Family Mosaic's trainee support worker scheme was announced as the winner of this year's MoneyActionNet awards earlier this month.

The awards recognise outstanding work that has proved successful in helping social housing tenants to improve their money management.

Our Building Skills programme aims to support service users into employment by increasing the life skills, confidence skills and educational opportunities that can lead to full-time work. As part of the initiative, a 6-month in-house trainee support programme was set up to give service users the skills required to work as care and support workers.

The programme has been a great success, having already enjoyed success earlier in the year by winning the award for Best Practice in Supporting People by tenant participation advisory organisation, TPAS.

More about 'Building Skills' programme

The programme especially targeted people who historically have difficulty in accessing training and employment. Shortlisted applicants were invited to attend an interview day involving group work, giving managers an opportunity to see how they interacted with each other and to assess their views on issues such as vulnerability and dealing with difficult scenarios.

This was followed up with individual interviews. The final 10 commenced a 2-week classroom-based induction which provided training around protection of vulnerable adults, health and safety, personal safety, professional boundaries, risk assessment, and support planning. A mentor was also allocated to each trainee to provide support and advice.

Following the induction service users were given 3 6-week work placements which, if completed successfully, guaranteed full-time employment at Family Mosaic.

Significant impact...

The impact of the programme has been significant, with all participants completing their training and work placements and all entering employment with Family Mosaic. The programme has given people new work skills and has enhanced their personal lives through confidence building, increased self-esteem and financial independence.