Charting a Pathway to a better future

THE Pathway Group has made a flying start to 2017 taking a lead with a series of projects in the Midlands and North of England working with the unemployed and people looking to advance their careers.

Based in Birmingham but with offices in London, Walsall, Newcastle-under-Lyme and Burton-on-Trent the Pathway Group is a specialist in vocational and apprenticeship training.

It also has a track record of working with excluded people including the long-term unemployed and NEETS – young people who are not in employment, education or training.

In the Black Country there is a ‘Skills support for the Workforce’ project being run from the Walsall office.

The idea is to equip people so that they can further advance in their jobs and careers. Skills Support for the Workforce is particularly aimed at people employed in Health and Social Care and other priority sectors.

Starting at the end of 2017 it covers Dudley, Wolverhampton, Walsall, West Bromwich and Sandwell.  In Walsall Pathway also delvers Skills Support for the Unemployed and an IAG project focusing on engaging individuals and moving them towards employment.

Pathway is in the process of launching a NEETS project in Warwickshire engaging young people who are not in employment, education or training to provide guidance and support.  This includes literacy and numeracy. However, the hope is that in many cases this will open opportunities into further vocational training including traineeships and apprenticeships.

The wider project is also supported by Jaguar Land Rover who are providing a mini bus via the prime contractor PET-Xi.

In South Birmingham more than 250 young people will be helped with job hunting thanks to a ‘The Birmingham Youth Promise working with the Prime Prospects and Birmingham City Council to a common goal of providing work experience opportunities; with a target for the Pathway team to get more than 100 young people into work by the middle of next year (2018)

The project is designed to help some of the most excluded and vulnerable young people who have missed out on more traditional ways of getting into training or work.

It includes some young people who do not appear on the unemployment register and therefore are Hidden and in danger of falling into a spiral of lifelong unemployment.

Some of the most deprived young people will benefit from the ‘Youth Promise’ that includes basic support such as providing suitable clothing for interviews and help with travel to interviews such as providing access to bus and travel passes.

In another part of the West Midlands, a skills project is bringing new hope and opportunities to those who are unemployed in Staffordshire.

The Skills Support for the Unemployed ‘Fresh Start’ Project’ is being delivered by the Pathway, working alongside ‘PeoplePlus’. This project is aimed at providing skills that will help people that are out of work to gain the skills and confidence to gain sustainable employment and progress onto further training.

The project offers help with important skills such as CV writing and interview techniques. There is also training in vital skills such as Literacy, Numeracy and basic IT alongside vocational skills development.

It started in January with the aim of helping 370 people by the middle of 2018.

In the North of England, the ‘Response to Redundancy’ project in Lancashire is being aimed at people who have recently been made redundant and need help getting a new job.  This is delivering employability training in the form of CV writing, making a job application and interview skills alongside a vocational element focusing on developing skills that are needed in the region’s growing priority sectors such as the Visitor Economy and those with staff shortages including Social Care. 

Running alongside ‘Response to Redundancy’ is a ‘Skills Support for the Workforce’ project. This is aimed at helping people in work to acquire new skills and progress in their jobs and careers.

Skills Support for the Workforce is aimed at people employed within Small to Medium Enterprises with basic to intermediate skills needs with a view to moving them into further higher training and apprenticeships.

“All of these projects are examples to work being done to give some of the most disadvantaged and excluded people a better chance in life,” said Safaraz Ali, Managing Director of the Pathway Group.