Here at BBOStaffs, we offer free financial and welfare advice so you can get in touch and chat with a friendly member of our team to discuss your concerns of the current cost of living crisis. 

We can also guide you through the process of accessing government aid towards living costs, such as the warm house discount. There is additional support available for accessing benefits, such as universal credit and housing benefit. Additionally, those born on or before 26th September 1955 will automatically receive the winter fuel payment to help with rising energy costs. There is also a £25 payment available on days where the temperature is below 0 degrees for a period of seven days for those who are on certain benefits.

Are You Getting The Most For Your Money?

It is always worth checking on comparison websites whether you are getting the best deal for your utilities. You may be paying more than you need to when it comes to gas and electricity, so make sure you are with the most affordable provider possible. Comparison sites can help with more than just your utility bills. You can compare car insurance, phone payments and more! So make sure that you are not wasting any money with expensive providers. This will help save a little bit of extra money each month to help with the increase in energy costs. 

There is also the option of getting in contact with your energy supplier, as they may have schemes and/or funds to help those who are struggling with rising energy costs. 

Budgeting

To alleviate financial concerns and to understand your situation, it can be useful to create a budget. This way you can keep a keen eye on your ingoing’s and outgoings, so that nothing catches you off guard and you can plan accordingly. By having everything laid out in front of you can help ease financial concerns amid a highly publicised cost of living crisis. Additionally, if cutbacks in your spending need to be made, by looking exactly how much you are spending and where, this can make it easier to cut back on non-essentials. 

Debts

If you are concerned about paying off previously existing debts alongside rising living costs, please get in touch. Our friendly team can discuss with you a plan of action going forward to help manage your financial situation. 

Additionally, with the rise in buy now, pay later schemes, it is important that if the purchase is non-essential then try to buy it within your own means to avoid steep interest payments later. Cutting down on additional spending will help in saving money to account for increasing energy costs. 

Wrapping Up

The most important thing to remember is that we are here to help. If you are concerned about how you will manage the rising energy costs, then get in contact with us to discuss the best ways of managing your money. 

The post Struggling To Pay Energy Bills? appeared first on Building Better Opportunities.

As such, we’ve put together these money saving tips to help you through a potential Christmas induced financial crisis. By following these steps, you should feel a release of stress and hopefully enjoy this coming Christmas season. 

1) Start a Budget 

The most popular tip to start a monthly or weekly budget. It doesn’t have to be complicated or require the cost of an accountant. A simple template on paper or an excel sheet and listing out your income and expenses has proven very effective. 

Be smart about your savings, this means cutting back on summer holidays and putting it towards Christmas instead. Make a shopping list before heading out to the shops and set a reasonable spending limit for each person to avoid overspending.

2) Look out for Discounts and More

Everyone loves a bargain or a discount, and you will do well to take advantage of them when you can. Don’t forget about signing up for email subscriptions on your favourite brands for exclusive offers when you shop online. 

Another proven technique is to do the majority of shopping and take advantage of sales events including Black Friday (November 25th) and Cyber Monday (November 28th). If you tend to leave your shopping last minute, aiming to get it all done earlier will help you save money.

3) Cut Down on Unnecessary Gifts

This might be a tricky one but be strict on who you’re giving gifts to. For those who are not on your list, explain to them and suggest that there’s no need to exchange gifts. Chances are, they will be feeling the same way and want to reduce their Christmas spending too. Instead of gifts, plan a free or inexpensive activity to do together. 

4) New Traditions

A fantastic way to save money is to suggest a new tradition of Secret Santa with a group of friends, coworkers or even your family. It’s a fun way to exchange gifts while cutting down on spending each year and everyone receives a gift. If you haven’t heard of Secret Santa before, it involves everyone drawing a random name from a hat and you are the Secret Santa for the person you draw. Usually, people set a spending limit so all the gifts are around the same value. This ensures the costs of the gifts do not become insurmountable. 

5) Reduce, Reuse, and Regift

Have you ever received an unwanted gift or the same gift twice throughout the year? This is the perfect way to declutter and give those items to a better home. Not only does it massively cut down on spending, but it’s also sustainable and good for the environment!

