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Work & Employment
Services
See services for other inclusive practices and domains
Supporting Service Users
Access to Work can help you if your health or disability affects the way you do your job. It gives you and your employer advice and support with extra costs which may arise because of your needs.
Access to Work might pay towards the equipment you need at work, adapting premises to meet your needs, or a support worker. It can also pay towards the cost of getting to work if you cannot use public transport.
Telephone: 020 8426 3110
Email: atwosu.london@jobcentreplus.gsi.gov.uk
Visit website:
The business arm of Bromley College offering business start-up advice, business support via coaching and mentoring, workforce, skill development, vocational and regulatory training, plus tailored solutions to the issues faced by a business. Horizon House have successfully attended self-employment workshops.
Contact: Mike Ellis on 020 8295 7070
Email: businessfocus@bromley.ac.uk
Website:
Connexions is the youth support service providing advice, information, support and personal development opportunities for all 13-19 year olds (up to 25 for people with a learning disability).
Contact: Peter Davis
Tel: 020 8082 6800
Email: bromley@cfbt.com
Visit website:
This is a work rehabilitation project for people who have current or previously had mental ill health. By learning ceramic techniques and creating ceramic pieces, our members develop their creative side and their team-working skills. We organise sales of our work and exhibitions in and around Bromley and further afield. With support from Oxleas NHS Foundation Trust and Bromley Mind, Credo operates in Orpington and Penge.
Clients must be referred by their GP or any other healthcare professional. With funding from organisations such as The Big Lottery Fund, The European Social Fund's "Fast Forward" Programme and The City Bridge Trust, we also run outreach into the community, which usually runs as discrete projects over a number of weeks.
Credo is also a member of the Bromley Arts Panel, representing Develop and mental health service users in the Borough.
Contact: Anne Bannon
Tel: 01689 878 225 or 07753 244 743
Email: credoceramics@onetel.com
Website and resources:
DWP funded programme aimed at providing 6 month work placements for 18 - 24 year olds October 2009 - March 2011.
Placements will be offered for 6 months on a rolling basis. 18 - 24 year olds who have been unemployed (and receiving JSA) for a minimum of 10 months.
Contact: Helen Welch
Tel: 01273 431 914
Email Helen.welch@affinitysutton.com
Website:
Member-based psychosocial rehabilitation programme. Supports members return to work through the use of the work ordered day. Staff work alongside members to maximize participation and skills.
Transitional Employment Placements offer paid work within permitted work rules. Open employment, training and education supported. Social programme & ongoing support for members back in jobs.
Contact: Sarah Gelling on 020 8466 0021
Email: sarah.gelling@oxleas.nhs.uk
Visit the Horizon House website and view clubhouse videos on DevelopMEDIA:
Jobcentre Plus offers practical help to those seeking jobs, and administers programmes to help unemployed people back to work. It provides support for those who are long-term sick or disabled, including benefits and help in finding work.
Contact: Sue Sexton or Derek Staples
Tel: 020 8819 9871 or 020 8271 5082
Visit national website and read the FAQs:
Based at Stepping Stones, Link Up is an employment and training service funded by Oxleas NHS Foundation Trust and the London Borough of Bromley Social Services. Provides a job retention service. Can also offer you general advice on access to training and work opportunities.
Contact: Kim Minter or Derek Hunt
Tel: 0208 466 2500
Email: kim.minter@oxleas.nhs.uk
Referral Forms and Guides:
Online directories of Bromley based specialist employment agencies covering Bromley and surrounding areas.
Wide range of permanent and temporary opportuinities in every conceivable job category from accountancy to hairdressing and beyond.
Website listings:
The Job Retention Project from Bromley Mind is for people with mild/moderate depression or anxiety who are in work or off sick and would benefit from support to stay in employment.
This project is now receiving referrals.
Download flyer and referral form:
We are particularly hoping to help people who face additional difficulties in getting into work if you are a lone parent or receiving incapacity benefit.
This project brings together a full range of support services including:
- Advice and guidance
- Childcare advice
- Learning opportunities
- Potential work placements
- Help with job applications and cvs
We are working together with the support agencies and our partners across Bromley to provide a coordinated range of help.
Our aim is to help you back into employment in a way that suits your needs.
