One Housing working in partnership to support residents and customers into employment
03 Sep 2021
One Housing is working in partnership with Transform & Achieve (T&A) via a licensed model to support over 200 One Housing residents and customers into work.
Funded by J.P. Morgan, the partnership is focused on supporting those who have struggled to find employment during the pandemic. The goal is to support 55% of customers who access the T&A service into employment. On a previous contract that ended in spring, also funded by J.P. Morgan, 51% progressed into work.
One Housing customers and residents can access one to one tailored employment support, one to one money management and job brokerage (sourcing directly from employers) and access to the T&A service via One Housing Employment Coaches, a T&A Senior Money Coach and T&A Job Brokerage Officer.
Customers can also access a series of online and 2 Face to Face (F2F) innovative and holistic personal development group coaching sessions covering topics such as self-presentation, psychology, and money management.
Transform & Achieve is an end-to-end Employment, Training and Wellbeing model that can provide individualised focussed support to a wide range of customers. It aims to take them from their current situation through the range of interventions personally required for the individual to be able to move towards employment or just an increased state of wellbeing.
The T&A model has the ability to achieve a deeper and quicker connection with customers which is a key aspect of the success behind T&As ability to maximise on customer engagement.
Edyta White, Interim Head of One Academy said: “We are delighted to be working with Transform & Achieve. We look forward to help those whose employment has been affected by Covid-19. The T&A Service will not only provide life skills, but we hope permanent and lasting employment going forward.”
One Housing resident Elizabeth was referred to the programme by Barking DWP, working as a part-time Carer, Elizabeth had struggled to secure the further income needed to support her and her six-year-old son. Prior to the programme, Elizabeth was ready to give up:
“Not getting the support I needed and getting let down all the time - from all the jobs I applied for, I felt like I wasn’t getting anywhere. I felt like giving up.”
It was time to transform and achieve
“Signing onto this course - really helped me a lot! I’ve learnt so much from these courses, it’s made me realise who I was in the long run and what I can achieve in life. They gave me an advisor - who kept in touch through emails, text, and call. Natasha (One Housing Coach) was always there for me. I am so grateful for the help, support and making me believe in myself, thank you so much.”
Following the course, Elizabeth managed to secure a position for a security firm allowing her to keep her role as a Carer and to provide the additional income needed to provide for her son.
The funding also includes, as part of the licensed model, staff development sessions from the T&A Lead Coaches for the One Housing Employment team to further build and enhance their offer to residents not only on this J.P. Morgan/T&A contract but on their wider employment work.
Recommendations will be produced from this in a report from T&A and made available to the wider housing community to support with sharing best practice and legacy building from this funding.