Salford Supported Employment Newsletter

Off to a flying start! 

Salford's Supported Employment Service has proved to be a huge success so far. In just over three months we’ve had 52 referrals , 37 starts and two job starts!

The team have been busy meeting many talented individuals and employers over the last few months across the city. 

Meet Olivia, Michael and Greg

Olivia joined Supported Employment in late March and has worked really hard on building her confidence and developing aspirational job goals.  Olivia was able to complete the application and assessments for a Level 2 Childcare Apprenticeship with Kids Planet and was offered a position at their Swinton branch. Olivia describes the feeling of starting work as “buzzing, a bit scared, but also relieved, like FINALLY someone said yes!”

Michael was the very first participant to sign up for Supported Employment on the day we went live! He has been very busy since then, working with his key worker to update his CV, search and apply for jobs, and more recently represent Supported Employment at the Big Health Day in Buile Hill Park, providing potential participants with valuable personal insight. All this while managing a busy schedule of volunteer work with a team from Ordsall Hall to help the Northern Fruit Group set up for the Spring Show. Michael is very keen to use his horticultural qualifications in paid work and is currently preparing for an interview for a paid gardening role with a local social enterprise.

Greg started his Supported Employment journey in April and is currently applying for administrative and customer service roles. He recently completed a Customer Service qualification at Talk Talk. Greg said the experience "made it clearer to me that talking to people as part of a job is something I can do, it’s focused and I can do that. The feedback from the interview has given me some other things to work on so I know what I’m doing now.”

Jigsaw Facilities are a Salford based eco-friendly cleaning and facilities management company. Jigsaw are a Disability Confident Employer and have for many years employed people with a vast range of disabilities including learning, mental, neurological and physical. 

Lilly Crawley, Manager at Jigsaw Facilities Ltd said "Employing people with a disability, particularly autism isn’t just a tick box operation for us, it’s a passion as many of the management team including myself have close relatives with autism and understand the pressures they can face within the working world.

We were very eager to attend the Salford Supported Employment Launch event back in March. Companies who employ people with autism can only benefit from doing so, with each individual adding their own personality and talents into your business. If you are having doubts I would advise any employer to do their research as there are many misconceptions around people with autism. Being able to offer paid employment to people with learning disabilities and autism is a wonderful experience and is something every company should consider doing."

Find out how your organisation can become Disability Confident

Flexible recruitment in action

Jigsaw Facilities Ltd make sure that their recruitment practices work for both the candidate and the business. 

Interviews

Lilly Crawley, Manager at Jigsaw Facilities Ltd said "We offer informal interviews to all potential employees and are happy for the candidate to bring along someone for additional support, we class these interviews more as a getting to know you. We discuss with the candidate any sensory issues or additional support needs they may have, during the interview we include a walk round the areas they would be working in and show examples of tasks they would be carrying out. Paid shift trials are offered to successful candidates before they accept the position so they can experience the job for themselves before committing."

Onboarding 

"Many of our employees are lone workers so we work alongside employees for as many shifts as they need until they feel confident in their role, we continue to provide support throughout their employment.

Personalised support

All of our sites are provided with cleaning specifications for Jigsaw employees to follow during their shift. For any members of staff with additional needs we would create a personalised cleaning specification explaining each task to be carried out in greater detail. Tasks are listed in a particular order to make the job more efficient, and a different task card is provided for each working day. The cards are made small enough for the individual to discreetly carry amongst their cleaning stock for them to look back on when needed."

Training and development

Many of the people we take on have not had a job before and we are their first experience of an employer, we try and make it a good experience. One particular individual came to us after a bad experience with a previous employer who had no understanding of her disabilities. She started off being a very quiet and nervous person but after working with us for three years she gained an incredible amount of confidence and has even gone on to marry to a man she met at one of our sites. She has since moved onto a new career within the care industry, and we couldn’t be prouder of everything she has achieved."

Find out how you can refer someone for support or how your organisation can get involved

Salford Supported Employment Service is commissioned by Salford City Council and provided by the Growth Company. The service helps people with learning disabilities and/or autism who are currently unemployed to find suitable paid jobs. The service provides people with one-to-one support, including in-work training and guidance for both participants and employers, which can include workplace adjustments to benefit all employees.

We’re hosting drop-in sessions at Gateways across Salford where you can come and chat to the team and ask any questions you may have. If you know someone who could benefit from our service please share this with them, we have lots more places available so please pop along to find out more 

July

• Monday 3^rd July, Broughton Hub 10 am -2pm
• Thursday 13^th July, Eccles Gateway 10 am – 2pm
• Wednesday 19^th July, Swinton Gateway 10 am – 2pm

August

• Tuesday 1^st August, Pendleton Gateway 10 am – 2pm
• Thursday 10^th August, Eccles Gateway 10 am - 2 pm
• Wednesday 16^th August, Swinton Gateway 10 am – 2pm
• Thursday 24^th August, Walkden Gateway 10 am – 2pm
• Wednesday 30^th August, Broughton Hub 10 am – 2pm

September

• Wednesday 6^th September, Pendleton Gateway 10 am – 2pm
• Wednesday 13^th September, Eccles Gateway 10 am -2 pm
• Wednesday 20^th September, Swinton Gateway 10 am – 2 pm
• Friday 29^th September, Walkden gateway 10 am – 2 pm

October

• Wednesday 4^th October, Broughton Hub 10am – 2pm
• Thursday 12^th October, Walkden Gateway 10 am -2 pm
• Wednesday 18^th October, Swinton Gateway 10 am – 2 pm
• Tuesday 24^th October, Eccles Gateway 10 am – 2 pm

If you would like to find out more about Supported Employment and / or benefit from the free training and support available to you and your organisation, please contact Nicola Griffiths or David Timperley below.

You can reach us at SupportedEmploymentService@salford.gov.uk or call us on 0161 793 2533