Contact: Margaret Carr
Tel: 020 8461 7897
Email: pie@bromley.gov.uk
Visit website for more information:
Since 1998, Reed in Partnership has specialised in programmes designed to break down the barriers to employment that their diverse client group faces. Work with Horizon House and LinkUP in Bromley.
Contact: Lisa Hooper (Business Manager) or Nick Morgan (Senior Personal Advisor)
Tel: 020 8819 9871 (Bromley office)
Visit website:
Refocus offers opportunities for service users to participate in a training scheme in all aspects of Horticulture and Conservation at the Scadbury Park Nature Reserve.
Can lead to volunteering and work. Partners with Mind and Community Options in EcoMinds.
Contact: Euan Craig
Tel: 020 8302 7496
Email: euan.craig@bromley.gov.uk
Download flyer as a PDF file:
This course was developed specifically for our service users in conjunction with workNET and aims to build confidence in areas like information technology, business administration, personal development and job search skills. Runs as part of Orpington College. Staff have had mental health awareness training.
Contact: Wendy Alder
Tel: (01689) 899 700/827 344
Email: walder@orpington.ac.uk
Downloads:
The right advice is important, nextstep is a free and friendly career advice service for adults aged 20 or more and those aged 18 or 19 who have been referred to nextstep by Jobcentre Plus. Our advisers offer a huge range of information and advice to help you find a course at college, improve your current skills, get new qualifications and find the right job.
Tel: 08000 641 481
E-mail: info@nextsteplondon.org
Visit website:
The Centre at Cotmandene Crescent, funded by The London Borough of Bromley and the Bromley Primary Care Trust, is an integrated community centre providing opportunities forlocal people of all ages and all walks of life. The Centre can be used very flexibly and is very accessible.
Services at the Centre include:
- free courses ranging from basic skills to vocational, personal development and IT(information technology)
- use of ICT suite and training rooms
- careers and business advice
- job club and job search facilities
Regular surgeries held by:
- Age Concern Bromley
- Bromley Community Drugs Project
- Broomleigh Housing Association
- community groups, including art groups and self help groups
- housing and council tax surgery
- legal advice
- local ward councillors
- Nextsteps Careers Advisor
- one to one support from centre staff
- Referrals to other agencies such as Pensions, Carers Bromley and Business Focus
- trading standards
Please call into The Centre or telephone to get a free brochure and a weekly programme.
Contact: Christine Cross or Anita Thundercliffe:
The Centre, 64 Cotmandene Crescent, Orpington, Kent BR5 2RG
Tel: 020 8402 0123
E-mail: ccrc@bromley.go.uk
Download latest events programmes:
Mottingham Learning Shop offers support to local people seeking to increase their employability through preparation for work including access to CV writing, personal development, courses, careers advice, interview skills and job search as well as specific support for parents.
Contact: Jo Guest
Tel: 020 8860 1150
Email: MCLS@Bromley.gov.uk
Downloads:
An offshoot of a local GP practice this community project provides gardening, nature conservation and creative opportunities in their walled garden and studio for the well-being of local residents especially people with physical or mental health problems.
Help with return to work. Covers West sector. Long standing member of Develop.
Contact: Katie Hooper or Daniela Fleckenstein
Tel: 020 8291 1650
Email: info@sydenhamgarden.org.uk
Visit website:
The Access Corporation provides training, advice and consultancy services to businesses as well as advice and advocacy services to individuals in the workplace or those wishing to return to work.
Provides training, advice and consultancy services to businesses as well as advice and advocacy services to individuals in the workplace or those wishing to return to work.
They can offer disabled people access to computers and the latest software at their offices in Orpington.
Contact: Teresa Nissen
Tel: 020 8300 8008
Email: admin@accesscorporation.co.uk
Suite 1, Grays Farm Production Village,
Grays Farm Road,
Orpington, Kent
United Kingdom
BR5 3BD
Website:
Pathways4Cray is an Employment and Training project targeting Cray Valley to help people access vocational training and full time employment (16+ hours a week).