6) Book In Advance 

If you’re planning to head abroad or travel home this year, book plane tickets well in advance before it’s too late as prices tend to rise dramatically the closer we get to Christmas. 

Seasonal activities like ice skating, visits to see Santa and Christmas markets are magical and fun for all the families but can be expensive and prices can add up quickly. You should consider cutting down on these activities but for ones you wish to attend. You may also wish to book in advance or choose early bird tickets if available to save a few pennies.

Financial Advice in Stafford and South Staffordshire

While following these steps can be effective, we understand it’s not always that easy when you’re stressed and worried about finances. If you find yourself in this position, please feel free to call us and speak to a friendly member of our team. We are a non-judgemental and face-to-face service dedicated to helping people through financial advice, employment support and more.

The post How To Cope With Financial Stress This Christmas appeared first on Building Better Opportunities.

• 150 minutes (2 and a half hours) of moderate-intensity activity (brisk walking or cycling); or 
• 75 minutes of high-intensity activity (swimming or running); or 
• Short periods of very high-intensity activity (sprinting); or
• A mixture of moderate, high, and very high-intensity activities.

But, sadly, this isn’t always the case. When winter approaches, it’s a real challenge to stay active and keep motivated. If it’s chucking it down with low temperatures, the last thing you want to do is go outside, get drenched and attract a cold. Instead, avoiding exercise at all costs and staying warm indoors sounds much better!

With this in mind, the following article will break down the benefits of daily exercise in the colder months. Continue reading to learn more.

Keeps You Warm… Surprisingly

Yes, that’s right, the cold air is unpleasant to the body, but the fastest way to warm up is to keep moving. When you exercise, your heart pumps harder and your muscles turn stored energy into heat. This causes your body to warm up. 

So, avoiding exercise because it’s too cold is no longer an excuse!

Boosts Your Immune System 

Studies show that the recommended exercise time leads to a boost in your immune system by increasing the movement of immune cells around your body, clearing bacteria from your lungs and airways. Over time, this increases your ability to fight off colds, viruses and the flu during winter. 

It’s a winning situation all around!

Improves Your Mood and More

Staying active isn’t just good for your physical health. It’s good for your mental health, too. Have you ever felt better after exercise? Well, this is because when you exercise, your body releases a feel-good chemical called endorphins. This helps reduce levels of stress, anxiety and feelings of depression. Going for a brisk walk or run in the park gives you the opportunity to clear your mind, boost your mood and reset your approach to life’s problems.

As you now know, there are many health and physical benefits from regular exercise. A better way to look at it easier is if we need at least 150 minutes of exercise each week, this can be broken down into 30-minute sessions, 5 days a week or 50-minute sessions, 3 days a week.

Doesn’t sound so bad now, right?

Get Support in Stafford & South Staffordshire 

As mental health issues are very popular in today’s world and often kept under the surface. It’s important to share how you’re feeling and not let those feelings be bottled up inside. If you have noticed a negative change in your mental health or mood that is affecting you on a daily basis, please reach out by speaking to someone such as a close family member, your doctor or a counsellor is a good place to start.

At Building Better Opportunities, we offer a wide range of services to support your physical and mental health including confidence building, animal therapy, training courses, exercise classes, anxiety & mental health workshops, and much more. 

For more information, feel free to contact us.

The post Exercise In Nature This Winter appeared first on Building Better Opportunities.

1.0 Introduction

This brief outlines the requirements of the Stafford and South Staffordshire Building Better Opportunities Programme for a Financial Wellbeing Service. The brief begins with an outline of the project followed by a description of the scope of the services needed.  Finally, the brief includes the tender submission form which needs to be completed and returned by the submission deadline.

2.0 Background

 The Big Lottery is using its own resources to match against European Union (EU) funding to create a fund aimed at delivering against the ‘Promoting Social Inclusion and Combating Poverty’ part of the current European Social Fund (ESF) programme, launched in 2015.  The funding will be delivered in the Stoke-on-Trent and Staffordshire Local Enterprise Partnership (LEP) area according to local priorities through three relatively small but highly targeted, projects. BES was awarded £2.3m in January 2017 to work with its delivery partners to deliver the programme in the South Staffordshire Council and Stafford Borough Council areas.  We have just entered the fifth year of delivery and, having achieved the majority of our targets to date, have been awarded a further £2.2m to continue delivery to September 2022 with the expectation of a further extension to June 2023.

The programme aims to support those furthest from the labour market in overcoming barriers to employment, which, typically, fall within the following broad categories:

• Lack of vocational/basic skills, lack of qualifications;
• Financial problems – debt, insecurity, benefit delays;
• Lack of self-confidence/personal development skills;
• Poor health and disability;
• Inadequate or unaffordable childcare;
• Employer uncertainty;
• Discrimination – including ex-offenders, people with disabilities, race, gender, postcode;
• Transport – access and availability;
• Pay, work conditions, working hours; and
• Lack of advice and support – particularly for people with multiple advice and support needs.

Typically, those furthest from employment experience multiple of these barriers in getting a job or moving into training or education.

The Stafford and South Staffordshire Building Better Opportunities programme aims to support participants in getting into work or closer to work through the delivery of an integrated package of support which enables participants to progressively remove barriers to employment.

Delivery of the programme involves a range of partners in direct service delivery roles with BES being the lead partner with contract management responsibilities.

The effectiveness of the model depends on the effectiveness of joint working arrangements to:

1. Engage participants;
2. ‘Sign-up’ participants to receive support;
3. Properly understand and assess the needs and circumstances of clients;
4. Prepare personal development and employment plans with participants;
5. Enable participants to access appropriate support from other delivery partners and external bodies; and
6. Progress participants into employment, education or training.

3.0 Scope of the services.

All of our participants are unemployed; some may be economically inactive.  These circumstances often bring with them financial support in various forms through the benefits system.  There is a general expectation that people should be financially more secure if they are in work.  But many also need to achieve financial stability to be able to properly look for work and make a transition into paid work which, for some means, navigating the benefits system to ensure financial stability.  Financial insecurity increases anxiety, stress, impacts on relationships and can lead to insecure housing, inability to pay bills and so on all of which can undermine an individual’s efforts to job search and make an effective transition into paid employment.

We are, therefore, looking to appoint a ‘Financial Wellbeing Service’ provider to work alongside and with other of our support services to assist participants in achieving financial stability as part of a journey into paid employment, including achieving an effective transition into work.  Key services to be provided include:

• Receiving referrals from advocates acting on behalf of participants;
• Undertaking a financial wellbeing assessment to ensure participants can access the financial support to which they are entitled;
• Assisting participants with budgeting and financial planning;
• Providing advice to participants seeking to claim benefits to which they are entitled;
• Signposting participants to specialist benefits/financial advisers where support cannot be provided directly or in a timely fashion (i.e. within the time frame we would normally expect a participant to be with the programme which is around six months);
• Assisting participants, where necessary, in using digital technology to access services, including, where appropriate, job search, money advice, housing services and health services;
• Providing, from time to time, workshops enabling participants to undertake group activities and learning that lead to better money management skills/financial stability;
• Providing financial advice to support a transition into paid employment; and
• Assisting participants in accessing grants or other forms of support that help achieve financial stability whilst unemployed and whilst making a transition into paid work.

The design and delivery of activities will be the responsibility of the provider; we do not wish to prescribe a specific approach.

The service will need to be delivered from locations in the Local Government administrative areas of both Stafford Borough and South Staffordshire District in order to maximise participation across both areas.

In addition to delivering its own activities programme/services, the provider will be expected to play a full role in working on a day-to-day basis with other delivery partners to provide the necessary support to participants to ensure that participants receive the full benefit of all the support that the partnership has to offer.  Each participant in the programme has an advocate who supports them in accessing services; the provider will be expected to ensure a high level of communication with participant advocates.  Participants will be assigned their own advocate; the provider is not expected to provide the advocacy part of the service so there will be no need to prepare need assessment and personal development plans for individual participants; this will be done by the advocate team.

