Lyndley Jenks

Lyndley Jenks

External Relations Manager, Birmingham & Solihull Jobcentre Plus.

Lyndley joined the Department of Employment in 1982 and has held a variety of operational delivery and policy posts at local, regional and national level - including Regional Marketing Manager for the Employment Service and New Deal Account Manager for large regional employers across the West Midlands.  During 2001-2002 he was seconded to Solihull Metropolitan Borough Council as Recruitment Manager, directly supporting the recruitment for a major retail complex - Touchwood.  This exercise resulted in over 1000 accredited job starts and provided the blueprint for the recruitment "hub" model that has since been nationally recognised as an exemplar for co-located, employment and skills partnership delivery.  In 2002-03 he was invited and delivered a similar recruitment package for the 6000 vacancy new Bullring retail development in Birmingham City Centre.

In April 2003 Lyndley was assigned to his present role of External Relations Manager and currently leads a team of twenty |managers across a range of welfare to work partnership and programme disciplines - including child poverty, ethnic minorities, working with ex-offenders, homeless and refugees.  The team he leads has business risk and performance accountabilities for local partnerships, employer engagement and Local Employment Partnerships, marketing, communications and third party contracted provision.

In August 2007 he also took over the leadership for Fair Cities Birmingham - a national pilot programme designed to increase the number of locally disadvantaged ethnic minority residents gaining employment, and increasing the responsiveness of the local employment and skills system to business and ethnic minority needs.  This employer demand-led recruitment and skills model informed the Government's new Integrated Employment & Skills system.

Lyndley is a Board member and trustee of the East Birmingham & North Solihull Regeneration Zone, BXL (formerly Birmingham & Solihull Connexions) and The Prince's Trust for Birmingham & Solihull.  Lyndley sits on the BeBirmingham Executive Board, the Birmingham Economic Development Partnership, the Solihull Prosperous Communities group and the Birmingham & Solihull Employment Strategy Group.

Lyndley is married and lives in Sutton Coldfield.  Outside of work he enjoys skiing, music, gardening, cooking and the emotional roller-coaster that comes with supporting Aston Villa Football Club.