Moray MP raising awareness of job seekers’ discounted travel card
Figures show only nine journeys out of more than 35,000 in Scotland last year were in Moray
Moray MP Douglas Ross is urging job seekers in Moray to take advantage of a discounted travel card to enable them to reduced travel costs when job interviews.
Douglas met with Seb Gordon, Rail Delivery Group’s interim deputy director of communications at Westminster to discuss the scheme which is being promoted through a joint partnership with Jobcentre Plus.
Commenting he said: “It is great to see the train companies and Jobcentre Plus working together to give jobseekers a helping hand.
“The cost of travel can sometimes be a barrier to getting to interviews and training, however, it is initiatives like these that are making the difference for getting people into work. I’m keen to support the Rail Delivery Group but much more needs to be done to raise awareness of this scheme.
“In Scotland a total of 35,358 journeys were taken by jobseekers using the card, between March 2017 and March 2018, but staggeringly just nine of them were in Moray.
“I have written to local job centres to seek their help in raising awareness about this issue and to ask them how they are informing local job seekers about this travel pass. If just one person that wouldn’t otherwise have gone to an interview gets a job due to having discounted travel this is a worthwhile exercise. It is important that job seekers have every assistance in finding work.”
Paul Plummer, chief executive of the Rail Delivery Group, which brings together train companies and Network Rail to enable a better railway said: “Getting more people into work is part of our long-term plan to change and improve. The partnership railway is committed to spreading economic prosperity across the country. Over half a million discounted journeys were made in the last year but we want to make sure that everyone who is eligible to discounted journeys, in all prats of the country, know about the discounts available.”