The Moving On Employment Project was founded in 1997 and started out as a small service based in the Eric Gray Centre, a day care centre in Lerwick for adults with disabilities, to give some of their service users a taster of work. The project quickly progressed when it was realised there was an unmet need in Shetland for a service such as this. Due to its quick expansion, Moving On then moved to Market House in Lerwick and after consultation with other agencies and due to changing legislation, it was decided to make the service available to people with other health conditions or mental health problems who could benefit too.
In 2006, our job crew scheme, incorporating a team of clients and support workers working together on small community or environmental projects in order to increase their skills, confidence and employability, was piloted to great success. This scheme has been in operation since then and has gone from strength to strength. Moving On is continuously developing and in 2009, again looked at changing its policies and constitution to pilot another project, this time working with young homeless people to increase their confidence and employability to. This also worked well and enabled Moving On to change its constitution permanently to assist anyone with a barrier to employment.
As well as the job crew approach, Moving On also offers a one to one service to assist people undertake work placements where the employer is unable to provide the necessary support. This has also been highly successful and indeed there is a waiting list to access the service.
Moving On has received great praise in recent years, being cited as an example of good practice by the Social Work Inspection Agency in 2007. We were also awarded Shetland Amenity Trusts Environmental Award later that year and also again in 2009. In 2008 we were shortlisted for a Community Action Award in the Third Force News, Scotlands national voluntary sector newspaper. This in itself was a great achievement, especially as other organisations up for awards were much larger, supporting thousands of people across Scotland.
A charitable company limited by guarantee registered in Scotland No. 357491
Registered Office Market House, 14 Market Street, Lerwick, Shetland ZE1 0JP
Company Secretary Kellie Naulls
Recognised by the Inland Revenue as a Scottish Charity – No. SCO 26699