There will however be a requirement for the provider to complete ‘activity sheets’ that summarise the work done with each participant accessing their support and to provide evidence of activities undertaken with each participant.

In addition to the participants recruited by the partner other participants will be assigned by the advocates team where participants express a wish to be involved in the kinds of activities provided by the new partner.

A case work approach will be adopted by the provider in delivering the service, ensuring that there is a high level of communication with others involved in providing support to individual participants.

4.0 The Provider

 We would expect the provider to be able to demonstrate a significant track record in delivering Information, Advice and Guidance, particularly in relation to debt and benefits advice, using staff with appropriate qualifications and experience.

The provider will need to be able to demonstrate that they have the ability to work flexibly in delivering the service across Stafford Borough and South Staffordshire District Council areas.

We would also expect the provider to be able to demonstrate a high level of capability to work cooperatively and flexible with other organisations, including those within the partnership and those outside it.

 We welcome the submission of tenders from individual organisations, freelance workers and consortia who are able to demonstrate that they meet the criteria set out above.

 Experience of the Building Better Opportunities programme is not essential but would be advantageous.

5.0 Fees

Payments will be on a per use basis with the provider being paid an hourly rate up to a maximum number of hours per participant which will be determined in consultation with the provider and subject to such flexibilities as may be needed according to individual case needs.

We welcome the submission of tenders from individual organisations, freelance workers and consortia.

6.0 Form of Tender

The form of tender is set out at appendix 1.

7.0 Tender Scoring Criteria

Scoring of tenders will be in accordance with the following criteria:

Services methodology and delivery (section 3 of the tenders form)           40%

Price   (section 4 of the tenders form)                                                 20%

Experience (section 5 and 8 of the tenders form)                                   40%

The maximum scores will be allocated as follows:

Service methodology and delivery – the submission provides a clear methodology that demonstrates how the services will be provided.  The submission should include details of what support will be offered to participants, what activities participants will be engaged in, what activities participants will engage in and how should expect to benefit from the support provided.  More points will be awarded for those able to offer a more comprehensive mix of services.

Price – Providers should provide a price based on an hourly rate.  Whilst it is difficult to forecast the numbers of participants signposted to the provider each month and the numbers of hours support each might need, we suggest an hourly rate be, for comparative purposes, calculated on 5 participants per month each needing 10 hours support.

Experience – the provider must demonstrate experience of delivering similar services under similar contract arrangements.  The provider should demonstrate their experience/the experience of the organisation as a whole and of the staff involved directly in delivering the services.

7.0 Submission deadline

The deadline for submission of tenders is 12 noon on 18^th November 2022.

Your tender should be submitted electronically to: tenders@enterprisesupport.org

Tenders received after the deadline will not be accepted.

Interviews, should they be required, will be held on the 21^st November 2022.

8.0 Enquiries

Please direct any enquiries about the tender specification to David Gibson on 07737 115493 or at davidg@enterprisesupport.org.

Click here to download Fnancial Wellbeing Service – Tender Specification Oct 2022

This service is funded through the Building Better Opportunities Programme.  The Building Better Opportunities programme is jointly funded by The National Lottery Community Fund and the European Social Fund.

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The programme delivers free advice and support for people who are out-of-work and living in Stafford and South Staffordshire.  Working with those who are experiencing multiple barriers to employment, the programme seeks to tackle those barriers by taking a holistic approach supporting individuals with their personal and financial wellbeing as well as employability skills.   

Specialist support includes benefits advice and support, money management and budgeting skills, housing and debt advice, IT coaching, career coaching and personal development plans, computer and internet access, CV writing, interview techniques and employability skills, access to volunteering and work placement opportunities, self-esteem and confidence building sessions, access to local adult and community learning courses, wild wellbeing and animal therapy sessions, mental health workshops, plus lots more. 

Judith Kirkland OBE, CEO of lead partner BES, said: “I’m delighted that a 1,000 people have been able to benefit from the life-changings support we offer.  The effects of the pandemic have had a devasting effect on the country; economically, mentally and physically.  The fact that we have been able to continue to support those in need across Stafford and South Staffordshire during the past 18 months is testament to the hard work of the team and the genuine positive impact our programme has on those in need.” 

