Supporting Autistic Individuals Project open to Expressions of Interest

Progress in the Supporting Autistic Individuals in to Apprenticeship Project, delivered by GMLPN (@GM_LPN) in partnership with @NCFE is well underway! The project aims to raise awareness of the potential of autistic individuals, enable access to apprenticeships, and provide guidance on how referral agencies, training providers and employers can support autistic individuals. The project will equip 20 autistic individuals with the technical and employability skills to progress in to an Apprenticeship.

Referrals

The project is currently open to expressions of interest, which need to be made by a Referral Agency, for autistic individuals within Greater Manchester who may want to progress on to an Apprenticeship as their next step but need further support. This could be developing confidence, working on social skills or developing technical, sector-specific skills.

To date, GMLPN has had a number of referrals of autistic individuals and introductions have been made between those individuals and a Training Provider. Whilst in the early stages, the Training Providers are working with the individuals to develop the skills they need to progress on to an apprenticeship. GMLPN are working closely with the Training Providers and other key stakeholders, including the referring agencies to monitor how the individuals are progressing.

Anne Gornall, Executive Director at GMLPN said:

“We’re really pleased how the project has progressed to date, the engagement through our project groups from stakeholders has been amazing. The Training Providers involved in progressing the autistic individuals have been responsive, supportive and using the best practice and learning from the project to date to best support autistic individuals they work with.”

Toolkits

GMLPN have developed practical toolkits to enable Employers, Training Providers and Referral Agencies to best support the needs of autistic individuals. GMLPN are currently undertaking further work to develop these toolkits which will be shared through the project.  

Dawn Baker, Director of Innovation and Investments at NCFE said:

“It’s fantastic to see this project start to take shape. The individuals and training providers already engaged are seeing real results and this will make such an impact on how employers engage with autistic individuals in the future. We look forward to working with more people over the coming months to help shape and provide the best support for autistic individuals in the workplace.”

Do you have an autistic individual you are working with in Greater Manchester who would like to progress on to an Apprenticeship? Get in touch with Charlotte ([email protected]) to discuss further.