be carried out. By law, employees must receive a written contract of employment within two months of starting, a copy of which will be required by us to process funding, where details of hours and pay should be confirmed.

​

A new employee should be in post within 8 weeks of funding approval. If this timeframe is not met, the

grant offer may be withdrawn, however we will liaise with you throughout.

 

We will use and store your information to process your application. If unsuccessful, we will remove it from

our systems.

​

Eligibility

​

The role must:
 

• guarantee a minimum of 8 hours employment per week

• pay Real Living Wage (£12.60)

• offer a minimum of 6 months employment with opportunity to continue beyond

• embed Fair Work practices in line with the Scottish Government’s Fair Work Convention.

• offer flexibility to meet the needs of the employee

• be a new position and not used to cover redundancy, existing staff sickness or maternity leave

• provide the employee with training and experience to develop their skills

​

Employees must live in Moray and meet at least one of the following criteria:
 

• Unemployed with a long term physical health condition including disabilities

• Unemployed with mental health condition

• Parent who is unemployed, on a low income or receiving means tested benefits

• Unemployed young person (under 25) at risk of not participating in learning, training or work (e.g. Care Experienced)

• Unemployed and minority group

• Unemployed veteran

​

Participants must not start employment until eligibility has been confirmed.

 

Support

​

A Moray Pathways keyworker will be allocated to the employee to provide support and oversee overall

progress. They will hold monthly review meetings with employer and employee to facilitate this and discuss any wider need.

 

Contact

​

For more information or to discuss further, please contact kailie.walsh@moray.gov.uk

​

​