Jointly funded by the National Lottery Community Fund and the European Social Fund (ESF), the programme has proven such a success that funding was extended in 2020 to all allow the programme to continue until 2023.   

The programme covers Stafford, Rising Brook, Highfields, Rising Brook, South Staffordshire, Cheslyn Hayes, Cannock, Brewood, Codsall, Great Wyrley, Perton, Penkridge, Featherstone, Huntington, Wombourne and the surrounding areas. 

Judith explains how the programme works: “We offer a bespoke programme, meaning each and every person that joins us has an individual action plan that aligns with their personal needs.  The programme is completely free for all participants, meaning you’re able to focus 100% on improving your personal, financial and employability skills.” 

One person to have benefited from the programme is single-mum-of-one, Amy aged 28 from Stafford.  Amy has recently completed a six-week conservation course based at Carney Pools in Stafford and continues to work with her Advocate on a weekly basis.  Amy commented: “The whole programme has boosted my confidence, I didn’t know what to expect at first, but I’ve really enjoyed being outdoors, learning and meeting new people.  I’m hoping to do more courses and add to my skills so that I move to a job working with animals.” 

Building Better Opportunities Stafford & South Staffordshire is managed locally by Business Enterprise Support (BES) who lead a partnership of organisations including: BEAM, South Staffordshire District Council, South Staffordshire Housing Association, , Staffordshire Women’s Aid, Support Staffordshire, Upper Moreton Rural Activities and University Hospital North Midlands.  

The programme is completely free to anyone aged 18 or over who lives in Stafford or South Staffordshire and is currently out-of-work.  The project tackles barriers that prevent these groups of people from progressing into employment with opportunities for education and training, improved health and wellbeing services, better financial help and programmes to build people’s confidence and self-esteem.  

Judith, explains: “You could be long-term unemployed or recently unemployed, the crucial part to our programme is the barriers you face.  We work with a vast range people in the local community from those who have never worked, through to single parents, those with chronic illnesses, those that are survivors of domestic abuse, recovering addicts and those who have just been dealt a bad hand and find their personal circumstances are spiralling.  We know getting back to work can be difficult, so we go at your pace.  Most people are with us for six months but we have more time for those who need it.” 

To find out more about Building Better Opportunities Stafford & South Staffordshire or view the full course list visit www.bbostaffs.org or call 01902 696 228. 

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Job title: Peer Mentoring Coordinator

Salary: £10.50

Hours of Work: 15 hours per week

Responsible to: Programme Manager

Supervision: Senior Employability Officer Support Staffordshire

Purpose of Post: Under the supervision of the Support Staffordshire’s Senior Employment Officer, to develop and deliver the peer mentoring programme for Building Better Opportunities (BBO) participants, liaising and collaborating with participants and partners across the BBO programme to recruit mentors and identify suitable mentees for each as appropriate.

MAIN DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES

• To support in the recruitment, induction and placing of mentors and mentees into the peer mentoring
• To monitor mentee’s experience of mentoring.
• To monitor mentors’ experience of mentoring, including their participation and to deliver regular supervision and support to mentors.
• Maintain records of the placement of mentors and mentees, training activities, supervision notes and monitoring
• To advise on safe and realistic activities for mentors and
• To keep accurate records of participation, using appropriate in-house systems.
• To be responsible for collating and reporting on participation and obtaining feedback from mentors and mentees in respect of their individual experiences of the peer mentoring project.
• To perform health and safety assessments for mentoring activities as required, in accordance with BES policy.
• To ensure that appropriate DBS checks are completed in accordance with the BES safeguarding policy.

This role is fully funded by the European Social Fund and the National Lottery Community Fund as part of the Building Better Opportunities Programme.

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Applications accepted via Indeed only.  Please click here to view opportunity and apply.

