Work Skills

Work Skills

Work Skills, run by the Southend City Council’s Economic Inclusion team, aimed to equip parents with the technical skills, know-how, training and confidence to access the world of work, through employment, volunteering opportunities or their own enterprise.

Both one-off taster sessions and more in-depth and tailored courses were offered, focused on supporting parents to build confidence, improve their employability skills and access support in getting a job.

Southend City Council will continue to explore opportunities to support local residents to access training, volunteering and/or employment. New or existing programmes of support can be found on the Council’s website: https://www.southend.gov.uk/schools-learning/southend-careers-service

Further support can be found below:- (please note this information is up to date as of 31st March 2025)

South Essex Community Hub Employability Support Service

https://sech-uk.com/

SAVS Volunteer Hub

https://www.southendvolunteerhub.org.uk/

The following are Work Skills CID Fund projects but are not connected the ABSS Work Skills project above

ATF Leapsprogs

Achieve, Thrive, Flourish (ATF) works with communities at risk of exclusion to provide a safe environment, increased opportunity and enhanced wellbeing. ATF builds programmes aimed at supporting early years development, reducing social isolation amongst parents and supporting ATF community members into employment.

ABSS has funded ATF to support the development of the Leapsprogs model. Two Leapsprogs sessions, which currently run in Milton and Shoebury wards, will continue beyond ABSS funding.

You can learn more about ATF by visiting their website at:
www.atfcommunity.com

Employability Support through South Essex Community Hub (SECH)

South Essex Community Hub (SECH)is a registered charity set up to support the communities of South Essex. The team offer:

• Digital inclusion support, helping people to develop digital skills and access computers/laptops if they don’t have this at home
• Housing Support
• Information on local services
• Young People’s programmes
• Working with local partners to support community cohesion

Following the launch of an Employability Scheme, SECH noted an increase in parents requesting support and so obtained funding from ABSS to develop this programme in line with the needs of parents with children up to 4 years. The funding from ABSS will end on 31st March 2025. Beyond this, SECH will continue to offer employability support, with the team continuing to utilise their increased knowledge to support parents.

You can learn more about SECH by visiting their website at:
www.sech-uk.com