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Working together for change with Employers
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Annual Review 2006/07
One Parent Families is proud of its growing partnerships with employers, exploring with them new ways in which work can be opened up for lone parents. For some, the transition can be complex and made harder if confidence is low, skills are out of date and a wide range of issues, from childcare to debt, get in the way.
Barclaycard's 'Horizons - your family, your future' is a unique programme to help disadvantaged lone parents make the transition out of poverty. It aims to improve the skills and confidence of lone parents, helping them to enhance their job prospects, manage their finances and support their children.
The programme is supported by Barclaycardv and utilises the skills and experience of four partners: One Parent Families, Citizens Advice, Parentline Plus and Family Welfare Association. All of the partners work together, sharing their expertise and knowledge and delivering services which can make a real difference to the financial wellbeing of lone parents and their families. Support is provided in four key areas: moving towards employment, financial management, grants to open up access to education and training, and parenting.
One Parent Families has been working closely with Barclaycard to develop the Horizons employment programme. During 2006/07 we piloted three courses in Northampton, Barclaycard's UK headquarters. Our aim was to provide a supportive setting in which lone parents could explore their ambitions and talents, realise what they had to bring to the job market, get information about the services and benefits that can make a job feasible and have a real taste of a work environment. The course provides the ideal vehicle for integrating the help and services available from all of the charity partners. Over a ten-day period we provided a series of lively workshops, starting in a community venue and then transferring to Barclaycard's corporate headquarters. For many it was their first taste of using formal childcare, overcoming one of the many hurdles on the way to a job.
Participants were matched with their own 'coach' too, trained volunteers from Barclaycard's employees who helped them develop actions to map out how they would achieve their individual goals. At the end of the courses, lone parents reported hugely increased confidence and motivation, with almost all moving on to employment, training and education as well as volunteering. A life-changing two weeks!
Barclaycard Horizons won the Best Corporate Social Responsibility Award in the 2006 Credit Card Awards. During 2007/08 Horizons' employability programmes will begin to roll out in selected locations.
- 'For Barclaycard the work experience programme has been hugely successful, offering lone parents an opportunity to build their confidence and skills en route back to further education, training or work. It has also allowed us to bring our community programme into the heart of our business and allow colleagues to get involved supporting lone parents - fantastic relationships have been built and results achieved. In the future we hope to cement this further through offering work placements and, where appropriate, permanent employment.'
Andrea Hughes, Senior Community Affairs Manager, Barclaycard
Jessica Bayliss was tired of being considered an 'unreliable' young single parent, not to mention fed up with being constantly broke, when she heard about Barclaycard's Horizons programme.
- 'I'd been trying to get work, sending out CVs and going to interviews, but I wasn't getting anywhere. Not a lot of companies could offer the hours that I wanted and I was worried about the childcare fees.'
The Horizons work experience programme helped her to realise what skills she had, Jessica says, and gave her the motivation to do what she wanted. 'One of the sessions was run by a single parent, so she understood our situation and proved that you could get through it.' Now a part-time employee in Barclaycard's HR department in Northampton, and a student on an interpersonal Skills course, there's no stopping Jessica: - 'I want to better my knowledge and move up. I'm planning to continue on to uni if I can afford to! And my three-year old son is enjoying his growing independence and being with other children when I'm out.'
Marks & Start - Lone Parents Returning to Work programme
For the third year running we delivered the Lone Parents Returning to Work strand of Marks & Start, Marks & Spencer's award-winning work experience scheme. Marks & Start gives opportunities to homeless, disabled or young people as well as lone parents, all of whom can face extra barriers when trying to move into work. Marks & Start is now part of Plan A, M&S's ground-breaking five year 'eco-plan', and falls under the Fair Partner pillar.
2006/07 marked the largest and most successful year to date for Lone Parents Returning to Work, with over 250 lone parents starting the 3-week programme and almost 50 per cent of completers moving into work within 13 weeks. By March 2007, 645 lone parents had benefited from Marks & Start since it began in 2004.
Linking One Parent Families' intensive 'employability' training and wraparound support to high-quality work experience with Marks & Spencer is a winning combination and demonstrates how sustained funding can drive up quality and performance.
One Parent Families recognises and appreciates Marks & Spencer's continuing commitment to this pioneering corporate social responsibility programme which has inspired government, employers and regeneration organisations at all levels to explore how such initiatives can be replicated.
The Government's Local Employment Partnership Agreements, through which major employers are committing to offering work experience to the unemployed, takes its cue from Marks & Start. The London Borough of Camden was so impressed it funded a special programme for its residents with excellent results. Members of the European Commission and European parliamentarians attended a reception in Brussels to learn more about how Marks & Start is a model of good practice and the commission subsequently published its own report in which the significance of Marks & Start was cited.
But it's the individual lone parents who experience the programme who feel its impact most directly: - 'I see this placement as a bridge towards my goals. I can see myself moving forwards now and gaining a career.'
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