Three Knowsley residents have been successful in securing supported employment, thanks to the Empower Job Carving programme introduced in Knowsley.
Liam Ward, a Print Room Assistant at All Saints Catholic High School, David Forrest, a Post and Provisions Assistant at First Ark and Daryl Stephen, a Grounds Maintenance Assistant at Eastcroft Park Primary School have all taken part in the job-carving programme and proved their value to be offered paid employment.
Knowsley Council has developed the Empower Job Carving programme in partnership with All Saints Catholic High School, Eastcroft Park Primary School and the First Ark group to create supported employment opportunities using the process of job carving.
Job carving offers paid employment opportunities to people with learning difficulties and/or disabilities. Less skilled tasks from different jobs are combined into a single role ideally suited for a person with a learning difficulty and/or disability, which frees up time for other staff to concentrate on the more skilled aspects of their roles.
The roles created on the Empower programme all started as work experience placements. This allowed the successful applicants to try out the role and make sure that it was right for them. It also allowed the businesses to assess and review the job carved role to ensure that it contributed to their business need.
Knowsley Council developed placement specifications in Easy Read and Video Format enabling potential candidates to learn more about the role and help them to better prepare when visiting the organisations to discuss opportunities.
Free disability awareness sessions were offered for staff within the organisations to learn more about how to support a person with a learning difficulty and/or disability in the work place.
The programme has been a huge success and media students in their final year at Liverpool John Moores University, Ben Cain and Emily Grannon, are making a short documentary about the programme to help promote the concept of job carving to other organisations and encourage more businesses to get involved.
Tony Cahill, Executive Director at First Ark, said “First Ark is pleased to partner with Knowsley Council on the Empower programme. One of our key business drivers is around offering life-changing opportunities to people within communities across Knowsley and the Empower programme clearly aligns with this. There are clear benefits for both the business and the individual and we are delighted that the programme has been a success so far.”
If you would like to find out more about the Empower Job Carving programme in Knowsley, contact Sue Temple-Fielding, Supported Employment Co-ordinator on 0151 443 3054 or 07976 582 255 or email susan.temple-fielding@knowsley.gov.uk
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