Compliance Officer – Job Description

Business Enterprise Support, through the Building Better Opportunities Programme, works with people experiencing complicated life circumstances. Through the provision of personal support we equip them with the confidence, motivation and work skills that they need to make positive changes in their lives with the ultimate aim of enabling them to move into employment.

The role of the Compliance Officer is to support our delivery team, comprising BES and non-BES staff, in ensuring that our participant paperwork and evidence complies with ESF/Big Lottery contractual requirements, and occasionally help to develop guidance, toolkits and templates to assist Business Enterprise Support staff and those of our delivery partners in gathering and storing the correct information. The Compliance Officer will be responsible for undertaking quality assurance to highlight missing documents or information particularly relating to our Big Lottery/European Social Fund (ESF) grant contract, and liaising with the Programme Manager and delivery staff to collate required information to deadlines. Where required at reporting stage, the Compliance Officer may also support the Programme Manager to collate appropriate information for funder reports and external compliance/audit visits.

We are also required to implement two ‘cross cutting’ thematic action plans in relation to gender equality and sustainable development. It will be the role of the Compliance Officer to undertake such evaluation and evidence gathering as necessary to report progress against the targets in each action plan of a quarterly basis.

Main Duties and Responsibilities

Compliance

• Carry out regular assessment of participant files to meet contractual obligations, identifying missing or incomplete information or documents and ensuring that files that are non-compliant are made compliant within a reasonable period, usually less than one month.
• Liaise with delivery partners to help them collate missing information, highlighting deadlines and other requirements.
• Gather and organise evidence to assist in reporting to, or being audited by, funders including the Big Lottery and European Social Funds (ESF).
• Contribute to the development of guidance, processes and documentation to support Business Enterprise Support staff in meeting required standards for recording information.
• Prepare compliance reports for individual partners and for the BBO programme as a whole to be reported to the Board quarterly.
• Provide support and training (as necessary) to our team members (primarily our team of advocates working directly with participants) to ensure they have a full understanding of any monitoring procedures.
• Ensure the archiving of all files and implement such compliance procedures as may be required to ensure the BBO programme is efficiently wound up.
• Undertake internal evaluation to monitor progress against our cross cutting thematic action plans.

Performance

• Be aware of the performance targets for the BBO programme and support delivery partners in evidencing achievement in relation to the programmes performance indicators.

Systems Administration

• Ensure that hard copy evidence is consistent with information contained within our CRM system.
• Migrate information from our CRM system onto other systems as may be needed from time to time.
• Upload documents to both internal and external systems as may be needed from time to time.
• Contribute to developing protocols and create proposals for improving the use of our CRM system based on audit findings
• Ensure that all completed files are archived in accordance with our document storage requirements.

Cross Cutting Themes

• Be instrumental in supporting the development, implementation and monitoring of the BBO Cross Cutting Thematic Action Plans for gender equality and sustainable development.

Evaluation

• Undertake internal evaluation activities that seek to evidence outcomes for participants and the BBO programme as a whole, including the collection and analysis of participant feedback data, the preparation of outcome case studies and the writing of internal evaluation reports for presentation to the Partnership Board.

Other

• Be conversant in current policy and practice relating to data management including appropriate use of information e.g. GDPR Data Protection.
• Undertake any training and professional development as and when required.
• Undertake any other reasonable duties, commensurate with the job title, as may be determined by the BBO Programme Manager.
• Ensure compliance with all BES policies and procedures.

Compliance Officer – Person Specification

• Ability to interpret, collate, analyse and effectively present information from a variety of sources;
• Skilled at problem resolution;
• Excellent interpersonal communication skills including the ability to convey information accurately and clearly to both staff and partners when explaining legal or complicated issues;
• Ability to exercise a high level of accuracy and attention to detail in a challenging environment of conflicting priorities and tight deadlines with a flexible approach to complete tasks within deadlines without supervision;
• Able to demonstrate discretion and to handle confidential information sensitively;
• Ability to prioritise and balance a varied workload and deliver outcomes in a timely manner;
• Ability to prepare and analyse questionnaires and provide appropriate analytical reports;
• Effective organisational skills;
• Team worker engaged with team members and team outcomes;
• Ability to remain calm in confrontational situations;
• Negotiation and influencing skills;
• Presentation skills;
• Relationship management skills;
• Ability to motivate;
• Ability to operate across multiple agencies ensuring cooperation and collaboration; and
• Ability to provide high level customer service and working face to face with the public.

