PREVIOUS PROJECTS
CONSTRUCTION SKILLS 4 LIFE
EN:Able Communities were successful in their application for £20k grant funding from the Humber Learning Consortium ESF fund. Funding was provided by two grants from B&CE through the Mowlem Award and the ESF Community Grants programme.
The funding paid for the training of 28 disadvantaged individuals in the Hull city area with barriers to training and employment to boost their job prospects and social mobility.
The programme of 5 2-week courses held over 6 months has proven to be a great success, supporting learners who were previously unemployed to gain entry level qualifications in basic skills required to work on construction sites including Manual Handling, Emergency First Aid, Health and Safety, Practical Skills, CSCS Cards alongside employability training to help them use the experience and their new skills and qualifications to access jobs.The free courses also provided learners with the opportunity to gain real hands-on work experience, training with local provider Source Solutions.
“I’ve worked in construction before, installing roof trusses, doing joinery. I’ve been out of work for the last 2 years. The DWP referred me to this course. It was brilliant. The staff were phenomenal. I’m now waiting for confirmation that I have a job with Bureau Engineering doing civil works to install digital cables. ” Andy
KICKSTART GATEWAY
When the government first announced the Kickstart scheme offering 6-month placements for unemployed 16-24 year olds in September 2020, EN:Able Communities immediately saw the possibilities the scheme offered to support young people into employment. The charity has been proud to act as one of the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) Kickstart Gateways since its appointment in January 2021, knowing the
importance of capturing the true potential of each individual to a career and sustainable employment.
EN:Able Communities’ contribution has enabled support for a range of organisations large and small, withina variety of sectors, this has resulted in 34 high quality Kickstart placements, all providing young people with six months of excellent experience with opportunities to
progress. Employability training has also been
provided for all the Kickstarters.
EN:Procure is delighted that one of their placements, Curtis Evans, who has been a great asset during his placement, will be staying on as a full-time member of the team. Curtis is one of many. The 4 young people who completed their 6-month placement with Select Energy Services Ltd were all offered full-time jobs in January, as was the Kickstarter working for Revive Leeds at their Kirkstall site. 4 of the 8 young people placed with The Conservation Volunteers in Leeds have also started full time employment with the organisation. Jonathan Hill graduated with a Civil Engineering degree during the pandemic and struggled to find work. Following his placement with LAR he is now a full-time Trainee Contracts
Manager with a company car.
Following his successful Kickstarter placement with EN:Procure Curtis joined the team full time as Procurement Assistant following the conclusion of his Kickstarter placement. He said: “It’s very exciting to see where this path can take me and I’m looking forward to helping Istvan to my best capacity. I’m sure there’ll be lots of challenges, but it wouldn’t be interesting unless there were challenges to overcome!”
PATHWAYS INTO CONSTRUCTION
The Pathways into Construction programme involved a 6-month course at the Humber Construction Hub in Hull, funded by the UK Community Renewal Fund and delivered by
EN:Able Futures and Source Solutions UK.
65 learners were trained ready for work. The programme was specifically designed to provide learners from disadvantaged backgrounds with
a clear path to enter employment either during or after they completed.
The course was also created to support the construction sector, which is growing quickly in the Hull area leading to the Hull City Wide Partnership, the council and volume house builders developing a partnership to support procurement, delivery and social value outcomes. Most of the training took place in Bransholme at the Humber Construction Hub, a construction
training centre designed as a replica of a real construction site to support the construction of the £10bn Wawne View housing development.
The course curriculum included practical work experience such as outdoor painting, plastering and civils works, alongside classroom based Level 1 Health and Safety in Construction, Level 3 Emergency First Aid at work, Level 2 Manual handling, CSCS Card preparation, assessment and application. Learners were also given ongoing mentoring and personal support to address any barriers preventing them from obtaining work prior to joining the programme.
In a survey carried out when the course had completed 62% of learners said they had improved their workplace skills, 65% said they had increased their career readiness, and 70% stated that their personal confidence for work and in their home life had increased.
A short film about Pathways into Construction and some of the learners who took part can be viewed on the EN:Able Futures YouTube channel.
EN:Procure
EN:Communities