Tendring FST project helps people off benefits and into work
Posted on Fri 05 August 2011
Case study: Signpost Resource Centre awarded £100,000 over 3 years.
Signpost Resource Centre has received Fair Share Trust funding since 2005. This long-term, strategic support has enabled Signpost to establish a firm presence within its local community. This support has also benefited the professional development of the Centre Manager who has been a member of the Fair Share Trust local panel since 2005. As an organisation Signpost has developed significantly over recent years, which has given the organisation the ability to take on large Government contracts, the most recent being a Department for Works and Pensions (DWP) programme that supports people into work. Here is an account of Ms W who has recently benefited from support.
Ms W had been unemployed for nearly 2 years. This is despite every effort she has made to better her lot:
- she has worked at improving her IT skills,
- has a prodigious output of applications, and
- will study any course put in front of her.
All this is in addition to bringing up 2 school age children.
After all this time and effort with relatively little positive feedback Ms W was beginning to run out of steam. Her expectation of success was low and her confidence and self esteem were beginning to ebb. She was still going through the motions but there seemed to be little enthusiasm for the process.
She went to Signpost initially to use the IT facilities as computer time at the library is limited. She responded well to Signpost’s supportive approach and soon became a regular jobseeker, using the facilities for both her jobseeking and studies.
Signpost is also helping to deliver the Flexible Routeways Project, a DWP initiative that allows us to put real resources at the disposal of jobseekers. Ms W seemed an ideal candidate for the programme as her barriers to employment seemed to be around having professional qualifications. After some discussion it emerged that she wanted to work as a taxi driver and that there is a need for female drivers to serve female customers late at night. Signpost was able to purchase a Hackney Carriage Licence for Ms W and she is now working for a local firm. She continues her professional development via her studies but she is now off benefits and feels she is getting somewhere.
Ms W’s story illustrates how Signpost has helped an individual to develop as well as bringing together a DWP initiative which removed Ms W’s barriers to employment.