The Berkeley Foundation has funded Ways Into Work, a Community Interest Company delivering employment services in South East England. Their aim is to inspire and support the business community to realise a society where equal opportunities and life chances exist for everyone. We supported their mental health and resilience training, which positively impacted over 100 young people’s lives.
This is their story of how the last year shaped the organisation, their delivery, and their continued support of young people into sustainable employment.
Ways into Work has come up against many challenges this last year; the pandemic, the country being plunged in and emerging out of 3 lockdowns and ongoing restrictions – all contributing factors that have forced some of our client’s employers to temporarily close.
Despite all these difficulties we have been able to support our clients, employers and own colleagues. We worked hard to help our clients keep connected as the work increasingly moved online and developed a new accessible Employment Preparation Course (EPC) - supporting clients to understand and respond to the changing world.
We also helped employers to understand the furlough scheme and the changing workplace risks posed by COVID-19 for our clients. Not only that, but we have provided our colleagues with mental health and resilience training to both help build their own mental resilience, as well as equip them with tools to support our clients through this tough time.
We are pleased to say that our efforts have kept our clients safe at work, prevented many from being made redundant and even helped some to gain employment where they had none before. In total only 10% of clients lost their jobs during this time and we have already supported over half of these back into employment.
One of these clients was Jakub, who has autistic spectrum condition. We supported him through an accountancy apprenticeship with a major employer in Reading, which he successfully completed. Sadly, just as the pandemic hit it became clear that he would not be offered the expected permanent role at the end of his apprenticeship. We knew Jakub’s strengths really well and worked hard with a local accountancy firm to help him get an accounting role working from home.
Tyler, who has a learning disability, was supported into his Kitchen Assistant role at a luxury hotel. With a little help to understand formal processes, job expectations and transition into a professional working environment, Tyler is thriving. Unfortunately he was made redundant due to the pandemic, however, being a valued employee, was asked to re-apply when the hotel re-opened in May and is now back in the role that he loves.
Tyler’s mum commented:
“This job gives Tyler confidence, as well as a sense of purpose, self-worth, and personal achievement. Ways into Work have been an integral support for Tyler, giving him opportunities that he wouldn’t have been able to achieve alone and which have led to him having a happier and healthier life in every way.”
However, we couldn’t have achieved this success without the support of our funders. We would like to give a massive shout out to them for their critical support and investment that has allowed us to continue supporting people with disabilities and other barriers into sustained employment.
Firstly, to the Social Enterprise Support Fund and the Shanly Foundation. Thanks to the significant funding they have given us, we have been able to employ Employment Coaches who support our clients in work.
Secondly, the Berkeley Foundation’s goal is to fund organisations that take a positive attitude to encouraging young people, helping them build resilience, overcome barriers and take control of their lives. They funded us to develop and deliver the mental health and resilience training. This has given our staff the tools to build up our clients’ resilience and knock-on effects improving their happiness and welfare. This programme has positively impacted the lives of over 100 young people.
A special mention needs to be made to Slough Borough Council and the National Lottery Community Fund for the way they have supported us on the Building Better Opportunities project. Whilst we were sorting out how best to support our clients in lockdown, their flexibility and prompt payment made it possible for us to keep working to our highest standards.
A huge thank you to all funders that have supported us over the past year – together we are Changing Lives, One Job at a Time!
"We Can All Agree That the Past Year Has Been Some Rollercoaster and We Couldn't Have Ridden This Ride Alone"
20th September 2021