Solihull Metropolitan Borough Council
Solihull Employment & Skills Team support communities in Solihull to help them move into work, training or full-time education. The Team are part funded by European Social Fund to help deliver employment pathways for any person that is not in education, employment or training (NEET), helping residents to aspire and, put the actions and support in place to achieve their ambitions.
The Team will work with any resident that has a long-term health condition or disability to help them improve their career options. There are no restrictions to access employment support, other than the resident must want to work, if that’s a yes, the Team will do their best to support throughout the progression of the resident into work.
The Team provides an action plan for getting a job, meeting regularly to develop those actions, identify opportunities for development (training courses, work experience, volunteering etc.), empowering people to achieve more, and the service will help all to think more about what is achievable and set goals that meet ambitions.
Someone managing their disability will be allocated a specialist work coach who will support residents to develop their career choices, enabling them to consider jobs and helping them to gain employment. The work coach will work with support agencies, all age disability teams and local providers to help bring in that wraparound support for the individual, helping them to achieve more and be confident that the support package will match their long-term goals for work.
The service includes Special Educational Needs Careers Guidance, Specialist Employment Work Coaches and an Employer Engagement Service offering that wraparound support to progress residents that are managing their health into work and find jobs with employers looking to recruit in their community.
Our projects focus on pre-work support and help to gain employment or full-time education and, whilst we recognise that there is more to support than getting a job/course, at the moment the service will not provide in work support, job retention or accompaniment, although every effort will be made to link up residents with agencies that can assist with this during that progression and sustainment in employment/full-time education.
The Employment and Skills Team are currently running a programme to offer residents with learning disabilities (that are known to Solihull’s All Age Disability Team) a job with the Council. To find out more about these paid jobs and eligibility to the scheme, contact Tom Dixon (email: tdixon@solihull.gov.uk).