BOLTON at Home has won a national award for helping the long term unemployed back into work.

The housing provider was one of two North West organisations to be selected as a finalist in the national Responsible Business Awards, and it was confirmed as the overall winner in the Employment for Excluded Groups category.

It beat off competition from 16 other businesses across the country to win the award, for helping tenants who have been long term unemployed and suffered from issues including low confidence, low skills or poor health.

Since 2013, the programme, in which Bolton at Home asks its contractors to provide work opportunities, has created 66 paid jobs for people and another 10 people received training and work placements.

The Bolton News previously reported how the scheme has helped Michael Gregory, who could not find a job and was suffering from depression, to find work with a grounds maintenance firm.

The awards were held at the O2 Arena in London, and hosted by Sky News presenter Sarah-Jane Mee and Jason Bradbury from Channel Five’s The Gadget Show.

Jon Lord, chief executive of Bolton at Home, said: "We’ve always made it a priority to help people living in our communities improve their employment prospects.

"Over the past three years, we have been helping customers break through personal, social and economic barriers to prepare for work and secure actual jobs with our network of contractors and suppliers.

"We’re showing that it’s possible to help people maximise their income, sustain their tenancy and, in many cases, improve their health and wellbeing, all while safeguarding our resources and making savings for the public purse."

Raksha Pattni, from Business in the Community, said: "On behalf of everyone at Business in the Community we would like to congratulate Bolton at Home on winning our Employment for Excluded Groups Award.

"This success is well deserved and testament to the fantastic work the company is carrying out in the North West to boost the employment prospects of those most in need of support."

Julian Critchlow, of management consultancy firm Bain & Company, who chaired the judging panel, added: "Bolton at Home is instilling a culture of inclusion throughout the whole organisation, from CEO to key worker, and it’s a culture that they are extending to their supply chain.

"Everyone knows how hard it is to contractualise social value, but Bolton at Home have shown us that it can be done."