News

Audrey Bodman will be delivering a free 90 minute training session via Zoom on Thursday 7th October and it's all about making new calls. 

This training session is aimed at those within the employability, skills and social care sectors who might be new to making calls to employers or have never had any training. It’s definitely a refresher for those who have worked with Audrey before as she’ll be going into more detail on tips previously shared via webinars, tips or within the Facebook group.

The European Union for Supported Employment is organising a seminar for employers about inclusive recruitment practice. It will feature presentations by a number of well-known companies working across Europe and aims to offer tips to employers about best practice in inclusive recruitment.

There have been a number of ministerial changes announced in the recent reshuffle.

The new Minister for Disabled People, Health and Work is Chloe Smith MP. She replaces Justin Tomlinson who has been appointed Deputy Chairman of the Conservative Party. Chloe is the ninth person to occupy the role since 2010.

DWP is currently holding engagement events regarding their new dynamic procurement system (DPS) for the replacement Flexible Support Fund (FSF2). They have published slides from the event and these are attached below. It is expected that the new system will go live from November and all suppliers will need to gain fresh accreditation on the system if they wish to quote for work. Suppliers can register on the new DPS system from 20 September.

DFN Project SEARCH is running a series of workshops where they will present and discuss the data they collect around their Supported Internships. They use this data to to help them understand what's working well and what isn't. They've analysed this information for their 2020-2021 cohort and will share it at the workshops. Topics covered will include overall employment outcomes, average salaries and hours and Intern demographics and more.

The events can be booked through Eventbrite.

DWP has issued an invitation to tender for an Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) Accreditation Pilot. The Invitation to Tender (ITT 21630) is available to view on the Bravo Solution website and closes on 20 September.

The City of London Corporation and The Corbett Network are organising an employer event regarding the recruitment of people who have a criminal record. The conference takes place at the Mansion House, London on 23 September.

Over 11 million people in the UK have a criminal record. They possess a wide range of skills, qualifications and experience which employers need and from which they and their company can benefit.

BASE is one of 80 signatories to a letter to the Prime Minister calling on him to drive forward a coordinated cross-departmental approach to tackling short-term and long-term youth unemployment to ensure that there will be no ‘lost generation'.

The 80 organisations have come together through the Youth Employment Group to warn that despite government efforts for youngsters to get the help that they need to get into work through investment in employment support, education, training and jobs, the challenge for young people is far from over.

Hampshire County Council is to re-tender its Supported Employment Services. The Service will be a continuation of over 20 years investment by the Council in Supported Employment, with the current contract that was awarded in 2015 expiring in January 2022. In order to tender for this, you will need to be registered with the Hampshire Procurement Framework Hampshire Accommodation and Support Options Model (HADSOM).

We are delighted to announce that Steve Mills, Director of IT for DPD UK, will be speaking at the BASE conference in Brighton on 9-10 November.

Originally, Steve joined the company in 1992 as an Analyst/Programmer, he has performed a number of roles within IT becoming Director of IT at 38.  Originally a ‘brummie’ he now lives in Stourbridge (West Midlands) and has enjoyed a successful career, exceeding everyone's expectations from those who knew him when he left school at 16.  There is hope for everyone!

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