North Lanarkshire MP Visits to Routes to Work

May 13
5 min read

A collage of recent MP visits to Routes to Work offices, showcasing the team providing employability support in North Lanarkshire. Local Members of Parliament are pictured meeting staff by banners, highlighting skills and training, back to work schemes in Scotland, and the impact of the Local Growth Fund on job support in Airdrie, Coatbridge, Cumbernauld and Wishaw.

We have been welcoming special visitors to our offices and outreach centres across North Lanarkshire. North Lanarkshire's Members of Parliament came to spend time with our team, see what we do up close, and hear directly from the team behind the work.

These were not just quick drop-ins. They were open, honest conversations about the challenges people in our communities face when it comes to progressing in their journey to work. We were grateful for these MP visits to Routes to Work and the opportunity to discuss these issues with our local MPs.

A Closer Look at the MP Visits to Routes to Work

Katrina Murray MP - Cumbernauld and Kirkintilloch

Routes to Work senior management in an honest conversation with Katrina Murray MP for Cumbernauld and Kirkintilloch during one of the recent MP visits to Routes to Work. They are discussing employability support in North Lanarkshire, specifically how the local growth fund and back to work schemes in Scotland provide vital skills and training and job support in Cumbernauld.

Katrina Murray MP came to see us at Muirfield Community Centre in Cumbernauld. This is one of the local community spaces where we deliver our employability support, which is important to us. We do not just sit in one central office and ask people to travel to us. We go to them, setting up in the heart of the North Lanarkshire communities we serve. Katrina got to see that in action, and to learn about the one-to-one jobs and training support that people in her constituency access and how it helps transform their lives.

Pamela Nash MP - Motherwell, Wishaw and Carluke

A Routes to Work caseworker meeting with Pamela Nash MP to discuss employability support and skills training in Wishaw. They are engaged in a person-centred conversation in an office featuring 'Together' and 'Building' posters. highlighting the employability support that helped 1,111 people move into work this year.

Pamela Nash MP visited our Craigneuk office, which is based in one of the areas in North Lanarkshire where people can face some of the biggest barriers to getting back into work. Health, confidence and long-term unemployment are some of the many barriers that our clients here have told us that they struggle with. We were able to talk Pamela through the kind of support we offer, and why having a service that is personal, local, and free of charge makes such a real difference.

You can see more about Pamela Nash MP’s visit that featured in the Daily Record where she said it was clear that ‘Routes to Work is dedicated to supporting the local community and lives of the people they work with’

Frank McNally MP - Coatbridge and Bellshill

A Routes to Work trainer gestures while explaining the community-based model of employability support to a colleague in our Coatbridge office. In the background, a poster reads 'Committed to our clients,' highlighting the person-centred job readiness programmes and skills training that helped 1,111 people move into work across North Lanarkshire this year.

Frank McNally MP came to our Coatbridge office, where we talked through the wide range of skills and training opportunities available to people across his constituency. We also talked about what it means to make sure no one gets left behind when it comes to improving lives — something that sits at the very core of what Routes to Work value.

Kenneth Stevenson MP – Airdrie and Shotts

A Routes to Work caseworker and board member engaged in conversation with Kenneth Stevenson MP for Airdrie and Shotts in our Airdrie office discussing supported employment and local employment opportunities. This collaborative setting showcases the Routes to Work way of providing long-term unemployment support through person-centred job readiness programmes.

Kenneth Stevenson MP was the last MP to visit us at our office in the heart of Airdrie Town Centre. Kenneth met with our CEO Kate Clark, board member David Strain and one half of our Operations Managers Cat Leatherby. They discussed the challenges faced by Routes to Work due to the uncertainties of funding and our priorities for the near future. Front line staff also had the opportunity to meet with Kenneth to talk about their work, how they see the positive impact on clients throughout their journey and what we have been doing to deliver exemplary employability support to North Lanarkshire residents and beyond.

You can read more about Kenneth Stevenson MP's visit to our Airdrie Office in the Daily Record where ‘he praised the life changing work of Routes to Work’

Each visit was different, but the message running through all of them was the same: good, local employability support is not just a nice-to-have, it is something communities genuinely need to grow and thrive.

What We've Been Doing Across North Lanarkshire & Beyond

These MP visits to Routes to Work happened at a period where we are doing some of our best work yet.

Our most recent Annual Report 2024/25 outlines how we do this and the impact on our clients:

1,111 people supported into work in 2024/25
98% of clients said their support was “good” or “excellent”
£7.34 of social return on investment for every £1 invested in our services

But numbers only tell part of the story. Behind every one of those figures is a real person — a mum getting back into work, a young person gaining new skills to enter the workplace, someone rebuilding their confidence after a long time out of employment. This is at the heart of what we deliver.

Routes to Work has been part of North Lanarkshire for over twenty years as an ALEO and working in close partnership with North Lanarkshire Council. We work with people in Motherwell, Wishaw, Coatbridge, Airdrie, Cumbernauld, Bellshill to name but a few. Over the past year, we have delivered impact across other local authority areas including: West Lothian, Clackmannanshire, and West Dunbartonshire — taking the same personal, community-based approach to new areas that need it.

Closer to home, we are proud of our partnerships across all sectors including; Health, third, voluntary, education, housing, criminal justice and many more. Working alongside our partners allows us to reach the people who need it the most and offer a rounded and holistic approach for each client, based on their individual needs.

Local Growth Fund Impact on Employability

There is a bigger picture here too. The UK Shared Prosperity Fund, which has helped fund employability services like ours across Scotland and the rest of the UK since 2022, is going through changes as we move into 2026-27. A new Local Growth Fund — with £140 million confirmed for Scotland over the next three years — shows there is still a commitment to investing in skills, jobs, and communities at a local level. But these changes also bring questions for organisations like us about what comes next and how we keep delivering for the people who rely on us.

That is exactly why visits like these are so important. When MPs come and see our work in person, they get a much fuller picture of what employability support actually looks like on the ground, for their constituents.

For us at Routes to Work, it is also about building good, lasting relationships with the people who help shape the decisions that affect us and our clients every day.

If you are a local representative, a community partner, or an employer and you would like to find out more about Routes to Work and how we could work together, we would love to hear from you.

You can email us at generalenquiries@routestowork.co.uk to express your interest in working with us.

If you live in North Lanarkshire, currently out of work and looking for a job, or simply looking to get yourself back in the right headspace. We can support you!

Click on the link below to register and start your journey or call 0800 783 4731

Start Your Journey with Us