Adviza is pleased to announced the launch of the September 2021 Positive Steps employability programme—part of its Building Futures project, which changes the lives of adults and young people across Buckinghamshire.

Funded by the European Social Fund and The National Lottery Community Fund, Positive Steps is a healthcare-based work academy run between The Department for Work and Pensions, Buckinghamshire Healthcare NHS Trust, Buckinghamshire College Group, Aylesbury College and Building Futures. The programme will go live on September 20^th.

Aimed at individuals who are long-term unemployed, career-changers, economically inactive or disengaged, the programme runs for six weeks. It offers candidates the chance to gain a BTEC Level 1 qualification in Health and Social Care alongside work experience in the NHS, with a guaranteed job interview and a chance to join the NHS in a healthcare assistant or similar role at the end of the course. 

With time allocated for study and reflection, participants will learn valuable new skills, also gaining further employability support from Adviza’s career experts.

Jaskirat Mann, a Senior Key Worker at Adviza, says the success of Positive Steps is down its clear-cut deliverables and inclusivity, meaning people from a wide range of backgrounds and facing a wide range of obstacles can apply to join. “Our last cohort on this course had a 100% completion rate, with many taking up offers of paid employment in the NHS and now working in the same hospitals where they gained their work experience,” she said.

For those who complete the programme but don’t wish to progress, the wider Building Futures employability project will re-absorb participants from Positive Steps, providing four-and-a-half months of additional intensive support through dedicated key workers. Their role is to help participants move forward into alternative routes in education, employment or training and explore other avenues within the Building Futures programme.

Positive Steps is also available to people who are not in education, employment or training (NEET) and people with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND). Applicants must complete and pass a skills test to join.

To learn more please contact [email protected]

 

European Social Fund

The project is funded by the European Social Fund as part of the 2014-2020 European Structural and Investment Funds Growth Programme in England. The Department for Work and Pensions is the Managing Authority for the England European Social Fund programme. Established by the European Union, the European Social Fund helps local areas stimulate their economic development by investing in projects which will support skills development, employment and job creation, social inclusion and local community regenerations. For more information visit https://www.gov.uk/european-growth-funding.