How many employers know that around a quarter of families in Great Britain are lone parent families? What's even more interesting is that: * Approximately 56% of lone parents are in work, compared with the national employment rate of 74.5%, and * Nine out of 10 lone parents say they want to work. Some forward-thinking employers have already recognised these important factors and are benefiting from employing this committed and talented group of people. This is why Jobcentre Plus works closely with employers who have vacancies and why we encourage employers to adopt family friendly working practices, for example, part-time work, or flexible hours, so that lone parents can fit work around their childcare responsibilities. Specialist lone parent advisers can also attend employer recruitment days to help explain benefits, tax credits, childcare, training for lone parents, as well as providing a host of other valuable advice. In order to prepare them for a move either back into work, or into a new type of work, Jobcentre Plus is trying to reach out to ensure lone parents have all the relevant information at their fingertips. Local events are being held across the region to help people understand the opportunities and support available them and to broaden their local labour market and employer knowledge. Many lone parents attending these events have developed clear action plans, setting out their next steps to securing a job and a better future. If your company has vacancies, why not get in touch with your local labour market recruitment adviser and ask them how to tap into this important potential labour market? Don't forget: Jobcentre Plus works with more than 275,000 employers to place 17,000 people into work every week. More than 400,000 vacancies are listed each week on our website and more than four million job search requests are received, making it the number one UK recruitment website. In the North-East alone, 3,600 vacancies are listed each week from employers across the region. Our customers can access Jobcentre Plus services through around 1,000 locations across Great Britain, including over 800 newly-refurbished Jobcentre Plus offices. Touch-screen terminals and customer access phones are also available in a further 120 sites, such as libraries and local authority premises. Can you afford not to work with us? | 
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