ONE of the first employment websites aimed exclusively at Blackburn and Darwen is bidding for charity status.

Iain Sykes set up the site linked with the council’s Work Club while he was himself looking for a new position between 2011 and 2012.

MORE TOP STORIES:

The 34-year-old was frustrated with national websites and decided it would be more efficient for himself and others out of work to have access to a more local database.

Iain, originally from the Lake District, set about teaching himself web design and launched the site shortly afterwards.

It has since undergone a pain-staking redesign which took several weeks and has emerged the other site offering more services and information.

Now Iain has opened discussions with the Charity Commission about turning the organisation into a charity to help support the hosting of the website and to fund further improvements.

Iain, who lives in Little Harwood with his wife Susan, 26, said: “I’m really glad that I set this up and I hope that it has done a lot of good.

“When I was looking for a job I got very annoyed with the lack of useful websites out there.

“I saw that the council’s Work Club did not have its own site so I thought it would good if I made one.

“I have now got a job at Capita but I’m still really keen to run the website to help others find a job.”

For more information, visit www.blackburnwithdarwenworkclub.net.