A housing association’s employment support scheme is marking a major milestone.
First Choice Homes Oldham (FCHO) is celebrating 10 years of its Directions Service, which has helped 1,916 customers in Oldham move into work since 2016.
Designed to break down barriers to employment, the programme supports people with CV writing, interview techniques, and job applications.
Suzie Redpath, an employment support advisor at FCHO who has helped many customers into work, said: “FCHO often says it is more than just a landlord and 10 years of our Directions Service and the nearly 2,000 people we have helped into employment really speaks to that.”
To date, the scheme has supported 3,491 customers in applying for jobs.
FCHO says that each person who finds work through the service sees an average income boost of £684 per month.
The housing association estimates the total social value generated over the decade to be around £30 million, equivalent to £3 million each year, using the Housing Associations' Charitable Trust (HACT) framework.
One beneficiary is 24-year-old Nicholas Benson, a biomedical science graduate from Sheffield Hallam University who is now working as a medical laboratory assistant at Tameside Hospital.
Mr Benson said: "I would have been stuck at square one and making the same mistakes applying for jobs by myself without Suzie.
"She really helped support me even after the interviews.
"She's always been there throughout these last six years and I am very grateful."
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Mrs Redpath added: "To have helped Nicholas find his dream job is what our work is all about.
"But on a wider scale it is so much more than finding jobs, it means more money into households and communities and the social value is huge in areas such as improved mental health and parents working and being an example to their children.
"It also promotes wellbeing, confidence and gives purpose. These should not be underestimated either."
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