As a result of the significant success it has achieved, an EU funded project to help Housing Association residents in Bedfordshire gain employment has had its funding extended until the end of 2011.

The Employment Support programme is led by housing provider bpha, and includes Bedfordshire Adult Skills & Community Learning and the Polish British Integration Centre as partners. The project has helped more than 130 people with training and support to improve their job prospects.

bpha’s Employment Support Co-ordinator, Peter Rayner, said that the success of the project has been both surprising and rewarding.

“When we first applied for the funding, we stated that our aim was to help 20 people into employment.  I am proud to say that we have already helped 22 people into work that has lasted more than 6 weeks and there is more success to come,” said Peter.

“Many of the people we see have both the desire and skills to work, it’s just a matter of helping them out in areas like writing their CV or performing well in an interview,” he said.

“One of the most rewarding experiences I have had was helping a resident who had been out of work for almost 6 months.  She had good qualifications and experience, but wasn’t doing well at job interviews.”

“We offered this person some interview skills training sessions and then some one-to-one coaching. Once finished, this person was offered a job at their next interview.”

Peter said that with the new round of funding the team had also set some new targets.

“This year we’re aiming to help a further 17 people into employment.  It’s ambitious, but I think we can achieve it.”

bpha has run an employment support service since 2003, but it was previously only available to residents in the Bedford area.

The European Social Fund (ESF) has allowed bpha to extend capacity of its own service and encourage other housing associations in Bedfordshire to offer similar support to their tenants. Since March 2009 the project has delivered more than 540 skills sessions, which have helped more than 130 people improve their job prospects.

For more information, contact the Employment Support Team on 01234 268807.