Scheme helps those with learning disabilities into paid employment

Five Coventry residents with learning disabilities have successfully been recruited to paid employment in CV Life - a scheme for learners with disabilities - following a new partnership training programme.

Luke, Jrah, Gordan, Jackie and Ibrahim were all offered jobs after taking part in Coventry Adult Education Service 's successful Sector Work Academy Programme (SWAP) with shared work between Coventry City Council 's Employment and Skills Service, Adult Social Care, CV Life and the charity Grapevine.

Learners were referred through Coventry Job Shop 's Connect 2 programme, a European Social Fund (ESF) programme designed to support Job Shop customers with additional needs and barriers.

The course was six weeks long with two days a week spent on work placement with CV Life and two days spent doing classroom learning in an onsite classroom provided by CV Life at The Wave.

West Midlands mayor Andy Street said: “We know these past 18 months have been an incredibly tough time for jobseekers, and that 's why work placements and other learning opportunities such as SWAPs are so vital to help people across the West Midlands into work.

“As part of my 100,000 jobs plan the WMCA has been helping to fund a series of these measures, and I am delighted to hear of the latest residents who have been able to use one of our schemes to secure a job. ”

Jackie Cruise, one of the successful course participants said: “When I first started the course, I was extremely nervous and was really unsure if I was going to get a job at the end of the six weeks.

“After the help from the Job Coaches, CV life mentors and tutors, I felt much more comfortable and started to really enjoy myself. I have now been offered a paid opportunity and I am so happy. The experience has been brilliant, and I would recommend this to anyone!"

The learners have achieved a Level 1 Award in Health and Safety Awareness, developed their customer service and communication skills, and increased their knowledge in safeguarding and equality and diversity.

All learners have been practicing their interview skills and updating their CVs. The learners were supported in the classroom by their tutor and a learning support assistant from Coventry Adult Education Service.

The work placements were hosted across CV Life venues including The Wave, The Herbert Art Gallery, Coventry Transport Museum and The Alan Higgs Centre.

The roles were in a variety of fields, including Front of House, Maintenance, Retail, Cleaning and Spa Attendant roles. CV Life Managers, who have been trained to act as placement 'Mentors ', provided excellent support to learners to succeed in their placements.

The course was highly successful, with the learners really demonstrating their ability in their placements. Rather than putting the learners through a formal application and interview process, CV Life took the decision to treat the work placements as 'working interviews ' with informal interviews at the end of the placements. This has resulted in five of the six learners who started the course gaining paid work with CV Life.

Paul Breed, CV Life CEO, said: “CV Life has been delighted to partner with Coventry City Council and other agencies to pilot the SWAP programme. Having the learners fully integrated within the business of the company has been hugely beneficial to both the learners and the teams from CV Life.

“It is absolutely fabulous that we have been able to offer five of the learners permanent employment opportunities and the incredible success of this pilot means that CV Life looks forward to offering future opportunities and programmes. ”

SWAP courses are administered by the Department for Education (DWP) and funded by the West Midlands Combined Authority (WMCA) through the Adult Education Budget.

If you would like to find out more about future courses or get one to one Job Coaching support, please get in touch with the Coventry Job Shop.