Contract length: 18 months

Application deadline: 22/11/2021

Job Types: Full-time, Temporary

Salary: £23,000.00 per year

Applications accepted via Indeed only.  Please click here to view opportunity and apply.

The post Work for Us: Compliance Officer appeared first on Building Better Opportunities.

L&L Advice Services have joined the award-winning Building Better Opportunities programme in order to deliver information, advice & guidance in relation to debt & benefits advice.

Key services include:

• Undertaking a financial wellbeing assessment to ensure participants can access the financial support to which they are entitled
• Assisting participants with budgeting and financial planning
• Providing advice to participants seeking to claim benefits to which they are entitled
• Signposting participants to specialist benefits/financial advisers where support cannot be provided directly
• Providing, workshops enabling participants to undertake group activities and learning that lead to better money management skills/financial stability
• Providing financial advice to support a transition into paid employment
• Assisting participants in accessing grants or other forms of support that help achieve financial stability whilst unemployed and whilst making a transition into paid work

Jointly funded by the National Lottery Community Fund and European Social Fund the programme is completely free to anyone aged 18 or over that lives in Stafford or South Staffordshire and is currently out-of-work and facing barriers to employment.  The project supports participants in all aspects of their life including debt management, housing and benefits, training courses, CV writing and interview skills, job searches, mental health and wellbeing, volunteering, work placements, IT and computer access, plus lots more.

To find out more about Building Better Opportunities Stafford & Staffordshire and to see if you’re eligible for the programme visit www.bbostaffs.org or call 01902 696 228.

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Building Better Opportunities Stafford and South Staffordshire, which is jointly funded by the European Social Fund and The National Lottery Community Fund, has been delivering their conservation project from its partner base at the stunning Carney Pools near Stafford. 

The project focuses on key groups in Stafford and South Staffordshire who typically find they have multiple barriers to overcome when finding suitable employment, such as people over 50, lone parents, or those who experiencing mental ill-health. The project tackles barriers that prevent these groups of people from accessing support with opportunities for education and training, improved health and wellbeing services, better financial help and new programmes to build people’s confidence. 

 During the course participants are able to take part in various activities outdoors including walks, practical conservation, bush craft, woodcrafts, and planting. The conservation course is delivered over eight-weeks to allow participants time to gain confidence, develop new skills and knowledge, and socialise with others in the group. 

Maddy (pictured), aged 20, has previously struggled with her confidence and mental health has recently completed the Conservation course.  Maddy commented: “It’s been an amazing experience.  Louise and Emily have helped to build my confidence.  The whole experience has been positive.” 

To find out more about Building Better Opportunities Stafford & Staffordshire and to see if you’re eligible for the programme visit www.bbostaffs.org or call 01902 696 228. 

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Senior Employability Officer

Full time – £25,000 p.a. pro rata

Fixed term to 31^st Dec 2022 (may be extended)

Based in Stafford

If you are good at motivating people and helping them effectively to address the obstacles that are hindering them from employment, this could be the job for you. You will have significant experience of working with the unemployed and disadvantaged individuals on a 1-2-1 basis, ideally including experience of running work clubs, and a good understanding of the provision available from the Government and other agencies.

You will need to have excellent communication skills and be competent in using MS Outlook, Word and Excel and also Zoom. A strong focus on motivating people with multiple problems; working in partnership with a broad range of agencies; achieving good performance; managing a team; recording outputs and effective reporting of outcomes will also be essential.

This post is fully funded through the European Social Fund and the National Lottery Community Fund

For an application pack, please visit https://www.supportstaffordshire.org.uk/jobs

Closing date: 9am Monday 28^th June 2021

Interview date: Wednesday 7^th July or Friday 9^th July 2021

 The person appointed will require an enhanced DBS check

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