Path Laying Job Crew
Our core service offers one to one support with a dedicated support worker who, as well as providing help and advice, can also help set up a work placement for the client in a local business, either as a volunteer, for experience, or through the permitted supported work scheme. Permitted supported work is a government scheme which enables people on incapacity benefit, disability living allowance or income support to work up to 15 hours a week and earn up to £97.50. This amount varies depending on what benefit they receive, however it doesn’t affect their benefits, allowing the client to earn extra, gain new skills and assist them back into work.
Ideally when a client first starts a work placement, we would provide support for the client for the first few weeks until they were settled and then slowly withdraw, letting the workplaces natural support take over, however this isn’t always possible due to the nature of the business or restrictions on staff. Our core support worker, provides support for the clients in their own workplace. In fact they spend around 50% of their time actually in clients workplaces supporting and assessing them to do many different tasks.
We also have Louise Mouat, who is our Mental Health Support Worker and who regularly supports her clients to work in a wide range of activities. Because of the small size of our organisation, all the staff are trained in supporting each others clients however, which works quite well as like in any organisation, staff can be ill or on holiday or simply have to complete another task.