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Celebrating pathways leading to employment
Published: 26/11/2019
Celebrations for the big “10” took place recently in Flintshire.
Flintshire Firm Foundations is the 10th “pathway” course to be run by Flintshire’s Communities for Work Plus team (CFW+) this year.
Pathways offer local residents the opportunity to gain training, skills and experience in a particular area of employment and also include help with drafting a CV and a confidence-building workshop.
These free courses have been hugely successful and have included areas of work such as retail, childcare, social care, construction, catering, horticultural and lifeguard skills.
Since April this year, over 83 people have benefitted from this experience and many have found work as a result.
The latest pathway, Flintshire Firm Foundations, is a construction pathway run by CFW+ and their partner Wates Construction. The participants enjoyed tour of the Maes Gwern building site in Mold, took part in practical taster sessions including joinery and plumbing and completed their Level 1 in Health and Safety in construction. They prepared to take their CSCS test (a CSCS card is needed to show that they have the appropriate qualifications and training to work on a construction site).
They also had the chance to get advice on how to get into the construction industry from experts in the field.
Flintshire County Council’s Chief Officer for Planning, Environment and Economy, Andrew Farrow, said:
“This is a great achievement and I’m pleased to be here today to celebrate this particular pathway which is the 10th to take place this year. Since these courses started, they have gone from strength to strength and are proving to be a really effective way of engaging people – the fact that so many have attended and since found employment proves that. They are a fantastic opportunity for people to gain experience and skills and to take advantage of work tasters and work experience opportunities on offer.”
Dave Saville, Business Unit Director, Wates Construction North West, commented:
“We have been working with Flintshire Council since 2015, delivering our partnership housing programme to bring 500 new homes to the county. Throughout this partnership we have worked together to provide training opportunities for local people that help to give them a step-up to long term employment. Flintshire Firm Foundations is the latest in a line of courses designed to kickstart new careers and we’re very proud to be involved in a programme with such life-changing potential.”
CFW+ is a voluntary programme to help those adults furthest away from the labour market into employment. The programme targets long term unemployed and economically inactive adults and 16-24 year olds not in employment education or training from across Flintshire. It seeks to increase their employability and to move into or closer to employment.
For further information, please contact Nia Parry or Janiene Davies at CFW+ on 01352 704430 or email: nia.parry@flintshire.gov.uk / janiene.davies@flintshire.gov.uk.
Kevin Corness (PK Joinery), Janiene Davies - FCC, Angie Eardley - Wates, Simon Humphrey – Project Manager Wates, Nia Parry - FCC, David Williams, Darren Hildebrandt (Brickworks NW Ltd), Andrew Farrow - Chief Officer FCC, Leon O’Gormon, Jordan Kirby, Adain Hamzah, Arron James, Russel Mills, Dave Saville – Business Unit Director Wates