Until March 2011 it's for anyone who:
• Lives in Cray Valley East/West or Orpington
• Aged 18+
• Is currently unemployed
• Has been in receipt of unemployment benefit for at least 6 months
Tel: 020 8285 4345
Email: Tammy.Maniloff@broomleigh.org.uk
Website:
Jobnet is a free recruitment service that combines the employment expertise of 5 London boroughs. Where vacancies cannot be filled or staff cannot be found in one borough, Jobnet enables the information to be shared quickly between the others to find a solution. Their aim is to provide greater opportunities for local people and local businesses.
Visit website:
NHS Jobs is the dedicated online recruitment service for the NHS. Every NHS trust in England and Wales advertises job opportunities with NHS Jobs, resulting in around 20,000 opportunities available every month.
NHS Jobs is the UK's leading online recruitment service. It attracts over 6 million web visits and receives applications from more than 250,000 jobseekers every month. The service provides job seekers with access to vacancies across the NHS through a single portal, and provides employers with the tools and features they need to manage their recruitment processes effectively.
Visit website:
The V2W scheme supports Oxleas service users into paid employment both within the trust and with external employers.
People work on a nonpaid basis for up to 30 hours a week within an Oxleas department with one day set aside for supported job search and relevant skills training.
Ideal for people motivated to enter the labour market soon but who need a reference.
Contact: Japleen Kaur
Tel: 020 8301 9438
Email: japleen.kaur@oxleas.nhs.uk
Website:
Springboard Bromley offers a wide range of training to help people develop and improve their skills. We offer pre-employment and work-based programmes to people living in the London boroughs of Bromley, Lewisham, Greenwich, Bexley, Croydon and beyond.
At Bromley we have well-equipped classrooms, up-to-date IT suites and purpose built workshops for construction and a cafe. We run our Schools Programme from our base in Catford. We are part of CSV's (Community Service Volunteers) Training and Enterprise Division and have been established as a training provider since 1981.
Beacon House, Old Homesdale Road, Bromley BR2 9LJ
Tel: 020 8460 7555
Email: janetw@springboardbromley.org.uk
Visit website:
Working Pace offers a range of support on employment issues to lesbians, gay men, bisexuals and transgender people who live in London, have been unemployed for 6 months or more and may be experiencing emotional or mental health issues.
Contact: Flavio Silva
Tel: 020 7700 1323
Email: flavio.silva@pacehealth.org.uk
Visit website:
Supporting Service Development
BASE is a membership organisation for supported employment agencies and supported businesses in the UK. This site gives a wide range of information and services to our members and others interested in supported employment.
BASE was formed in 2006 by the merger of the Association for Supported Employment (AfSE) and the National Association for Supported Employment (NASE).
Visit website:
Part of the Wise Owls network, Care2Work is a training and employment programme to assist older people who are / have been caring for others and who have been experiencing difficulties in securing suitable paid employment
Care2Work can help you if you are over 50, economically inactive and looking for employment, but not registered as a jobseeker with Jobcentre Plus, and, are resident in London. So anyone who is receiving Incapacity benefits, Carers allowances, pension credits is retired, on lone parents' benefits or is not claiming or ineligible as their partner is working.
Visit website:
Stand to Reason is a service-user led organisation that intends to work with and for people with mental ill health in the way that Stonewall has for gay people: raising the profile, fighting prejudice, establishing rights and achieving equality.
Stand to Reason will be research-led and will measure the impact of its interventions in tackling discrimination and stigma.
Visit website:
To help support people to stay in or return to work more quickly when they develop a health condition or impairment, the Government has committed to help support local areas develop Fit for Work Services (FFWS) and to robustly evaluate them, in a programme of piloting lasting until at least 2011.
If you/your organisation is keen to keep up to date on the latest FFWS news, please email ffws@dh.gsi.gov.uk and ask to receive updates.
Visit website and download accompanying memorandum.
Fredericks Foundation is a charity that helps disadvantaged people to set up, or expand their own business as a means to achieve financial independence while rebuilding their confidence and self esteem.
They provide a comprehensive range of business support and microloan funding for start-ups and small businesses. In doing so it enables people who cannot access finance, through the usual channels, to realise their potential for the benefit of themselves and their families.
Contact: Elaine Rumsey on 01276 472722
Visit website:
Health Work Wellbeing is a Government-led initiative to improve the health and wellbeing of working age people.
Founded on a growing evidence base that working is good for health, it brings together employers, unions and healthcare professionals in helping more people with health conditions to find and stay in employment.
A cross-Government programme launched in 2005, they are sponsored by five Government partners - the Department for Work and Pensions, the Department of Health, the Health and Safety Executive, the Scottish Executive and the Welsh Assembly Government.
Visit website:
The Link Up Link In campaign, supporting joint working among frontline professionals, launched on 15th September 2009.
The launch event, held at the Local Government Association in London, was attended by sector leaders representing those working with offenders on probation, care leavers and people with mental health problems and learning disabilities.
The Link Up Link In campaign provides information, guidance and case study examples for frontline workers, supporting them in working together.
Regional events will be taking place across the country, more details to follow shortly.
Research carried out for the Social Exclusion Task Force shows that public services working together is key to getting at-risk groups into a stable home and job - the target of Public Service Agreement (PSA) 16.
Frontline workers consulted as part of the research were enthusiastic about the idea of a resource that could help them to work together more effectively.
Link Up Link In is a cross government campaign, managed and delivered by the Social Exclusion Task Force. It supports PSA 16 which is jointly owned by:
- Department for Work and Pensions
- Ministry of Justice
- Department for Communities and Local Government
- Department of Health
- Department for Children Schools and Families
- Cabinet Office
- Department for Business, Innovation and Skills
Working for Wellness
Mental health difficulties are no barrier to achieving a successful and enriching life and should not prevent people contributing to the life and wealth of this country.
This website is a guide to finding a job and keeping a job. It is also a starting point for making your workplace better for everyone's mental wellbeing and dispelling some of the myths around people with mental health difficulties and their abilities.
Visit website:
Led and supported by employers, the MINDFUL EMPLOYER® initiative is aimed at increasing awareness of mental health at work and providing support for businesses in recruiting and retaining staff.
Bromley Mind and Oxleas NHS Foundation Trust have both recently become Mindful Employers.
Resources:
Slivers-of-Time Working allow anyone to sell their spare hours to local employers.
Who needs these marketplaces?
- Sellers are work-seekers who need to find employment around other commitments. (eg childcare, existing partial employment, caring, attending job interviews, starting a business, medical issues.)
- Buyers are organisations wanting top-up workers at irregular times. (eg: Local Authorities, caterers, retailers, contact centres, service providers, promotions companies, care providers, the NHS.)
Slivers-of-Time sellers are busy around the UK. They work for councils, catering companies, cinemas, high-street retailers, distributors and the NHS. Each seller works when they want and is rewarded for continued reliability.
People who couldn't work any other way are getting wide ranging experience. Some have recieved paid training from multiple employers. Those businesses then have pools of inducted top-up workers on tap for peak periods.
A Social Firm is one type of social enterprise. Other types of social enterprise include development trusts, co-operatives, credit unions and community businesses. A social enterprise is a business that trades for a social purpose. The specific social purpose of a Social Firm is to employ people disadvantaged in the labour market.
This website includes a full directory of social firms operating nationally, and can be searched for by region.
Telephone: 01737 764021
E-mail: info@socialfirms.co.uk
Visit website:
Train to Gain is the national skills service meeting the needs of employers of all sizes and in all sectors to improve the skills of their employees as a route to improving their business performance. The service offers skills advice on everything from basic skills through to leadership and management training.
The service aims to encourage all employers to realise the benefits that learning and skills can bring whilst recongising that different sized businesses or businesses from different sectors face different challenges. The service therefore recognises this and is tailored to meet these needs.
Visit website:
Wise Owls was established to help people who are aged over 45 and want to work/get back into employment.
Whatever your past work experience, we are here to help and guide you back into doing a job you enjoy. We are continually in touch with employers on your behalf, to ensure that they put their vacancies with us, and consider all suitable candidates that we submit to them for the vacant position.
Even if you have been out of work for some time and believe you are never going to work again, it is worth getting in touch with Wise Owls. Our programme of one-to-one support and training might just be what you need to get you moving again on your job search.
Visit website:
Launched in late 2002, WorkDirections UK is now one of the leading welfare-to-work providers in the country, delivering Government-funded employment programmes across London, Birmingham, Nottinghamshire and Edinburgh.
In December 2007, they launched Pathways to Work programmes in six areas, including neighbouring Lambeth, Southwark and Wandsworth.
Download Work Directions' Pathways To Work presentation (PDF):
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