ERSA welcomes election of new chair, Steve Swan from Tomorrow’s People

The Employment Related Services Association (ERSA), the representative body for the employment support sector, is delighted to announce Steve Swan, Business Director at Tomorrow’s People, a charity working to support adults and young people from disadvantaged communities into work, has been elected as the new chair of the ERSA board.

With over 40 years’ in the employment support sector, Steve has a wealth of extremely valuable knowledge and expertise. After starting his career as an employment officer in the Department of Employment, he joined Tomorrow’s People in 1989 and progressed through area, regional and national levels into his current position, as a member of Tomorrow’s People’s Senior Management Team. Steve is an independent member of the Merlin Advisory Board and has been part of the Merlin Working Group since its inception. Steve has often advised various government departments on matters relating to third sector involvement in employment support, including in his role as chair of a DWP working group for voluntary and community sector engagement in the Work Programme,  which fed into a wider best practice review.

As ERSA chair, Steve will be leading diverse board including representatives from the private and not-for-profit sector.
Steve will be focusing on the following objectives in his tenure as chair:

• To support ERSA’s ambitious programme for the coming year in relation to services provided for ERSA members.
• To build on the recently launched network in Scotland, to support the launch of more Regional Networks in Manchester, London and potentially others areas as the need and demand necessitates.
• To help ERSA, post-election, to be ready to assist Ministers and officials in the development and implementation of their strategies for employment support.

Steve said: “I am immensely proud of being elected as ERSA Chair. ERSA’s membership, much like the employment support sector itself, is truly diverse and I look forward to working with such a variety of organisations towards our shared goal: to offer the highest quality support to jobseekers in their journey to employment.”

Kirsty McHugh, ERSA Chief Executive, commenting on the election result said: “I am extremely pleased to welcome Steve as ERSA chair. With his extensive experience in delivering employment support and his third sector background, he will bring strong insight to his role as ERSA Chair. I look forward to working with him.
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Notes to Editors

1. The Employment Related Services Association (ERSA) is the representative body for the employment support sector.
2. ERSA’s membership spans the private, voluntary and public sectors and ranges from large multi-nationals through to small specialist charities.  It has 188 members, including all prime contractors of the Work Programme, Work Choice and other major programmes. The majority of its members are not for profit.