Breaking barriers to employment with the Restart scheme
Over the past 2 years, we have been supporting our partners on the Restart Scheme delivering our accredited programmes and mentoring support to people seen as being the least likely to achieve outcomes. These are people who are long-term out of work, possess criminal records, substance misuse and/or mental health needs.
Our delivery began in the North West with Ingeus, where we had great success working with their participants. We have since expanded into the Midlands and London, where we now work alongside multiple partners including Seetec, The Growth Company, Serco and Jobs 22.
Restart is a government scheme providing up to 12 months of enhanced support to help people find a job in their local area. It’s designed to break down any employment barriers that could be holding people back from finding work.
As part of our Restart offer, we deliver our Skills-Tu Life, Skills-Tu Employment, and Mentoring programmes.
- Skills-Tu Life is an accredited course designed to change attitudes and behaviour towards managing health conditions (both mental and physical) and not allowing it to impinge on the participants’ ability to function and contribute positively to society and increase the quality of their life.
The course begins by looking at perceptions and opinions of current beliefs around capabilities, and quality of life and how changing thoughts around this can make life more enjoyable, increase motivation and uptake in further training and the desire to seek employment, despite having health difficulties.
- Skills-Tu Employment is a highly tailorable accredited course designed to change attitudes and behaviour towards perceptions, opinions and views about looking for, securing and sustaining employment.
We look at people’s reliance on benefits and inspire independence and accountability for the position participants are in when it comes to looking for and securing work.
- Our mentoring programme gives us the opportunity to provide tailored and bespoke support to meet the participants’ needs. We cover a wide range of sessions to help overcome the challenges of long-term unemployment, substance misuse, mental health and criminal justice issues. Our specialist mentors use their own personal lived experience and provide motivation and inspiration to the participants by evidencing positive change is entirely possible and achievable.
“We are now an established partner on the Restart Programme and recognized for our motivational engagement with the learners who are described as the hardest to reach. We receive consistent feedback regarding the positive attitude change which our learners present after working with ITS and the overall impact that our work has in relation to gaining employment and improving wellbeing”.
Read some of the feedback we have recently received from the participants on our Skills-Tu Employment course:
As well as working with participants, we have also had the pleasure of working with the staff at People Plus, Ingeus, Maximus and Jobs 22, delivering our Key Interventions Tools (KIT) Training.
The feedback we have received has been very positive:
